Night Owl Cards

My spreadsheet says I have 45 cards of Roy Halladay. That sounds about right for a modern player who I didn't pay much attention to when he was playing. That's why I don't feel qualified to write a tribute to Halladay after the news yesterday of his death in a plane crash at age 40. I'm not a fan of the Blue Jays or Phillies. I knew that he was very good when he was playing but didn't watch many of his games. So I'm just going to stick to baseball cards. Of those 45 cards of Halladay, most are part of sets that I have completed or like quite a bit. I've probably traded off any of the other Halladays. While going through the cards I have of him, I realized that he is in just about every set that has had meaning to me over the last dozen years. This was a card that fell out of just about every pack of 2008 Stadium Club. The collation of that set sucked in a variety of ways and shame on it for making me grow tired of this card. Even though y...

I'm telling you, those Topps value boxes sure are distracting. I grabbed another one and redeemed this Roy Halladay diamond cut card. I also redeemed two 1967 cards and pulled a Heritage relic of Jayson Werth. These things are absolutely addicting. I'm almost afraid to mention them for fear I'll head back and the 10 boxes I saw there last night will all be gone. The value boxes are also keeping me from focusing on what is truly amazing about this hobby, which is finding collectors just as enthused as you are and exchanging cards with them. I hope I never forget that. The most exciting thing isn't mojo hits or busting the latest product. It's finding people who are as excited about collecting cards as you are. One of those people is fellow Dodger fan, Spiegel . I think he might be one of the most enthusiastic collectors I have had the occasion to virtually meet. He sent me some cards recently. And by recently, I mean long ago. We didn't even have Gypsy Queen...

Being a Dodgers fan means you take the bad and the good. Your team's postseason history isn't filled with never-ending highs, like the Yankees. Your team's postseason history isn't filled with demoralizing lows, like the Cubs. It's sort of in between. I try to dwell on the positive sides of the Dodgers in the postseason. Kirk Gibson. 1981. Koufax. The '63 sweep. Charlie Neal. Johnny Podres. I attempt to avoid the negative sides. Tom Niedenfuer. Gary Matthews. Reggie and his hip. Joe Rudi. The '66 O's. Wait 'Til Next Year. Mickey Owen. The most embarrassing part of the Dodgers' postseason history is something I have rarely mentioned on this blog. That's because I don't like mentioning it. It's the matter of that little no-hitter that Don Larsen threw in the 1956 World Series. It was the only no-hitter in postseason play, and it came against the Dodgers. I wasn't alive then, but damn that must've been embarrassing. ...

I admit that I have favorites when it comes to baseball. I don't mean just a favorite player or team. I mean a favorite type of player. I favor pitchers. And I don't try to hide it. I like pitchers more than hitters. I relate to pitchers more than hitters. I think pitchers are smarter than hitters. Generally speaking. The players that I hold in the most awe, regardless of era, are pitchers. Among my favorite players of all-time are Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson, Pedro Martinez and Greg Maddux. The 1978 season by Ron Guidry, the 1971 season by Vida Blue, the 1988 season by Orel Hershiser inspire more appreciation in me than the greatest home run performances of all-time. When I go to the ballpark, I want to see 1-0 masterpieces. Leave the 14-13 trainwrecks to the ADD crowd, the rubberneckers who can only pay attention when it's FAST and LOUD. Give me Don Drysdale against Juan Marichal in 1966 when the average runs per game was something like 2.7 per team. So, yes, I freakin...

I can't get too excited about photoshopping on baseball cards. As long as you're not rubbing out umpires or transforming an entire ballpark, I think it's harmless fun. It's been going on for decades, first with a simple paint brush and now with a computer program. This is a 2010 Opening Day card of Roy Halladay. He's pictured working for a team for which he's never taken the mound in an official game. He was traded to Philadelphia in December. Companies are getting better at "hiding" their photoshopping efforts, but this is one of the easier ones to detect. The cap and T-shirt colors are too dark. The name on the back of his jersey is just too big as is the uniform number (Halladay wore No. 32 with the Blue Jays). I like that they put the "TV number" on Halladay's sleeve because the Phillies do feature TV numbers. I guess Halladay is supposed to be wearing a Phillies road unform, because their home uniforms feature pinstripes. But t...

I decided to rip a pack of 2008 Topps Stadium Club here, because that's what all the kids are doing these days. You won't find me featuring the latest and greatest very often, so enjoy it while it lasts. Actually, I got this pack today so I can lead into something else. It has to do with the polls off to the right. I'll get to that in a minute. In the meantime, you might be asking yourself: only a pack? How come there's no blaster? And my response is: one month to Christmas my friends. No blasters until after then. If you want to see Stadium Club blasters, check out a number of the fine card blogs out there. Cardboard Icons, Free Andy LaRoche, Fielder's Choice, and a bunch of others have busted this stuff in the last few days. My quick thoughts on Stadium Club before I get to the cards: I respect Stadium Club, I recognize its ground-breaking ways, I like its photography. But I'm not ga-ga over it, like some are. Full-bleed photos contribute to a sameness in whi...