Night Owl Cards

  I'm sure some set-collectors can relate this: I purposely avoid collecting certain sets that I like, even love.   It's mostly a means to keep myself in check -- I have only so much money, so much time and space, and an increasingly confused brain.   So it is with 1959 Topps, a set that I think is one of the greatest of the 1950s, a set I'm on record as really enjoying , but almost always avoid any time I come across a readily available '59 card.   Why is that, specifically? Let's explore (this is more a "me" exercise, sorry):   1. I know my lack of willpower. If I add a certain number of cards from a set -- not really sure how many, let's say 30 or 40 -- I'm going to automatically want to collect it. If I find it appealing, all those cards together are going to break down whatever walls I put up.   2. I need a break. I'm one card away from finishing 1969 Topps. I've been aware since I was probably 100 cards away from finishing that set ...

I no longer think of Don Mattingly as a Yankee in Dodgers clothing. I see him now, and he's pretty much all Dodger, as in "why's that fool Dodger manager taking out the pitcher now?" It was an easy transition. Mattingly always has been a likable sort, even dressed in pinstripes. There is really only one time that I can think of where I resented Mattingly's play on the ball field, and it wasn't for the usual reasons that I despise the Yankees. It happened in 1987. That was the year when Mattingly hit a home run in eight consecutive games, tying a major league record. The record he equaled was first achieved by Dale Long in 1956. Long, a respectable but mostly forgotten first baseman for the Pirates, hit a home run every game from May 19-28. That record was cool enough that I noticed it as a youngster and treasured it as a fun fact that most baseball fans wouldn't know because who the hell had ever heard of Dale Long? And then someone like Don Matti...