Night Owl Cards

  It's award season. I think if you watched any football yesterday, you know that, with advertisements for the airing of the upcoming Grammys, for artists you don't know and songs you wish you never heard.   In keeping with the season, Trading Card Database announced their yearly "site awards" and Night Owl Cards came away with " Favorite Blog " for the third straight year. Woo-hoo! Throw in the Blog of the Year honor from Nachos Grande a few weeks ago and it's another sweep! It's a consensus, if you're not reading, you're receding! Thanks for the votes. It's a little weird to be getting accolades after doing this for so long. It's not 2009 anymore, NOC isn't the new, hot, young thing. But I appreciate it, and I appreciate all that TCDB does for acknowledging collectors and collections. I still use only a small part of what's available on the site. I don't use the forums, nor do I comment, nor have I started trading. As I...

  Trading Card Database announced its site's end of the year awards yesterday and Night Owl Cards is your favorite card blog once again! Thanks for continuing to read my nonsense after so many years. Sometimes I feel like that rock band that has overstayed its welcome. But stuff like this helps me know I should continue. You'll note a couple of familiar blogs also on that list and the two tied for No. 3 are well-known TCDB users and promoters, at least that I've seen. I am not. I don't have anything against the site at all, in fact I think it's great. I simply am late to the party and haven't had the chance to get involved in everything TCDB has to offer, so it feels weird to be honored without taking part like those other blog operators.   I'm late to the party in everything having to do with the hobby and it seems more so the case the last few years. As I pull away from modern cards, I am starting to lose track of what sets there are. I've long since s...

Did you know that Andy Messersmith was a Gold Glove-caliber fielder? I had no idea until a few moments ago. I had read about the Dodgers placing two players on the National League Gold Glove team this year, and the article said it was the first time that the Dodgers had two players who had spent the entire year with the club on the Gold Glove team since 1975. I had Steve Garvey figured out right away as one of the slick fielders on that '75 team. But Messersmith came as a surprise. There is so much I don't know about that guy. Yet he's one of my favorite pitchers of the '70s. But I have to say congratulations to the two players on this year's team: Orlando Hudson, who is probably playing elsewhere next year. And Matt Kemp, who has very few cards picturing him fielding. Fortunately, I have this Capewood's Collection card sent to me by Cliff. Now, normally, I wouldn't care about the Gold Glove Awards, which is one of the emptiest awards of the postseason...

Goodbye politics, hello hot stove! And before we get to the signings and trades, we have a few awards to hand out. I love this time of year! Greg Maddux received his record 18th Gold Glove Award on Wednesday. Unless Joe Torre lands NL Manager of the Year honors, I think Maddux is as close to an award that any Dodger is going to get this year. I'm fairly certain that Maddux is actually retiring, even though that would mean I believe something Scott Boras said. Maddux has kind of dragged out his career a year too long, and I don't think he wants another season of going 8-13. He's not a lot of help to any team's pitching staff anymore -- not as a starter anyway -- except in terms of lending advice to younger pitchers. With the disappearance of Maddux, not to mention Derek Lowe and Brad Penny, L.A.'s joined the crowd of teams looking for starting pitching. The Dodgers will certainly sign someone or make a trade because they can't survive on a staff of Billingsley an...