Night Owl Cards

As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, I attended my 30-year high school reunion last week. I didn't communicate with three-fourths of my class when I was in high school, but it was a pretty mind-blowing time last weekend. In fact, if you're approaching that same reunion milestone and have never gone to a previous reunion (like me), I recommend going. At the very least, it will be amusing. The most gratifying thing about that weekend for me may have been having the opportunity to return to a place where everyone remembered the early 1980s. The entire room was filled with people who knew the area where I grew up, knew how we got from there to here, and know how perplexing it is sometimes to live in our current virtual world of gadgetry. Everything that existed then is viewed differently by the people who came after. Our ways then don't make sense to them now. It felt good to be among those who could still make sense of those times. As one tiny example, take the Def L...

This is my first "Game-Used Ball" card. It amuses me for reasons that I don't think I can explain. You see, "game-used ball" is what you would call "a redundant statement." It's a bit like a "road-used car." Or a "farm-used tractor." Or a "food-used fork." Of course, it's "game-used," dummy. It's a BALL!!! I received this card from Daniel at It's Like Having My Own Card Shop . It features two of the greatest Dodgers of the turn of the century. And in the middle of them is a ball that they authentically used during a Dodgers game somewhere in the 2001 Major League Baseball season. Be still my heart. When card companies stray from the jersey material and go off on baseball-related tangents like wall and seat and bat remnants, I start wearing a smirk. Just who are they trying to kid? The appeal of a jersey relic -- if there is any appeal in those at all anymore -- is that a playe...

This is not a post professing my love for an alt-rock chick named "Dusty," although if I ever create a comic book series, the heroine will be named "Dusty Chrome." No, this about my long-delayed discovery of cards at a drug store. Many, many, many months ago, I read about bloggers finding 2009 Topps Chrome for sale at Rite Aid. It made me positively giddy. First, you don't find cards at drug stores very often anymore. Secondly, there  actually is a Rite Aid in my outpost hell. Two of them in fact. However, I've reached the point in my life where my brain resists absorbing new information. It's a fun side effect of turning 40. I've rejected a great many new-fangled items that I have stumbled across in the last couple of years, just because my brain has turned its nose up at them. So months went by and I never even entered either Rite Aid store. Neither of them are conveniently located. One is way on the other side of town. The other has a ...

I have a new favorite player. He's basically been my favorite player for the last year now, but I was reluctant to declare him "the favorite," until now. That's because I've soured on the last few "favorites" that I have selected. And no current player has been able to compare to the players that were my favorites growing up, Ron Cey and Orel Hershiser . Now that I could be a father to some of these current players, it's hard for me to relate to the present-day major leaguer . But Clayton Kershaw keeps showing how special he is. Tonight, it was a great 10-strikeout performance against the Rockies to help the Dodgers win back-to-back NL West titles for the first time since my whole existence was playing Mattel Electronics Basketball . He's still just 21. I'm really hoping Kershaw can become that player that people mention when they list the handful of the greatest present-day players: Pujols , A-Rod, Ichiro , and, oh yeah, Kershaw . I...

So, the cool kids have been excavating up a storm the last two days, finding packs of 2009 Heritage, unearthing whole blasters of black parallel cards, setting off on searches for gray-back parallels and discovering '09 Upper Deck fat packs. Even though I can't play with the cool kids -- the area where I live doesn't allow it -- I get all giddy watching others find the snazzy stuff. I can't help but hit the few, scattered places that sell cards even though they disappoint me time and again. Hobby shop? Too expensive. Big box store #1? Topps blasters I've seen before. Big box store #2? Loose packs. And some weird-shaped $9.99 boxes of 2007 Topps. Huh? Big box store #3? Topps '09 cereal boxes. But the cereal boxes are news around here, even if it's a week or two later than everyone else has seen them. So I picked one up. Ted Williams of course. I can't choose Ruth or Mantle over Teddy Ballgame. I'd get disowned. The boxes are pretty cool and I got...

I promised last week that I would reveal the players that I do not enjoy pulling from packs. This is considered "equal time," after I lavished praise on 10 non-Dodgers in this post . Interestingly, most of the players listed here do not bother me, as far as their personality, behavior, playing style, etc. It seems that while all those factors go into the reasons why I enjoy getting cards of certain players, the main factor for why I dislike getting certain players is simply that I get too damn many of them. None of these players, of course, are Dodgers (well, there is one small exception coming up), because I enjoy getting everyone who wears Dodger blue. Even fat Andruw. With that, we are officially entering countdown mode: 10. Mark Teixeira. I have a sneaking suspicion that he could take a major leap up this list if I ever decide to update it. The guy just screams Mr. Money Bags. He's ticked off Braves fans. He's ticked off Angels fans. And by signing with the Yanke...