Night Owl Cards

  So it's the wee hours of the morning in the hazy afterglow of celebrating the Dodgers' World Series title over -- can you believe it? -- the Yankees. It was a quiet celebration. Just my wife, who was rousted out of bed by a text from my daughter that basically said "GET UP, THE DODGERS ARE DOING SOMETHING!", and me, who raced home from work to see the on-field celebration. Prior to that, I was in my office, sweating through the final innings. I wasn't that busy, so I had plenty of time to check for updates. I tell you, for a five-game World Series, that was a little too much drama. In the eighth inning, I couldn't take it anymore and walked out to talk to a co-worker who couldn't care less about the game. I wanted her to take my mind off of it, and she did, talking about high school soccer playoffs, of all things (usually that would put me right to sleep but I needed anything off-topic to distract me).   But then I heard the game calling me and I went ...

I'd like the Dodgers to sweep tonight, but I'm not confident about it. The Yankees would really have to be in rough shape to lose to Brent Honeywell Jr. and friends. But it could be one those 13-11 games, so there's a shot, and if it's going to happen it will be the second time the Dodgers have swept the Yankees in the World Series. The first happened in 1963. I wasn't around in '63. So I've often wondered what that was like. The Dodgers sweeping the Yankees on the grandest stage is my dream come true (why it needs to happen today ). Damn, the only time in my life I've wished I was 10 years older. All I can do is read about it . And go back in time thee way only my little blog can do to see what life was like 61 years ago.   Since this is a card blog, I'll address the card portion first. In 1963, the Topps monopoly was picking up steam with only Fleer mounting a minor challenge.   Fleer put out a dandy little set in 1963. (The green card backs might ...

  Over the past seven years, I've learned that if the Dodgers are in the World Series, I'm going to need to post about it -- and I probably can't post about anything else. It's just difficult to get interested in a regular topic when All Of That is going on (I actually get annoyed when following along on social media during a Series game when a non-Series post slips in).   The Dodgers are in pretty good shape as of this writing. But I've seen Series 2-0 leads crumble more times than I care to remember. And to make the 1978 memories worse, the Series has moved to New York for three games. I loathe viewing games in Yankee Stadium and the Series magnifies that by about a million. Fortunately, I'll be working all through the next three games. So I can fast-forward to what I want (or ignore altogether) at a later date.   I think the Dodgers could use another World Series boost post from me though. I did this four years ago . I'm going to change it up a little bit...

  ... but I had to. What a time to be on this earth for both times.

  It's been a fairly stressful week, between traveling, a delayed doctor's appointment, the loss of a beloved player from my youth, and now the most taxing World Series matchup I could possibly conjure up as a fan. The weekend will help a little (stupid sports teams still have to play on the weekend, tho) and so will the collection. I just happen to be wrapping up a super-simple sportlots order with the final cards trickling in. I like simple orders. Big-ticket and super-cool arrivals are always fun but they contain a certain amount of worry what with prices paid and condition concerns. Simple orders are just simple cards, they don't cost much but still they fill holes and are always wanted.   Some of those cards were upgrades and they've already been filed away with a smile. A 1983 Topps Ron LeFlore, a 1986 Fleer Bobby Castillo, items that should have always been pristine but weren't, and I was horrified. But now the monster is back in the closet.   Others were reg...

  I know some readers have been expecting me to write about Fernando Valenzuela after news of his death. A few comments on the last post mentioned him even though I cited him just once in passing. I learned of the sad news as I ended work around midnight Tuesday. The work schedule is unrelenting midweek these days. This is why I almost never post on Wednesdays now, so there was no chance to get to it yesterday. But I was devastated. Valenzuela is probably among my top 10 favorite Dodgers, or at least should be. His arrival synced perfectly with my budding interest in young stars -- a common teenage fixation -- and the Dodgers were happily accommodating with not only Fernando but Sutcliffe, Steve Howe, Sax, Guerrero, Rudy Law and a bunch of others. I lived far away from Los Angeles, so I have no tales to tell of nearly running into Valenzuela in Dodger Stadium or him signing a ball for me. But I did witness his MLB career from the very beginning. I've written about him a bunch ...