Night Owl Cards

Guess what? I got another package from Cards On Cards . By my count, this is package No. 36. That's an all-time record for anywhere. No one has ever sent more packages with baseball cards in them from one blogger to another. Go through the records if you must. Come up with the most irrefutable, iron-clad argument that you can, but it's still wrong. This is the record, so off with you. As usual, Kerry's gift of cards produced the usual variety, including this night card here. I'm not 100 percent positive it's a genuine night scene on that card, but there's a good chance with the camera light shining on Brucey and the darkened background. Awards cards are fun and Fleer was the king of awards cards in the '80s. But this card is extra-interesting to me because: 1) There are three hands holding up that trophy -- two from Sutter and one phantom hand. Eerie. 2) The guy with the glasses in the background may or may not be George Kissell, the late legend...

It's Monday. The Monday after an extended holiday break. I'm in need of a softball post. How 'bout you? This is a card that won't get in the way of you figuring out which game is depicted on its front. In fact, you might have more difficulty figuring out the pitcher on the mound, given Topps' two-decade-long foil addiction. But I'll go easy on you on that one, too. It's Jon Garland, the two-time Dodger pitcher slumming it with the Diamondbacks. For the specific game information, we go to the broad scoreboard display behind our cardboard hero. It's immediately above the commercial for reblended tap water and the commercial that has ruined your viewing of the NCAA basketball tournament for most of the 2000s. (Sorry, Black Friday tends to bring out my anti-corporate side). It's obvious from the scoreboard that Garland is pitching in the middle of Interleague Season. Plus, since this is a card from the 2009 Topps Update set and Garland began p...

... Let's show more Heritage anyway!!!!! Hey, it's not stopping anyone else. But this will be it on this blog. No more 2011 Heritage scans. Unless someone tosses me one of the two Dodger short-prints I need. Or that whole Jackie Robinson short-printed thing that I have almost pushed out of my memory. Or a Sandy Koufax autograph, which would touch off a week-long blog break so I could be resuscitated. So until then, here are the last few 2011 Heritage cards that I care anything for: These come from Joe at Cobb and Halladay . He is collecting the set. Help him out if you can. Here is my favorite Dodger. He is throwing off the curve of mediocrity that is the Dodgers thus far this season. His last start excluded. Another guy who has pitched tremendously until his most recent start. I like that glove he's got there, too. James Loney is hitting .150 thus far, which puts him in the company of other Dodger stalwarts like Aaron Miles (.226), Rod Barrajas (.18...

Greetings on the day after Christmas. I hope your Christmas was peaceful and hassle-free. I'm pleased to say it was delightfully relaxed here in the Night Owl nest. For the first time in years, we spent the day without any relatives, and it was a pleasant alternative to the general air of Persistent and Unrealistic Expectations that hovers over the situation. I wish I could say I went into the gift-opening session with the same breezy attitude. Unfortunately, I couldn't help but hear the words of Sally Brown in my head. Sally is one of my favorite Peanuts characters. She is amusingly blunt and perhaps a bit selfish. But she has a good heart, and she is sensitive to the injustices in life. She reminds me of my daughter in a lot of ways. Like Sally, I merely wanted "my fair share," something off the Christmas list. For me, that was baseball cards. After last year's sock debacle, I set my expectations low. And about midway through the day, I began to think they were...

OK, when I left for work last night, I was feeling a mild acetaminophen buzz (sinus issues), content with the Dodgers' path to the postseason: don't break any waves, pick up a nobody here and a nobody there, just get to the playoffs. I had been doing a good job of ignoring their back-of-the-rotation issues and the offense's periodic pitfalls. Then, during one of the two minutes I have free at work, near the end of my shift, a split second before all hell breaks loose, I click on MLB Trade Rumors . And there it is: "Dodgers Acquire Jim Thome ." "That's funny," I thought, "I have this dream all the time." And I do: the Dodgers acquire one of my favorite non-Dodgers ever. But, you know, I wake up and I go on with my regular rat-infested, Thome -ain't-a-Dodger life. But this wasn't a dream. I know that, because a minute later, I find the time to click on the site again, just to make sure. Only this time, not only is the "Dodgers ...