Envy is an excellent motivational tool

I am genuinely happy for collectors when they land a key vintage card or a great pull of whatever gimmick is popular these days.

Their success is success for the collector in general. It's cool. It's inspirational and a reason why I dial through the blogs every day.

Even when my fellow Dodger fans display the great Dodger cards they've acquired, I can't help but be pleased for them. We share a mutual appreciation for the best cards on earth. We should be happy for each other, regardless of whether we have that card or not.

But then there are the collectors who are fans of other teams that display their cool Dodger cards.

Ooof.

I try. I really try to be happy for them. I even rehearse to myself what I'm going to say in the comments:

"Great card! Nice pick-up. Oooh! Good for you!"

But that's rarely what I write.

Sometimes I don't write anything at all.

Sometimes I do write something. It goes along these lines:

"Wow. You've got a fantastic card shop there (translation: I don't have that card and I'm a Dodger fan, so therefore it should be mine, not yours).

Or:

"That's awesome. I need to get that card for my collection (translation: I don't have that card and I'm a Dodger fan, and now there's one less of that card for me, the Dodger fan).

Or:

"Neeeeeeeeeeeed that card!!! Neeeeeeeed!!!! WAAAANNNNTTTTT! (translation: You don't need a translation for that).

I know this is immature of me. I'm sorry. Collecting cards isn't the most mature hobby in the world. If you want maturity from me, you need to find a way to get me started collecting dining patterns or doilies or ... I don't know, what is a mature hobby?

Anyway, when card collectors who are not Dodger fans show me cool Dodger cards that I don't have, I get a little envious. In fact Night Owl Cards actually turns green. You can't see it because my template automatically corrects itself (don't ask how. It's an NOC secret). But it does.

But never fear. This is a good thing. It actually puts me into action.

I have decided to do something about it.

I flagged down some cards. Only three of them are directly related to cases of Dodger card envy. But since I got several of them together, I'll show more than just the three.

Here is the first one:

I'm not sure where I saw this card. It could have been over at gcrl. That means I wasn't that envious of it, because gcrl is a known Dodger fan. It's cool that he has cards like these. It's the way the world should be. But, I had to get this card because it's one of the best examples of the Wally Moon unibrow. Oh, and it's a Dodger from the '60s.

Here is the second card:

You're probably very familiar with this card by now. It's the header for Play at the Plate. I have no idea if Brian actually has this card or not. I know he does a lot of wheeling and dealing on the Million Card Giveaway site, so it's possible.

What I do know is that I've had to stare at this wonderful '56 card of a wonderful Brooklyn Dodger that I don't have every day for as long as it's been on PATP's site. It's semi-excruciating. OK, it's all the way excruciating.

But it's not anymore. Because I have it. It's got a few light creases and there is a minimal amount of writing on the back, but it certainly works for my collection. It looks like all the other '56s I have. It's a terrific, terrific card of one of the Boys of Summer. Finally mine.

I was so pleased with this card that I got me another '56:

It's the backup catcher for those Bum teams. Notice that he's wearing No. 10, my favorite Dodger uniform number. Goody for me.

OK, here is the third card:

I have been interested in snaring this card since I was probably 14. I have seen it a bunch of times and never pulled the trigger. Ever since I started this blog, I've seen it a bunch more times. Still didn't do anything about it.

Then, a known Braves fan displayed his copy.

That got me moving. A Braves fan having this card but me NOT having this card caused a giant sinkhole to open up somewhere on this planet. Plant life, animals, vehicles were lost. Plus, it made me grumpy.

So now the card is mine, it looks tremendous, and the nightmares will go away. Unfortunately, the sinkhole damage has been done.

I didn't have a lot of cash after those four cards, so I added one other vintage item:

I am now down to needing two Dodger cards to complete the 1967 Topps team set.

And I added several awesome 1975/76 SSPC Dodgers because they're very cool and cheap. Here are just a few:

Awesome, awesome cards. Those are Alston, Sutton, Lopes, Wynn and Vernon for those who don't know. Mickey Vernon was a hitting coach for L.A. briefly in the '70s. I never knew that. But it is so cool to have a card of the late, great Vernon in a Dodger uniform.

And that's what I picked up in a fit of envy.

But it's more than just that.

These cards are the first results of my New Year's card resolution.

At the start of the year, I decided that I would spend most of my card money on cards that I saw on the intertubes or know to exist that fit into my collection. And, I would spend very little on cards that don't fit into my collection, which means goodbye, at the very least, to blasters.

I said goodbye to blasters at the start of 2010. It didn't last, although I did cut down on them tremendously. I hope by managing my money in a card-wise fashion I can look at a blaster the way a vegetarian looks at meat.

I'll try to work on the envy thing, too. It'll make me more cuddly. But right now, it's helping me zero in on a Frank Howard card.