Night Owl Cards

In terms of numbers, 21 is a desirable objective. Reaching the age of 21 makes you an "adult" in the grown-up world. In one of the most popular casino game ever, 21 means "blackjack." Drinks are on you. That is, if you're 21. But 21 as a uniform number couldn't be less important in Dodgers history. This is not a good thing, because as you may have heard, new Dodgers signing Zack Greinke, owner of one of the most expensive pitching contracts ever, will wear No. 21 for the Dodgers. Here is the picture the Dodgers doctored up for the occasion of his signing: In going through the history of the Dodgers, the No. 21 has been worn mostly by bench players, prospects who went nowhere, and disappointing/unmemorable acquisitions. A list of each: Bench players: Tim Thompson (third-string catcher), Rocky Nelson, Ed Goodson, Bob Bailor, Reggie Williams, Tracy Woodson, Eric Young, Rafael Bournigal, Chad Kreuter, Marlon Anderson, Mark Sweeney, Rickey Le...

How many times have you seen this card already? I know I've seen it on the blogs at least 4 or 5 times, probably more. I think we've done it. I think we've killed 2011 Topps a week into its release. I opened my first packs Thursday night, and it felt like I was pulling dupes of cards I had never seen before in person. But this is supposed to be a post that convinces you to look at my first 2011 Topps cards even though they have been displayed on at least 73 blogs in the last six days. So ... um ... let me just say you've never seen 2011 cards presented quite like this, all ... um ... night owly. At least you know I'll kick ass with the scans. If I'm showing the first cards of 2011, I'm sure as hell showing more than three of them. But before I display the two rack packs purchased at Wal-Mart (fully stocked with loose packs, rack packs and blasters), I just want to mention how well I did in A Cardboard Problem's case break of 2011 Topps. I s...

Since Topps has moved away from your simple "batter-takes-a-swing" action shot photos the last couple of years into what I would consider "quirkier" photos, the cards hold my interest more. I like the variety. The cards don't all look the same. They're entertaining. There's also more of an opportunity to see things that I'm particularly interested in, like scoreboards and on-field advertising and night shots. 2010 Topps has already turned out several examples in Series 1. I'm going to show two scoreboard examples here. Two SICK scoreboard examples. Yes, I just used "sick" in its untraditional sense and I don't even own a snowboard. I think that's irony. Or mockery. One of the two. The first example is happy-go-lucky Milton Bradley, and there's no way in the world you could miss the scoreboard in this photo. It's the star of the show. You'd think that would be enough to earn a perfect rating from me, but it do...