Night Owl Cards

I've heard a mention or two of this past World Series being "one of the greatest ever." I'm not 100 percent sure where I heard such a sweeping statement but if I had to guess, it would be Twitter, that all-or-nothing social media outlet that I do enjoy but also shake my head over when I read the extreme reactions that occur daily there. It was not "one of the greatest ever." I'm not sure if I'd even call it "good." Keep in mind, I've been watching World Series for more than 40 years, so I've seen a few good ones and bad ones and have a little perspective. But I'd say about the only thing this World Series had going for it is that it lasted seven games and that the road team won every game. It was fine. If you like baseball it was fine. But that's about it. You know how I can tell? I didn't panic at work over a single game this Series. Usually, the most exciting World Series games -- the ones every fan root...

This World Series is the first World Series for which I can say that it involves two teams that also faced off in a game that I covered. Since my game coverage was so long ago, now at 17 years and counting thank you very much MLB moving the Expos, I have never covered an interleague game, which eliminates any of my past covered games as being previews for the World Series. But the Astros-Nationals ... well, the Astros-Expos, I've done. In fact, it's the first Major League game I ever covered and, let me tell you, the two teams in the World Series were nothing like they are now in 1990. The Astros were 32-49 when I covered them on July 7 and battling the Padres for last place. The Expos were better, but everyone knew them as a middling team that had no chance of catching the Pirates or Mets, the dominant NL East teams of that time. The game progressed to form and the Expos won 3-1. Here is the boxscore from that game as provided by the Expos PR staff: I didn...

The photo on this card was obviously taken from the press box or a luxury box at Nationals Park. For a brief instance when I pulled this card back in 2010, I thought it was taken from the very top deck behind home plate (I have little knowledge of the Nationals stadium, I don't even know if there are seats above the press box). Those seats interest me because I've never sat in seats high above home plate -- other than in the press box -- during all my times going to games. A brief rundown of where I've sat: Behind home plate: At the Blue Jays' stadium for a game between the Blue Jays and Yankees. Cozy seats. In Section 36: At Fenway Park, of course. The outfield bleachers are a great place to watch a game, one of my favorites. High above right field: At old Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. I felt like I was barely in the ballpark. And there was no hope of seeing the ball. Behind the first base dugout: Again at Fenway Park. About three rows in. Had to ge...

Today is Inauguration Day (observed) in the United States. So why not focus on Washington's representative in Major League Baseball? I suppose if I wanted to truly represent the uniform history of this franchise, I would include the clothing choices of the Nationals' precursor, the Montreal Expos. But I'm not going to do that, partly because I want to recognize only current teams, and partly because once this series is over, I'm considering recognizing bygone teams like the Expos. Besides, since the Nationals' history is nice and short, that means this post is nice and short. Everybody wins. So, when the Expos became the Nationals -- and no, I'm not really happy about it either -- the uniform colors remained the same, basically. Perhaps a little less emphasis on blue, and a little more emphasis on red, which works historically with the old Washington Senators' focus on red (circa 1961-71). Now, whenever I think of the Nationals, I think of red. St...

I don't have a lot of special Washington Nationals cards. Just a handful. But when I pull one, I notice it more than when I'm pulling one of another team, because I immediately think, "Geez, I'm stuck with this thing." With most teams, I can find a team collector and flip it for a Dodger. But not with the Nationals. I don't have a Nationals card connection anymore. So the Nationals cards simply accumulate like a backed-up sink. Indeed, it does get a little messy because if anyone were to stumble across my card collection, they might say, "what, are you a Nationals fan or something?" It's embarrassing. But if simply owning a semi-decent assortment of parallels of a particular team was a reason to be a fan, I would have become a diehard Oakland A's follower a long time ago. No, there's more than that to my gradual admiration for the Nationals. One is that their Triple A team is closer to where I live than any other te...