Night Owl Cards

The Astros' manager was fired late last night. Did you know? Do you care? I know that when it popped up on the news wire at 12:15 a.m. last night that I cared because it meant that I had to redo a page in the sports section of the newspaper. But it was the first time that I had thought about Brad Mills since probably the day he was hired as Houston's manager. (One of those reasons might be because Topps stopped including managers in its base set after 2009). The Astros just don't get a lot of attention from the general baseball public and get jerked around by Major League Baseball because nobody is paying attention. (Let's see MLB try to move the Cubs or the Cardinals to the American League West). If major league baseball operated like English Premier League soccer, the Astros would be easy relegation candidates. It makes me a little sad, because I remember when the Astros were not only worth noticing, but a significant force in baseball. I'm not talking ...

I had the TV on in the other room today, tuned to the MLB Network. I heard our intrepid reporter Hazel Mae (do not disparage Hazel Mae!) ask Charlie Manuel about his workout routine. Yes, Charlie Manuel. Now, I know Manuel has lost a lot of weight. But it struck me as an odd question to ask a manager. They're not known as fitness freaks. And that got me thinking: you've all heard of the Freshman 15, right? That's the term for the theory that students add on about 15 pounds during their first year of college. Well, I've got a somewhat similar theory. It's called the Manager 45. And it says that if you're going to be a major league manager, you can count on packing on 45 pounds during the course of your managing career. That is if you stay on the job for any length of time. Some managers have somehow avoided the Manager 45. They come bouncing out of the dugout during every pitching change. But it seems strange when managers do that because the major...

Everyone probably knows by now that the Astros fired their manager Cecil Cooper yesterday. It was all over the blogs. Actually it wasn't all over the blogs. Unless you substitute the name "Goodwin" with the name "Cooper," THEN it was all over the blogs. And depending on who you read, either Cooper stacks up well with Allen & Ginter or Cooper's cardboard is flimsy and he looks too much like that scary 2009 Goudey . Anyway, the only reason that the news of Cooper's firing struck me is I've always been a fan of Cecil Cooper. I mentioned it when I did a Cardboard Appreciation on this card: It's the card that made me a fan of Cecil Celester for life. But Cooper intrigued me for one other reason this year. In the past few months, some bloggers have posted about how much success they have had getting Cooper's autograph. There were glowing reports of Cooper's cooperation and Cooper seemed to go the extra yard by personalizing some of hi...

(On this day after Easter, what am I appreciating? Whoever the genius was who first figured out that chocolate and peanut butter tastes good together. Brilliant! It's time for Cardboard Appreciation. This is the 26th in a series): Is it possible to like a player forever based on his appearance on the first baseball card of his you ever saw? You bet your sweet hedge fund it is. Because that's the case with myself and Cecil Cooper. This was one of my favorite cards as a kid. Why? Well, because the guy is smiling, of course. I think it's time we come up with a name for the impact a card of a smiling player has on a kid. Perhaps the Lucy effect ? I don't know what it is, but kids are naturally drawn to cards like this. Or at least I was. I had no idea who Cecil Cooper was when I first obtained this card. But I followed his career from that point. I rooted for him to become a regular for the Red Sox, and then when he was traded to the Brewers, I cheered him on when he hit ....