Night Owl Cards

  I became aware of this card probably several months ago, filed it away as a future conquest, promptly forgot about it, then came across it again a couple of weeks ago.   It's now in my possession and it couldn't be more fantastic. I grew up with Luis Tiant as a key member of the Red Sox and then wrapping up his career with the Yankees and Angels (I was not old enough for the Indians and Twins version of Tiant). He is firmly entrenched with the AL East in my mind, one of my childhood favorites, and that's why it's so bizarre and so wonderful to see him in a Dodgers uniform.   Sure, El Tiante is part of a low-level team in the Dodgers' chain, but it doesn't make the card any less intriguing.   It's part of a litany of cards of players and other baseball figures in unfamiliar uniforms.   We've all seen the short-term stops cards for players, there's been plenty of blog posts about those. But what about coaches and managers? There's some weirdness ...

Did you practically jump when you saw this image on your blog roll? I did when I first pulled the card out of a PWE from Dime Box Nick . It wasn't just the '70s white man's afro, or the wispy stache, or Larry Bowa staring unblinkingly back at me. It was that this card broke a pattern. Once you've been collecting for awhile, you get to know cards so well that various sets follow patterns that become familiar to you. The dugout shots in 1981 Topps. The wacky cropping in 1982 Fleer. The distant players in 2004 Topps. The patterns become ingrained in your brain and you don't even think about them anymore. It's just a basic truth: There are a crap-load of players with no hats in 1970 Topps. Kellogg's 3-D cards' basic truth is that images are torso shots. Batters posed in a stance or placed a bat on their shoulder. Pitchers propped a glove in front of their chest or faked a throw. Sometimes you saw a leg or two because another common pose was kneeling...

The Dodgers have been very busy this offseason, adding just about anyone that will fit into their budget, which is to say they haven't added a single player who I think can help them win a World Series. In fact, it would be more inspiring seeing Bo Derek out there in the outfield, riding her horse after fly balls, than Jay Gibbons, Tony Gwynn Jr., Marcus Thames or Gabe Kapeler. Inspiring in a different kind of way, perhaps. But this isn't a post about Derek or Dudley Moore or the movie I really, really, really wanted to see when I was 14 years old. This is only a post about the number 10. There are a lot of new additions to the team and I'm curious to know which Dodger will land the coveted uniform number 10. It has always been my favorite uniform number, not because of Derek's cinematic breakout but because of a player who worked for the Dodgers from the early 1970s to early 1980s. Before and since that time, the No. 10 has been worn by Dodgers low and high....

I seem to have entered a time machine without my knowledge and been transported all the way back to February 4, 2009. That was the last day of my life without 2009 cards. The last day, that is, until this week because once again the area where I live is devoid of anything from this year. I'm not sure how that happens. We had '09 cards for all of five days and apparently they were so popular that Topps and Upper Deck are still trying to recuperate from the outrageous demand. I don't get it. I live next to a county where the cows outpopulate the people (I am dead serious). If you can't supply enough cards for my neck of the woods, I'll just say one thing: I'm glad you're not in charge of putting food on the shelves. I am getting impatient again. I am watching other bloggers buying blasters . Meanwhile, I haven't the foggiest idea what a 2009 Topps blaster looks like. At least show a picture for those less fortunate (and I mean the box, not one of those g...

Nope, the Dodgers didn't just sweep the Yankees. Nope, it isn't the World Series. But, yep, the Dodgers DID just record their first postseason series sweep since that glorious broom job in 1963. It has been that long. Dodgers 3, Cubs 1. L.A. is first to advance to the next round of the postseason! Woo-hoo! It has been 20 years since the Dodgers won a postseason series of any kind. In 1988, I was just out of college, working a part-time job and telling my girlfriend (who is now my wife) "No, no, you've got to see this, you've got see this! Gibson is batting, and he can barely walk !" It's been so long since the Dodgers have given me something to celebrate that I don't know how to react. And I can barely form a coherent paragraph. So here are some random thoughts in list form. They may make sense, they may not: 1. Those were three masterful pitching performances from Lowe, Billingsley and Kuroda! I love great pitching. L.A.'s hurlers certainly didn...