Night Owl Cards

  I'm not sure where I got this post idea, it's possible it came from Nick's blog , but the spark from wherever made me wonder about switch-hitters and cards. How easy was it to find separate cards of a switch-hitter hitting from both sides of the plate, or at least posing as both a left-handed batter and right-handed batter? My guess was it's probably pretty easy. And in researching, I found that it's very easy. Just to have a frame of reference, I found this article from three years ago, presenting a lineup of the best switch-hitters in MLB history. Then I went to work going through my collection. Even in this era of being able to find almost any card image on TCDB, etc., I still would rather pull cards from my collection when I can. Yeah, it takes longer and, oh, the putting back , but I'm a slave to tradition.   Here is a look at the team (remember, I didn't pick this team) and a card of each player as a lefty and righty swinger:     Left field: Tim Ra...

Last month, Chris from View From the Skybox put on a charity group break to benefit children affected by the massive typhoon that hit the Philippines last year. I've pretty much cut myself off from all group breaks in the last couple of years, but this one drew my interest. Collecting cards is a hobby and is mostly about myself. This was a chance to make my hobby about someone else, something bigger. I missed out on grabbing the Dodgers in the break, which after viewing the acquisitions by the person who did get the Dodgers, is probably a good thing. Most of them would've been dupes. Normally not getting the Dodgers would eliminate my interest in a group break. But this was different. The money was going to people in need and I had to join regardless. So why not join in the spirit of charity and get some cards for someone else? So that's what I did. I got some good cards, too. Unfortunately, this is where the post falls apart. I can't show you the cards...

There are certain topics that circulate through the blogs over and over again. Sometimes the same topic comes in bunches, only to disappear for awhile, and then re-emerge a year or two later when new blogs start up. One of these topics is finding cards of players on teams for which you never knew they played. It pops up repeatedly. Jose Canseco as an Expo is often cited. Al Oliver as a Dodger is another one. There are probably many more that I forget. I decided to finally do a post on this, just to keep my blogger license. You have to write about this topic -- and players with goofy hair -- or "they" will come and find you and tell you can't waste your time rambling about cards anymore. I didn't have a lot of time to dig up cards, so I went directly to my Topps Traded sets, since that's where a lot of these examples occur. I don't have all the Traded sets, or even half of them -- including some pretty common issues, like from the late '80s. So I k...

I am about as horribly inefficient as I have been in months. Woefully behind with holiday stuff. Slacking on the job. Lazily avoiding any blog posts of substance. I don't know what it is. During my daily downtime, I end up plopping in the recliner and catching up on Parks and Recreation episodes on Netflix. That's been my ritual pretty much for the last week or two. If it's late morning or late night after work, it's time for Ron Swanson and the gang. I know doing nothing is Swanson's style. But I don't have a government job, and this isn't good. I've periodically viewed people's addictions to weekly episodic TV as depressing and a sign that they're in a funk. Well, I'm in a funk. There's no doubt about it. I'm not being productive at all. I feel stagnant. But I figure I might as well laugh at 11 a.m. and 1 a.m. each day. More TV viewing also means not much time for blog stuff. Plus, I've got to get ready for a long-a...

Yankees fans sometimes guess why fans of other teams hate the Yankees. Most of the time they guess that it's because other fans are jealous of the Yankees' success, the team's talent, and the amount of money they have to spend. There's truth to that, but using that reason is too easy. When Yankees fans say that, they're really complimenting their own team and absolving the Yankees from all blame at the same time. And that's because many of them can't stop turning the conversation into "all Yankees greatness all the time." No introspection. No admissions. So charming. And that is probably what irritates me the most about the Yankees and many of their fans. Not only do they care too much about their own team -- like it's the only team on the planet -- but they do it so much that they're utterly clueless about the other teams in baseball. That's what makes Michael Kay, the leading play-by-play announcer for the Yankees' supersta...

Quite some time ago, I mentioned on this blog how much I like cards that feature a scoreboard in the background. I devoted an entire Cardboard Appreciation post to it. And no one commented. So, I shrugged my shoulders, figured I was the only one who thought it was cool and moved on. Then, last week, Jeremy from No One Is Going To Read This Blog mentioned that he liked those kinds of cards, too. At last! A kindred spirit. It was a relief, because I had never really let go of an idea that I had, which was to show cards with scoreboards in the background in a regular feature on this blog. And, just to give me another plate to spin in the air, I thought I'd rate the cards, too. So, after months of the idea stagnating on the shelf, I officially give you a series called Awesome Scoreboard Cards (edit: Now called "Sick Scoreboard Cards"). Really, the standing ovation is unnecessary. Please sit down. The first card is the 2004 Fleer Tradition card of Lance Berkman . I like th...

I don't think this falls under the "secret shame" category. But I've been a little reluctant to confess a bit of information: I have a hard time telling a refractor card from a regular chrome card. I'm not actively collecting the Topps Chrome set from 2008, but I do pick up some packs here and there just because I can't resist. It's chrome! But I can go months before realizing that a card in my possession is a refractor. Just today, while continuing my never-ending attempt to sort my cards, I discovered that the Dustin Pedroia card up there was a refractor. It's a good thing Topps mentions it's a refractor on the back, or I'd be as clueless about this card as how the Arizona Cardinals got to the Super Bowl (I can name three players on the team. Maybe four). Then it dawned on me: how many chrome cards had I thought were doubles were actually refractors? I immediately headed to the basement and dug through my 2008 dupes. I found two refractors s...