Night Owl Cards

Four years ago, I won this autographed Clayton Kershaw card by winning a bet with a certain Cardinals fan . That was the last time the Dodgers and Cardinals played each other in the postseason. Tonight, they're playing again, and although I'm less confident about the outcome than I was in 2009, I've renewed the bet with that same Cardinals fan and braced myself for purchasing an autographed card of Peter Kozma, or Joe Kelly, or some other St. Louis scrappy who will make me throw up in approximately 10 days. The Dodgers are trying to get to their first World Series in 25 years while the Cardinals are trying to win their first since -- oh, the tragedy -- 2011. And then there's the matter of 2006 and 2004, and unless you're one of The Best Fans In Baseball (throwing up again) or root for the Giants, Diamondbacks or Padres out of pity/self-loathing, you probably have no desire to see the Cardinals in the Series again. I hear ya. In the last five years, the Card...

OK, let's get this out of the way. This is the funny thing about orange. I actually like it. A lot. Love orange soda. Always have since I was a little kid. Cherry has since passed it as a personal favorite, but for the longest time orange soda was the best. There's some in my house right now. I like orange flavor of any kind. Those chocolate oranges that emerge at Christmas time? Love them. Orange sherbet? Fantastic. Orange-flavored Chinese food? Yes, please. Creamsicles? I think the cafeteria ran out of them when I was in high school. Your common variety orange? Great stuff. I like all spin-offs, too. Tangerines, clementines, etc. As for the actual color? I like that, too. The old Tampa Bay Bucs uniforms were amazing. Bring them back. The new Miami Marlins' orange jerseys? I don't know why people hate them. They fit perfectly with Miami. I'll never be a Dolphins lover, but whoever picked orange and aqua for colors was a smart boy/girl. Nice work. Even when...

I am neglecting about a half-dozen regular features on this blog. I'm being especially pokey on displaying recent trade packages, too. So it's about time I do a good deed related to this hobby of mine: "HEY, GUYS! Did you know that there is a 1983 Topps blog ????????????????" How is it that I'm the only one that knows about this? I'm like almost his only follower. This is not right! The '83 Topps blog deserves legions of followers! It is the best set of the '80s by any standard of measurement that you prefer! So I thought I'd help Brandon out and give his blog a plug, as if you couldn't figure that out. I've been known to effuse (it's a word, look it up) about the '83 Topps set a little bit  myself. Back then, I was still 60 or so cards away from completing the set. I've since completed it, which gives me permission to display my favorite 13 cards from the set in the usual descending order. Yes, 13. I couldn't c...

I was back at the dollar store that sells cards today. It was in the general vicinity of where I bought my wife's Mother's Day present (no, I didn't buy the present at the dollar store. Don't get huffy). I know I've talked about watching my card budget and buying 2009 cards like UD First Edition. That's all lovely for current cards, but there is no beating what I find at this dollar store, at least among your retail options. I've developed a strategy for my trips to the store. I know what bags hold the football and basketball cards, which I don't want. And I've struck upon just the right "shaking" strategy to make sure I don't end up with this anymore. I suppose you could consider this "pack searching," except I don't harm any of the cards doing this or open the bags either. Today I bought six bags for 6 bucks plus tax. I ended up with no non-baseball cards and I counted maybe a dozen doubles out of 210 cards. And ...

This is my 300th post. Once again, thank you to anyone who has ever stopped here to read my meanderings. You guys and gals are great. Truly. On this occasion, I thought I'd run through some of my favorite .300 seasons (300 posts/hitting .300, get it?). Batting average isn't the be-all and end-all of statistics like it was when I was growing up. We have many better statistical indicators of a player's performance -- many of which make my eyes glaze over when I try to understand them. But the magic .300 level still means something to me. And certain players' .300 seasons stand out more to me than others. In most of the examples I'm listing, the player won the batting title. But not all of them. Here's what I got: 2006 - Freddy Sanchez, .344. If conditions are right, I'll root for the underdog like anyone else. That's why I am a full supporter of Freddy Sanchez's 2006 batting title. He played for the Pirates, a team that has been going nowhere for 15 y...