C.A.: 2017 Topps Gypsy Queen Sandy Koufax

(I went to an antique show today. It used to be a collectibles show with lots of baseball cards but has morphed into showcasing expensive jewelry and paintings. I did get to see a couple of $400 Play Ball cards though. No, I didn't buy them. Time for Cardboard Appreciation. This is the 260th in a series):

I've been having some problems with my left shoulder. It's just some muscle/alignment issue that will probably be alleviated by a trip to the chiropractor (mine does great things, don't get all weird on me). But it's particularly annoying because I am left-handed.

I identify myself by just a few things. They are not my job, any political affiliation or ideology, nor even where I live. But one of them is the fact that I am left-handed. I am a left-handed in a right-handed world.

(In fact, I have two strikes against me: I am also a night owl in a daylight world).

Today is National Left-Handers' Day, a day for myself and fellow lefties to beam with pride over which hand we use more often. We are part of a club that includes some of the greatest creators and thinkers -- and also some all-time baddies -- that the world has ever known. And we've apparently gotten to that point by coping with right-handed scissors and can openers.

Unlike most of the world, baseball favors left-handers, makes them a key part of the strategic aspect of the game (while also banning them from most positions in the infield).

And, if you are a left-handed pitcher, there is a good chance that you will last longer in the major leagues than a right-hander, as long as you still have your stuff.

Recently, I received from Cards On Cards a 2017 Gypsy Queen short-print of the greatest lefty pitcher ever known, Sandy Koufax.

Koufax is naturally a favorite of mine: mind-blowing talent, pitched for the Dodgers and is a lefty.

But he had a rather clunky nickname. "The Left Arm of God". That's kind of awkward. I suppose if you're the greatest of your kind, you deserve a regal nickname like that. "Lefty" may not cut it. (Although it was good enough for Carlton, Grove and Gomez).

There are two wishes I have for Koufax.

The first is that his career lasted at least five years longer than it did (when I feel particularly greedy, I wish it could've lasted 10 more years).

The second is that he had a friendlier nickname.

Here are a few other cards that arrived with the Koufax, some lefties, some not:

Please remember to hug your favorite lefty today.