Night Owl Cards

One of the byproducts of the recent blog bat-around is discovering potential future collecting projects. There were a handful of collecting pursuits that I think would be interesting to try. Whether I ever get to doing them is another matter. But there was one I had to attempt right now. Red Cardboard said one of his binders houses his Opening Day collection. It's a page for each year of the Reds' Opening Day lineups. It's such a simple, tidy idea. Nine players in a lineup. Nine pockets in a page. It's a great way to look back on your team's hopes for the upcoming season each year. Also, it's a great way to display some dupes. So, even though I don't need another collecting project and I definitely don't need to get another binder, here is the 2018 Opening Day page for the Dodgers: How about that intimidating clean-up hitter in Enrique Hernandez? Looks weird without Justin Turner in there. Unfortunately, that's not the exact repres...

I stumbled across Red Cardboard's housecleaning post rather late, and after taking a look at the goodies available, I shot off a panicked email hoping there might be something left for the taking. I shouldn't have been worried. I was reassured that there were some items left for me and, oh, by the way, would I be interested in a bunch of 1990 Target Dodgers cards? Ah, yes, the 1990 Target set. Those itty bitty black and white cards of bizarre shape and flimsiness that make up a monstrously large set of 1,100, supposedly featuring every player to compete for the Dodgers between 1890-1990. Sure, lay 'em on me. I looked at this as my chance to get much closer to finishing off this quirky set. And when the cards arrived, my anticipation grew. There were more than 30 complete 15-card panels, plus a number of other cards that had been separated from the panel in four- and three- and one-card chunks! Surely I could do damage with this: I eagerly set up my ow...

Think back. I mean way back. Way, way back. Back when Joe Girardi was the Yankees manager. Back when the Cubs were World Series champions. Can you remember that far back? Barely, right? It was so, so far back that I didn't even own a Cody Bellinger card. That's how far back we're talking. The first Cody Bellinger card came to me at about the midway point of July. And I was so desperate at that time for Bellinger on cardboard that I actually ordered one of those Topps Now cards of him. Flash forward five months and I'm beating Cody Bellinger cards off with a stick ... er, I mean, welcoming them gratefully into my home. This is why you simply need to exercise some patience when baseball sensations are involved. The cards will show up. Oh, will they ever show up. This Cody card arrived at the nest from GCA of The Collective Mind . It's actually one of the Bellinger short-prints from Topps Update. How many Bellinger short-prints there are in Update I do...

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 ...