Night Owl Cards

As a fan who roots for the Dodgers, I find three recurring elements of the game more frustrating than any other. The first is leaving runners on base. I'm sure every fan of every other team feels this way about their team, too, but the Dodgers I am positive have led the league in runners stranded for at least the last 35 consecutive years. The second is seeing a pitcher that your team surrendered willingly turn around and beat your team. I witnessed this with Eric Stults just a couple of days ago. I could sit here for 15 years and not come up with a reason why the Dodgers couldn't hit Stults. The third is seeing a pitcher own your team year after year as if the only reason for his career is to beat the Dodgers. I've been aware of this one since I could root for a specific team. Over the years, I've come to know certain pitchers dominate the Dodgers. John Candelaria, Dennis Martinez, Mario Soto, Chris Carpenter. But I never had any numbers to back it up. Was i...

Topps always gets me with its annual release date of the flagship set. By releasing it in late January, it's still fresh on the shelves during what I call the "second gift-buying season." The first gift-buying season, of course, is Christmas. The second (or actually I guess it's the first if you're going by the calendar) is early February to the end of March. That season includes the holiday that we are celebrating (or dismissing) today and quite a number of birthdays. I always find myself in stores at this time and some of those stores have card aisles. It's inevitable. I drift toward the cards as a reward for suffering through whatever section of the store that is overrun with hearts or crafts or clothes or that makeup/jewelry/purses, bags and scarves blackhole where I suddenly can't breathe. At this time, flagship is still a little interesting, even for someone who isn't trying to complete the set. So, last night, I grabbed a rack pack an...

Ten things that stop traffic: 1. Construction 2. A red stoplight 3. Fallen tree limbs 4. An auto accident 5. A crossing guard 6. Ducks in the road 7. A boy chasing a ball 8. A funeral procession 9. An attractive woman And ... 10. Throwback Padres uniforms on a summer night! The uniform Jake Peavy is wearing is a tribute to the regular San Diego uniforms worn in 1972 and 1973. I suspect famed McDonald's owner Ray Kroc was the mad genius behind these things, and I wish they'd bring them back full-time. It'd be a true style-over-substance move. But the Padres don't have any substance. At least they'd have style. This card was sent to me by spiegel . He always throws in some night cards into his card packages that are generally dominated by Dodgers. This package happened to have a variety of items, including some notable late-'70s vintage. Behold: All of these were most-needed for my non-existent '77 Topps want list (I'll get it up ...

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...