Night Owl Cards

  As a Dodgers fan, I haven't said much about the World Series while it's been going on. So on the one-year anniversary of the Dodgers winning the World Series over the Yankees, and while this year's Series teams are traveling back to Toronto (boo!), I'll write about it a little.   First, Game 2 and Game 3 -- the two most interesting games in the Series, per me -- are now two of my most favorite World Series games in my almost 50 years of watching the Fall Classic. Yoshinobu Yamamoto's complete-game victory on Game 2 was marvelous, and while not very unusual in the annals of World Series starting pitchers, the performance was a rarity in the last 20 years and a call-back to pitchers like Hershiser, Reuss and Sutton. Very exciting.   Game 3 was even better -- a repeat of Game 3 of the 2018 World Series, filled with so many wonderful, exciting moments that it was difficult to remember them all. I thought I would only be able to watch Game 2 of the whole Series, thanks...

  Yesterday I completed the 1969 Topps set. While home for dinner, I opened a couple of card orders and the last one contained card No. 500, Mickey Mantle.   It's the yellow-name variety, it's the last Mantle card issued during his career, and all that stuff. Most importantly for me, it's the final card.   I thought it would take me longer to get this card and finish the set. Once I had acquired the Nolan Ryan in September (and the Phil Regan, don't forget him!), I started looking at Mantle prices. I didn't like what I saw. But I didn't do a thorough search, so I figured there was something a bit more reasonable out there for when the time came.    Well, the time came a couple of weeks ago. Out of the blue, I received a reimbursement check from my health insurance that I wasn't expecting, and I immediately knew where some of that was going to go. I started searching again and it became apparent that I was going to have to spend $200 to get anything that was...

  Isn't it the best when you get sick on the weekend? I'm way under the weather with what I think is a bad cold and it killed all my weekend catch-up plans. I'm pretty much in a zombie state, waiting for my next round of meds.   I'm a little more capable of sitting upright today so I can get a post out for you to read. A little under a week ago, when I was operating properly, I received another surprise package from CardBoredom. I really like his thoughtful posts and am always interested in people's cardboard origination stories, which the most recent post tackled.   CardBoredom had taken notice of my recent 1983 Donruss chase and sent me a "lightly sealed" pack of '83 Donruss. This is pretty cool. I've mentioned before that I bought just three packs of Donruss that year, so not even the pack wrapper is familiar to me.   Let's open up this pack, but not before consulting the few remaining cards I need in the set:   277 - Ryne Sandberg 530 - Wh...

  Just a short post today. Fridays are always busy and it doesn't help that MLB starts the World Series on a Friday now. We sat through three off days so we could get to a day when I absolutely cannot watch. The current configuration means that I will get to see exactly one game live even if it goes a full 7 games. Also no World Series game on a Sunday is appalling. Makes me want to write a strongly worded letter to the commissioner.   So there's not nearly enough time to relay my complicated thoughts about my Dodgers going for a second straight World Series title for the first time in my life as a baseball fan. It's already a weird space to be in, having to constantly bat away "anyone-but-the-Dodgers" spewing on the usual sites. (I spent part of the morning deleting any youtube video suggestion that has to do with "the Dodgers are ruining baseball". Why would these be in my suggestions?)   The Dodgers can do something in the 2025 World Series that has b...

  Why do I continue to show off recent "trade packages" when I know there's limited interest and the views will be low, perhaps lower than ever?   A few reasons:   1. Easy content. I'll admit, it's an easy post. Maybe that's why people don't read. They know I didn't open a vein.    2. It's the right thing to do. I'm pretty certain that most people who send me cards would like some public acknowledgement. I know from experience that it's cool to see others write about the cards I send them (and I always try to comment). And it's better than a thank you email, although that's welcome, too.   3. I'm still grateful. Not nearly as many collectors send me cards as they did 10 years ago. It could cause someone to walk away -- "it's just not worth it to me to write and write and the only cards that come my way are the ones I bought." Maybe I appreciate it more now when people do send me cards. But, truthfully I've alwa...

  For the first time in two decades I have a new favorite player.   Admittedly, it seems silly to still be selecting favorite players at my age. I've long passed the period where someone currently playing on the field is older than me. Just about everyone playing these days are "babies" to me, and I know that I have almost nothing in common with many of them.   But then somebody like Shohei Ohtani does something like this , and I'm a wide-eyed youngster again.    So, yeah, Shohei Ohtani is my new favorite player.   He surpasses the retiring Clayton Kershaw, who had been my favorite player for longer than any other Dodger in the life of my fandom. Here is the rundown, which I last listed -- holy smokes -- 15 year ago .   1975-83: Ron Cey 1983-85: Pedro Guerrero 1985-94: Orel Hershiser 1995-99: Raul Mondesi 2000-04: Shawn Green 2005-07: Brad Penny 2007-08: Russell Martin 2009-25: Clayton Kershaw 2025-?: Shohei Ohtani   Usually I don't select a new f...