Patience is a virtue

I went out of town for a couple of days and while I was there received a bit of bad news with regard to family.

I'm not comfortable discussing it here, in small part because I don't entirely know what the news means, whether it's a little bad, a lot bad or some sort of false alarm. But the key thing I'm taking from this news is how important patience is.

In general, I'm a patient person, probably much more patient than most people, going as far as it being a detriment in that I can be too patient.

But there are times when I don't exercise enough patience. Surprise, surprise, often those times involve cards.

Recently, I received a bunch of 2018 Topps Opening Day Dodgers from Matt at Once a Cub. He has busted an entire case of Opening Day, started an OD blog, and had promised to distribute lots of extras to fellow collectors.

I wasn't exactly thinking about that though when I was at a card show a couple of weeks ago and started pulling as many Dodgers cards that I could find from the 2018 Opening Day binder.

I pulled this many cards:

Then a week or so later, Matt sent these cards:

Go ahead and double-check, those are the exact same cards that I picked out at the card show (it's kind of neat how every player is in a different spot without me planning it out).

If I was a little more patient and less dazzled by a dealer's card wares, I could have saved myself a couple of dollars.

But dealers, being the way that dealers can be, tend to charge a premium for rookie cards. Fortunately, bloggers don't do the same.

Matt sent the two Dodgers OD base cards that I wasn't able to obtain when I went to the card show. The team set is now complete.

Also, Matt sent a few more Opening Day Dodgers needs to help diminish my regret over the impatient purchase.

I can't say I've been following 2018 cards all that closely, so excuse me if some of the "Before Opening Day" and "Opening Day" insert cards are above average. But these three certainly aren't doing the job. Neither Bellinger nor Puig looks like they're at a spring training game and the poor crop job on the bottom card eliminates any sign that this ceremony happened at Dodger Stadium.

Matt also sent a bunch of parallels and inserts of the Dodger persuasion. I needed all of the above.

And here's a base card need plus a shout-out to starting pitchers who can complete what they began so that the bullpen doesn't turn a victory into a loss.

I realize that those starting pitchers kind of died out in the '80s but it's too bad because I'm starting to feel sorry for fans who invest themselves in games like last night's Dodgers-Marlins game and see a team unravel after the starting pitcher had done so well. It makes me wonder why I stick games out to the end.

If only today's managers had a bit more patience. Or maybe I should be more patient with the bullpen. Or the team in general.

Patience is a virtue.

I will be repeating this to myself over and over again.