Night Owl Cards

I have found myself in possession of modest number of Reds cards, and it's totally my own doing. As a Dodger fan, there isn't a lot to like about the Reds. The first year I followed the Dodgers, they finished in second place, 20 games behind the Big Red Machine. The following year, the Dodgers finished 10 games behind the BRM. I did not enjoy them. The Reds have been in the World Series three times since I knew what baseball was. I rooted against them every time. And there was also that 1995 NLDS. Nasty stuff. That all seems like ancient history now because Cincinnati hasn't been relevant as a baseball team for a long time. The Reds and Dodgers no longer share the same division, and all that animosity that had been built up since the '70s is slowly trickling away. So, when Red Cardboard announced he was giving away surplus Reds cards, I had no problems entering and adding Reds to my collection! After all, I don't just collect Dodgers. I collect sets and ...

Well, things are kind of back to normal around NOC. After trying about 21 different ways to get my scanner working, it finally occurred to me that maybe I scan too many images and I just wore the poor thing out. That's got to be it, right? How many times do regular people use their scanners? Once a week? A couple times a month? Meanwhile, I'm scanning 10 cards a day, on a light night. So, I went out and bought the cheapest scanner I could find -- because I'm just going to wear it out in a year anyway -- and I'm back to posting with pretty pictures. Since I've been dealing with evil scanners for the last 48 hours, I don't have a lot to say. But I did manage to buy a pack of cards while I was purchasing a scanner, too. One-stop shopping is still America's greatest invention. It was the same thing that I bought the last time I bought cards: You thought I'd try for something Panini-esque this time? Ladies and gentlemen, when the best product w...

I think it's pretty well-known that the Yankees have a facial hair policy. No beards. No girly hair. But mustaches are OK (and, so, apparently are Nick Swisher mohawks. That's right, no beards, but that monstrosity is fine.  I'll never decipher the Yankees). I think it's also well-known that the Reds had a facial hair policy for three decades, beginning in the late 1960s. It was some knee jerk reaction to hippies running wild and infiltrating our baseball teams. And it's probably known that when players leave the Yankees, or left the Reds back in the day, some of them grow facial hair because they had been deprived of this manly pursuit for so many years. I am going to focus on the Reds, because there's already way too much attention paid to the Yankees, and because I first noticed this phenomenon with the Big Red Machine teams of the mid-1970s. When players left the BRM, many of them suddenly appeared on their new teams sprouting mustaches and othe...

The All-Star Game is annually one of summer's highlights for me. It has been since 1976. I'm pretty sure I've watched every All-Star Game since that year, although there was an ugly period there when I was actually working during some of the games. I put a stop to that by always taking a vacation during the All-Star Game week. I'm not off this week, but I am off on Tuesday, so I'll be taking my usual spot in front of the TV, partaking in the usual snack of chicken wings and some sort of artificially sweetened beverage, just like I did as kid, watching the action in Kansas City. I will be watching the entire game from start to finish (but I will probably miss whatever artificial, mushy, made-for-TV event they've cooked up for the pregame). I can't stress enough how elated I am on this day. It makes me so happy. There is no angst around the game as there is with so many regular season and postseason games. Just the joy of baseball ... and lots and lot...