Night Owl Cards

  I wrapped up the Dodgers team set for 1961 Nu-Card Baseball Scoops with the arrival last week of the Johnny Podres card.   There are 11 Dodgers-themed cards in the set, which is a lot for an 80-card set but not as much as the Yankees, who are featured 16 times. I acquired most of the cards from card shows, oddly enough -- they just don't seem appealing enough for collectors to have them on hand like some other sets from around the same time.   But I love them, for obvious reasons, and I made a renewed effort to finish off the set over the last month or so. Fortunately, the cards aren't particularly expensive. I guess you'll pay a bit for the big-time stars, but I was lucky enough to get the Jackie Robinson early (and if I had to guess I'm thinking someone sent it to me -- sorry no time to look through every blog post). The most I can recall paying recently is $12 for the Roy Campanella at the latest card show.   The '61 Baseball Scoops set is the second one from N...

  It only took three trips to the World Series in four years but I now have my own family rooting posse for the Dodgers' attempt to win this year's Series. Both my daughter and wife -- never interested much in baseball -- are fully on-board. As I worked through Game 1, I received texts from both, updating me on Dodgers excitement, and it feels good having my own crew, in this vast Yankee wasteland, celebrating what I am celebrating. It's so rare where I live. With the added attention, the World Series, as you know, turns the players participating in it into almost immortal beings. They will be remembered forever because they were in the Series. It's the only reason I recall people like Brian Doyle, Tom Lawless and Mickey Morandini today. Those players' cards will grow in stature. Every year, as I start to put away cards from that year -- we're coming up on that ritual right now -- I marvel at how much more I know some of the players than I did when I pulled thos...