Night Owl Cards

I no longer think of Don Mattingly as a Yankee in Dodgers clothing. I see him now, and he's pretty much all Dodger, as in "why's that fool Dodger manager taking out the pitcher now?" It was an easy transition. Mattingly always has been a likable sort, even dressed in pinstripes. There is really only one time that I can think of where I resented Mattingly's play on the ball field, and it wasn't for the usual reasons that I despise the Yankees. It happened in 1987. That was the year when Mattingly hit a home run in eight consecutive games, tying a major league record. The record he equaled was first achieved by Dale Long in 1956. Long, a respectable but mostly forgotten first baseman for the Pirates, hit a home run every game from May 19-28. That record was cool enough that I noticed it as a youngster and treasured it as a fun fact that most baseball fans wouldn't know because who the hell had ever heard of Dale Long? And then someone like Don Matti...

The fifth blog bat around asks us to brag a bit. "What is the best experience you have had acquiring cards or memorabilia?" OK, I'm gonna brag a bit. But first I'm going to address the question. The question implies that you actually DID something to acquire these cards or memorabilia. It assumes there is a story about "the process," a journey, an undertaking. Hopefully, it's an interesting story. Maybe it's funny or uplifting or fraught with danger and intrigue. But there is no "process" to my acquisition. I did absolutely, positively, 100 percent nothing to acquire a bunch of 1956 Topps cards. Sometimes, believe it or not, just raising your hand and saying, "I collect baseball cards!" is enough. So, here is my story. I mentioned it one other time on this post . But I want to go into a little more detail this time. My father worked for the city. He was in charge of the city's water supply. It was a job with a lot of respons...