Night Owl Cards

    (For those entered in the contest to win the 1989 Topps Big set, I'll announce it at the end of the post).   I've been a Dodgers fan since 1974. I know a lot of readers know that but I just want to get it out there for any newcomers who arrive upon this blog in the next year or so and think, "another one, huh?" Longtime fans have their radar turned up for bandwagoners. It's an ugly thing that we rooting veterans do, singling out the rising totals in Patriots or Braves fans over the years as the sign of some sort of mass personality flaw. It's actually none of our business. New fans can root for whoever they want. But I do expect more Dodgers fans to show up now that the team has won the World Series. It's just the nature of things. Do you know how many Jets fans I saw on the playground in the early '70s? Where are they all now? I do expect acquiring Dodgers cards to get tougher from here on out, too. Not that it isn't tough already. Aside from ...

How about that Mookie Betts? I spent a good while last night reveling in everything that people had told me all spring and into the summer: a) Mookie Betts will never play for the Dodgers or: b) Enjoy Mookie Betts' 60 games with the Dodgers. Ha, ha! I have news of a 12-year deal for you as my response! And as for never playing for the Dodgers, perhaps you missed last night's game, in which he was instrumental in the Dodgers' 8-1 opening victory. I consider yesterday's game a late birthday present. Just about anything good that happens this month I consider a birthday gift. It's pretty much a birthday month when your birthday is in July. I've still got stuff coming from birthday money I received, and vacations allow me to enjoy my birthday and then extend that through more time off. And then people send me packages, which sometimes I have a sneaking suspicion are birthday-related. Last week, while I was away for a couple of days, an envelope ...