Night Owl Cards

When I was back living at home and we had leftovers for dinner, my dad would call them "skip," as in: "What's for dinner?" "Skip" I don't know the explanation for that term, other than he got it from his family when he was growing up. But I still think of it whenever leftovers are on the menu or whenever anyone talks about "hand-me-downs." In my head, they're known as "skip." So, that is what you're going to get here -- skip. My mom used to call dinner leftovers "this and that," and that's appropriate here, too. A post of "this and that," "leftovers" and "skip." Let's dig in: 1. TOPPS UPDATE The checklist for the 2012 Topps Update set is on the street and I counted up 16 Dodgers cards. Here's the list: US3 - Adam Kennedy US4 - Matt Treanor US38 - Elian Herrera US52 - Clayton Kershaw US57 - Hanley Ramirez US102 - Brandon League US107 - Randy Cho...

One of my purchased rack packs yesterday contained a Lineage '75 mini that I needed. Former Dodger farmhand and general annoyance Shane Victorino. But before I could mentally express my thanks to the cardboard god for blessing me with a Lineage mini that I needed, I noticed an imperfection on the Flyin' Hawaiian's card. You may not be able to see it that well, but that's only because I've already tried to alleviate the damage. When I pulled the card out of the pack, a portion of the top edge, just above the "E" in Phillies, was folded over. I don't know what the baseball card term is for that kind of imperfection -- chipped, I guess -- but good gosh, it's awfully irksome to pull a card with that kind of damage out of a pack. The worst part is that it seems to be happening more often with retail packs, or at least I've come across it more often this year. And even worse than that, is it seems to be happening MOST often with mini cards, ...

I entered a few votes for Andre Ethier in the "last gasp" roster spot thing that MLB devised a few years ago. The deadline has passed, however, and my efforts were futile. Ethier isn't going to the All-Star Game, as deserving as he is. It doesn't matter. I knew he wasn't going to win anyway. This is 2011 and these are the Dodgers. Former Dodger Shane Victorino, who has been leading the "last gasp" vote since the beginning, won instead, just to continue the theme of How Can We Make This Week As Painful As Possible For This Random Dodger Fan? If you haven't been paying attention to the Dodgers' week -- and yes, you're forgiven -- then you probably don't know that the Dodgers, mired in last place, are doing their best to make this the most memorable bottom-dropped-out season in history. After losing an excruciating game against the Angels on Sunday, in which I was half-convinced that Chad Billingsley was going to off himself ...

Those who have read this blog for awhile know that I get to four card shows a year. That's all there is around here. Three of those shows are in the same place. Three times a year, the Syracuse fairgrounds hosts a sports memorabilia show that is billed as the largest show in the state. For six years I have tried to make the trip there every January, April and October. Sometimes it's been difficult, other times impossible, but I have been a faithful customer. I gas up the vehicle, drop the disinterested at the mall, and I have my fun. I have gone through this routine so many times that I instinctively know when the next show is coming. Sure, I check for updates, but it's just a formality. The show is always those three months and always at the end of the month. Usually the last or second-to-last weekend of the month. This gives me the opportunity to plan, save my money, and most importantly, save my money. A couple of months ago, I checked the date for the next show...