Night Owl Cards

  Around this time of year, my world ramps up and I get amped up.   The Super Bowl makes things busy at work and also for me as a fan. Usually, February means the start of area high school playoffs that continue throughout the month and into March. That's not going to happen this year, but a few teams are going to start playing some games soon and that's practically the playoffs for them (and us, too) during pandemic times.   February also means the beginning of "birthday season" in my family and extended family. And sometimes I'm thrown two weeks of a Winter Olympics to handle as well.   Into all of this, Topps decides to release its most anticipated set of the season, the reason for it existing really, the First Cards Of The Season.   I've always considered this a terrible time to release its set. Not only am I incredibly busy but the weather is usually ass. Six-foot piles of snow in the Target parking lot is not uncommon. But I shovel myself out because it...

More on these guys later. Last week, in a fit of laziness/writer's block, I wondered who the scariest-looking players in baseball history were. I received a variety of responses. I will try to show most of them here. As I clarified in the comments, by "scary" I meant, "this guy looks like he wants to kill me" scary. So, although folks like Otis Nixon and Willie McGee and Zane Smith, look "scary" in an "unfortunate-but-his-mom-still-loves-him" kind of way, that's not what I was going for. What I was going for is this: Maybe Randy Johnson is "ugly scary," too. But there is no doubt that there were a few batters that feared for their life facing him. He had the ability, and he definitely had the look, which is the main point of this post. The intent was to find players so frightening-looking that it set the "human fear response" into motion. Like this guy. He certainly featured an intense look on the mound. Th...

I probably should explain the title of this blog a little. It might seem obvious, considering the "about me" profile along the right rail. And if you've been paying attention, almost all of my posts so far have been after midnight. Yes, I'm a night owl. I have been since I was a teenager. I work a job that requires me to toil at night, and I find that it suits me. I am most unpleasant in the morning (the few mornings that I see), but when 9 p.m. hits, the switch is on. Let's go, let's party. Now add the fact that I am an East Coast guy who is a fan of a West Coast team. After years of living through, "San Francisco at Los Angeles (n.)" in the newspaper, I fully appreciate being able to find the score of the Dodger game with a few simple key strokes. Waiting until 2 a.m. is no price to pay at all. Hell, I'm up already anyway. But that's only half of it. The other half is I've always enjoyed the night time more than the day. I love it...