Night Owl Cards

  I keep forgetting that the latest Hall of Fame induction ceremony is coming up this weekend. Usually I prepare these Hall of Fame posts in advance but I suddenly realized that I've got to get it done by the weekend.   My reason for forgetting is that this class is quite forgettable. It's three players from the '90s/'00s/'10s. All three are not exactly popular among baseball fans as a whole. Two were Dodgers and neither came out of it well. The other guy spent virtually his whole career on irksome teams aggravating and tormenting the Dodgers (sometimes in trashy ways). So, no, I won't be watching the ceremony.   But I will update my most Hall of Famers series, which I am doing yearly now that I've covered every Topps flagship set, documenting how many Hall of Famers are in each one.   Like last year, I am only listing the years for which the totals have changed after adding Carlos Beltran, Andruw Jones and Jeff Kent.   This time around 25 sets have increase...

There are a few guys in my office who don't work in the sports department but are sports fans. Just about every day, early in the shift, they discuss sports loudly. These guys are adults, some with wives and kids, and because they are adults, they are prone to talk about "the good old days" when it comes to sports. When I think of the "good old days," I think of the '70s and '80s. I believe everyone who reads this blog knows that by now. But these guys in the office, when they get nostalgic, revert to one particular time period that I don't think of as "good" or "old." Most of their discussions center on the late 1990s/early 2000s. Players like Scott Brosius are treated like long ago heroes. What the hell. For me, that is far too recent a period to start getting nostalgic about it. Besides, what is there worth rumination? Androstenedione? Jeffrey Maier? Big-headed Barry launching home runs like I'm supposed to car...

One player who I have almost never thought about during his entire career is Carlos Beltran. Beltran is probably going to the Hall of Fame. He hits wherever he's been. He's having possibly his greatest season at age 34. But it's taken me this long to wonder: What cap will he wear on his Hall of Fame plaque? As a Royal, he won Rookie of the Year honors and knocked in 100-or-more runners four times. As an Astro, he enjoyed one of the most epic individual postseasons ever, hitting over .400 in the NLDS and NLCS in 2004. As a Met, he was a five-time All-Star. As a Giant, he hit .323 in his brief time there. As a Cardinal, he is leading the league in RBIs and has 20 home runs already. So what cap is it going to be? Well, not the Giants or the Astros. His time was too short there. I'd like it to be the Royals, but the fact that he hasn't played for them since 2004 probably rules that out. The Cardinals is too soon. So that means it's probably ...