Night Owl Cards

Today is another one of the holy days in night game history. It's the 25th anniversary of Wrigley Field's first scheduled night game. Unfortunately, the game was called off because of thunderstorm in the fourth inning and the first official night game at Wrigley Field didn't actually occur until the next day, Aug. 9 against the Mets. In true Cubs fashion, they even botched completing a game under the lights. I've never been a fan of the Cubs, and I don't even understand their fans. Their allegiance to a franchise that has been inept for so long baffles me. I suppose that's more of a commentary on me than anybody who roots for the Cubs, but I just can't see following a team that's been such a drag for 100 years. Yet, there are the Cubs fans at every game. Singing away. Drinking away. So damn happy for a team that disappoints every year. It's weird. Even though I wouldn't care if the Cubs were contracted tomorrow, I'm actually tick...

I rearranged my work schedule so I could watch the Dodgers' first game of the season tonight. It was no easy task because, aside from all-consuming work, I had to keep a couple of appointments unrelated to work, and I had to prepare for an upcoming trip. So, I didn't end up turning on the TV until the bottom of the fourth inning. I noted the score. Dodgers up 2-0. That's good. And then I heard Vin Scully discussing Dodgers reliever Josh Lindblom. I thought that odd. Why a discussion about a guy who will rarely see the first five innings of any game this year? And then I noticed that Lindblom was actually ON THE MOUND ... IN THE FOURTH INNING ... INSTEAD OF THE OPENING DAY STARTER AND DEFENDING CY YOUNG AWARD WINNER CLAYTON KERSHAW!!!!!! It's OK. Calm down. It's all right. There has to be a logical explanation for this. Collect yourself. Vin is sounding calm. So you should be calm, too. Get a grip. I'm sure a simple answer is coming soon. And I ...

This goes against everything I stand for as a collector, but I have to say it: stop sending me cards. Well, OK, I didn't mean it like that . I merely meant stop sending me 1986 Topps cards, because in the last two weeks I went from needing more than half of the set to needing JUST FIVE CARDS. Today I received two packages in the mail, both including 1986 cards. Those two packages, from Joe of MLB Collector and Tom of Lets Play 2 , whittled my want list down to merely #45 Damaso Garcia, #102 Joe Orsulak, #135, Joe Niekro, #500, Rickey Henderson and #562, Joe Beckwith. Two Yankees in that group. The final cards I need to complete a set almost invariably include Yankees. That team is destined to haunt me until the day I die. The fact that I was able to make such short work of a 792-card set is a testament to the great blogging community and its generosity. Granted, this is '86 Topps, not a PSA-graded 1964 set like Tom is working on, but, still, come on, you guys are great. Thank...