Night Owl Cards

I just went through and counted my binders as they relate to sets and my team collection. I have 26 binders devoted to my Dodger collection. I have 44 binders dedicated to sets. I've never had any doubt that I am a set collector first, but that confirmed it. Another thing that confirms it is that when I receive cards that fill holes in sets that I am building, I get all giddy. It's a feeling I don't get when Dodger cards come to the door or when I receive cards for my other collections -- not that I don't appreciate those immensely. But it's definitely a different feeling. The excitement level is higher and I cannot wait to get those cards into my set binders. I recently received a package from gcrl of cards as I see them. As you know, he's a fellow Dodger fan and faithful Dodger card collector. But the majority of the cards that I received were for set completion, not for the Dodger collection. And that is quite all right. In fact: Weeeeee...

Roberto Clemente as a Brooklyn Dodger. Wow. Somehow, the mere act of issuing a card listing Clemente as a Dodger makes me feel a little better about the Dodgers blowing the chance of having one of the greatest right fielders in history playing for their franchise. If you don't know the story, Clemente was signed by the Dodgers and sent to their minor league team in Montreal for the 1954 season. He played 87 games for Montreal, but batted only 148 times, mostly because the Dodgers were trying to hide him. You see, at the time there was a baseball rule that said any player who received a $4,000 bonus had to be on the major league roster within a year, or another team got to draft him. The Dodgers were victims of their own success as they didn't have any room on their roster for Clemente with such a packed lineup. The Pirates weren't tricked by the Dodgers' hiding tactics and snapped him up in November 1954. It just shows the Dodgers didn't make all their dumb-ass...