Night Owl Cards

I've said this many times, but a want list is a wonderful, wonderful thing. If you have a blog and don't have a want list, I have only one question for you: "What? You don't like cards?" Posting a want list on your blog is such a successful enterprise that it can be a little TOO successful at times. One small example: I received this non-descript, late 1990s card of Jose Vizcaino throwing out an anonymous Brave (I choose to keep him anonymous because it's a Brave. I don't care) from Wes at Jaybarkerfan's Junk . It was part of a big lot of Dodgers that I'll show some other time. I was very happy to receive the card because like a lot of my late '90s wants, it's been sitting on the want list  forever. I'm convinced nobody was collecting cards during the late '90s. With all the Yankee championships at that time, I understand. Too depressing to do anything at all. So with one '98 Fleer Tradition want eliminated, I wen...

The Dodgers have been very busy this offseason, adding just about anyone that will fit into their budget, which is to say they haven't added a single player who I think can help them win a World Series. In fact, it would be more inspiring seeing Bo Derek out there in the outfield, riding her horse after fly balls, than Jay Gibbons, Tony Gwynn Jr., Marcus Thames or Gabe Kapeler. Inspiring in a different kind of way, perhaps. But this isn't a post about Derek or Dudley Moore or the movie I really, really, really wanted to see when I was 14 years old. This is only a post about the number 10. There are a lot of new additions to the team and I'm curious to know which Dodger will land the coveted uniform number 10. It has always been my favorite uniform number, not because of Derek's cinematic breakout but because of a player who worked for the Dodgers from the early 1970s to early 1980s. Before and since that time, the No. 10 has been worn by Dodgers low and high....

I don't expect to measure up to the "competition" tonight. Bloggers are breaking news about 2009 Allen & Ginter (commence drooling now ) and creating their own set of "The Big Lebowski" cards. I can't match that. So all I can do is come up with a sensational post title and hope you stick around until the end. Hey, it works for the New York Post, right? The funny thing about junk wax is that even though everyone has too much of it, I still find that I need it. You've got people recommending that you burn it, or use it as insulation for your home, or shred it for kitty litter. All excellent ideas, except for one thing: I'm still collecting some of those cards! Pathetic isn't it? I still have a need for some '91 Topps and '93 Fleer, and Mike Morgan's 1992 Score card up there. I should turn in my collector badge right now. But I can't help it. No matter how many cards I get, there are still some that get past me, even cards...

I was always a pretty good student in school. Even through the toughest math classes in high school, I'd end up with decent grades. I had one math teacher who was particularly demanding, particularly tough and liked to yell. Only the smartest of the smart made it through his classes unscathed. Unfortunately, I wasn't one of those unscathed. I would start out "scathed" and then build slowly through the year until I was kind of half-scathed or a quarter-scathed. My teacher recognized this, and he would do something that rattled me every time he said it. He would pass out the results of a particularly nonsensical math test, something that only the braniacs in the class could survive, and yell about the low grades he was handing out. Then he's give me my paper and he'd say, sort of so I was the only one who could hear: "Night Owl, you know better than that." (Yes, even then they called me "night owl." What? You don't believe me?) "You...

What? I enjoy alliteration. Even if it is merely using the same word over and over. I just completed a team trade -- Cardinals for Dodgers -- with madding of Cards on Cards and A Pack a Day . Team trades are the best, because each of you get nothing but cards you want. Even if you get dupes, you don't mind so much (or at least I don't). I live on one side of the country and madding the other, so these Cardinals and Dodgers each took a transcontinental journey. The Cardinals and Dodgers have been fairly regular trade partners over the years. Joe Ferguson for Reggie Smith (advantage Dodgers). Pedro Guerrero for John Tudor (advantage Cardinals). So it makes sense that their fans should swap cards. Among the cards I received on Thursday were five different Brad Pennys and four different Jeff Kents. Maybe madding's a closet Dodger fan? Or more probably he just has loads of cards. Here's a look at the L.A. highlights, obtained all the way from Oregon Ducks country: Hey! Let...