Night Owl Cards

  I watched Nachos Grande's 2021 Topps group break after work late Tuesday night (actually early Wednesday morning). I had the Dodgers in the break, and what I saw will be enough to keep me from looking for packs of the stuff. I always enjoy the new baseball card season, but I don't know what Topps is doing with its flagship design anymore. I made out pretty good in the break. I was able to land all of the Dodgers in Series 1 except for Cody Bellinger and Gavin Lux (once again, don't tell me Topps doesn't secretly make certain base cards less available). I didn't land any inserts but the special silver pack did yield probably my favorite card from the break: I'm still a sucker for shiny cards and Jackie Robinson cards even while I'd be happy if Topps stopped creating both. It's nice to have another Jackie Robinson card in the collection because Robinson is my all-time favorite Black baseball player. I don't think that's a stretch, but as a Dodger...

It's February, meaning it's Black History Month. I don't hear a lot about Black History Month these days, although I have noticed a few quick references this year. But when I was in grade school during the 1970s, I definitely knew February was Black History Month. Teachers made certain to plan lessons around great black figures in history each year and I was well-versed in the high trinity of 1970s black history: Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman and George Washington Carver. Growing up in the post-civil rights era, black culture was everywhere. I read The Snowy Day, I watched Good Times. The one show I saw more of as a kid than any other -- Sesame Street -- didn't feature no "token black character". Out of the main characters on the show, three -- Gordon, Susan and David -- were black. Add Latin favorites Maria and Luis, and Bob and Mr. Hooper were the minorities on the show (Well, actually all the humans were minorities, considering the population ...