Night Owl Cards

    When I first started reading card blogs, I didn't know there were so many kinds of collectors.   Growing up in the 1970s, there was basically one kind, or maybe two -- set collectors (those who could afford to complete the set) and team collectors (those who couldn't). Decades later I may have picked up on something called "a player collector" but I didn't know any of them.   In my insular collecting world -- basically the way it was for most collectors before the internet -- I figured everyone collected like I did. That's how my friends collected. And when I returned to the hobby in the early 2000s, the few guys I knew around work collected that way, too.   That all changed for me when I started writing a blog. Not only were there player collectors on top of everything I had known, but type collectors -- parallels, short-prints, autographs, relics, Hall of Famers, guys blowing bubble gum, standing for the National Anthem, featuring weird names, shown with...

  The Dodgers recognized "The Infield" on Friday on the 50th anniversary of Ron Cey, Steve Garvey, Dave Lopes and Bill Russell first playing together. It seems like they just did that the other day, but I guess 10 more years have gone by since, and, wow, was that fast. That Dodgers infield set the major league record for most consecutive years together and they did it all during my first years of following baseball and the team, from 1973 to the end of the 1981 World Series. I thought I'd take the occasion to look through my cards of each of those players and pick out a few notables for each. Here we go:     RON CEY Total number of cards in my collection: 178 Rank in my collection: 30th Number of autographed cards: 25   Rookie card: 1972 Topps (AL-NL Rookie Stars) Favorite card: 1975 Topps Most difficult to land: 1979 Hostess Most painful card: 1983 Topps Traded   As you could guess, it was tough to choose from my Cey collection, which is easily the most var...

  It's the ol' birthday again, which is why I was pleased to pull the Shoeless Joe Jackson card in my box of Diamond Kings the other day as he's probably the most notable sports person born on my birthday. I've done all that "born the same day as me" stuff already in past posts and I've done a lot of "how the Dodgers did on my birthday" stuff, too. I don't have a lot of creativity left for this day -- maybe I'll think of something for 365 days from now. But I do have some cards to show that I like. I'm calling it a birthday gift and since they're from Rod of Padrographs , it's possible they actually are. He's a good guy and he's sent stuff my way for my birthday before. You all remember that birthday card signed by Ron Cey, right ? There were more signatures in this package, a whole bunch of them, in fact. Just about all of them were Dodgers, because I'm not collecting scribbles from some inferior team. He sent som...

Today is my birthday. I love my birthday. I will never be one of those people who ignores my birthday or shrugs it off. I don't know about you, but having people fawn all over you and give you cake and presents makes me pretty happy. I enjoy the day so much that it bothers me when I see others not enjoying July 16 as they should. Through no fault of their own, they're experiencing everyday problems on my birthday. This is not cool. This is my birthday. It should be a holiday for everyone. In fact, if you're working today or doing everyday chores, I give you permission to take the day off. Go ahead, tell them it's night owl's birthday. They'll understand. But yes, I realize life goes on. For example, a good friend of mine on the internets, someone who has had a baseball card blog or two in the past, is supposed to be undergoing surgery today. On my birthday. That's almost as bad as the fact that people will be watching the ESPY's on my birthday. ...