C.A.: 2014 Topps Stadium Club Sandy Koufax

 (You guys! Clayton Kershaw is pitching! As excited as I can be on a work night from hell! Time for Cardboard appreciation. This is the 246th in a series):

 Here is an incomplete list of some things created/introduced the year I was born:

Canadian maple leaf flag
"The Sound Of Music"
"(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" - Rolling Stones
"I Got You Babe" - Sonny and Cher
The first stadium concert (the Beatles at Shea)
Tom & Jerry
Gateway Arch
Pillsbury Doughboy
"Days Of Our Lives"
"A Charlie Brown Christmas"
The Great Gazoo
"I Dream of Jeannie"
Gatorade
Kevlar
Spirograph
"Get Smart"
Spaghetti-O's
"Whipped Cream and Other Delights" - Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass
Cool Whip
"My Generation" - The Who
"Gidget"
Astroturf
Houston Astros
"What's New Pussycat"
"Highway 61 Revisited" - Bob Dylan
Ford Mustang

Lot of great things in that list that I've enjoyed all my life.

But there is one thing that tops it for me. The only perfect creation on the list.

Fifty-one years ago today, Sandy Koufax threw a perfect game, made all the more powerful because he had thrown three previous no-hitters already, he won the game 1-0, and his own team managed just one hit. That is some kind of pressure, or some kind of confidence.

A couple of weeks ago, Fuji asked for notable moments that happened on the day of your birth. That prompted me to look up how the Dodgers did on that day, and I was reminded all over again: Koufax on that day threw a four-hit shutout, struck out nine, and went 2-for-3 in a 3-0 victory over the Cubs. Less than two months later, he would throw a perfect game against that same team.

I feel a great deal of pride that Koufax performed so well on my birthdate and during the year I was born. After his perfect game, he helped the Dodgers win the World Series, the year I was born.

I'm responsible for none of it, of course, but I didn't know any of this when I picked the Dodgers as my favorite team back in 1974. Looking back, it seems meant to be.

P.S.: Since Topps and Upper Deck have used this Koufax image, I wouldn't mind if Panini did the same. I'd even accept an airbrushed jersey version.

But then maybe that would be messing with perfection.

(P.P.S.: Yes, I know I'm old. Get over it).