Night Owl Cards

(Greetings. I have no special opening this time, I just got up from a nap. A thing old people do. Time for Cardboard Appreciation. This is the 329th in a series): My latest sportlots order is working its way to my house. It's down to the final few cards. I don't plan to show much of it on the blog, it's mostly upgrades, a few Dodgers needs and a set filler here and there. If I get desperate maybe I'll show something, but that's what this post is for! One of the cards I got was this 1986 Topps Bob Rodgers. I completed the 1986 set long ago, one of the first that I finished with help from bloggers. But it turns out I never actually finished it. It's been laughing at me -- in a binder -- for 14 years. The 1986 set is the first set in my collecting time that I didn't have memorized ... well, same goes for 1984 and 1985 Topps, but I bought those in their entirety, there was no room for slip-ups. But in '86, I ignored everything cards. And so, I picked up the...

  I'm not too enthused about the remainder of the MLB postseason. It seems like I say this almost every year, since like 1989, but this year's final four is particularly yawn-inducing. I'll watch -- when I'm not working -- but there will be no recording for later viewing. The Phillies will be the only team I care to see win the World Series and there are two teams left I have absolutely no interest in seeing win ... anything ... at any time. I was going to do another "oldest card," "newest card," for the League Championship Series but I'm not feeling it. Instead, yesterday, I got interested in looking up what former Dodgers were on each of the remaining teams, so let's go in that direction. PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES There are three players on the Phillies' 40-man roster who have played for the Dodgers, although only two are on the current roster. Dylan Covey, who played very briefly for the Dodgers this season, is not active. The two who are ...

  That is my Christmas tree. It's still up. We're not militant about insisting that the decorations stay in bloom through the 12 days of Christmas (Dec. 25-Jan. 5), it's more like there just hasn't been time to take them down. But I do like that they're still there and the lights still on outside. I don't feel delinquent at all. It's always depressing to see Christmas trees dumped on the curb on Dec. 26. (I know I have some nerve, as my tree is fake and has been for years). Seeing the Christmas season last into January helps take away the bleakness of the month. If we didn't have the final few days of the season and football, January would be a lost cause. So I like celebrating the last day of Christmas on this day (I used to get a bit jealous of the Orthodox who celebrate Christmas around Jan. 6-7, but then I found out they often celebrate with beet soup and that's almost as sad as ditching your tree).   Today I'm celebrating with my just-arrive...

  When I was in college, I worked the hamburger grill at one of the on-campus restaurants my first semester or two.   The cooking area was connected to the nearby cafeteria and one of the cooks who worked next to me was named Cliff. He was probably in his 50s or 60s, a cheerful Black man who enjoyed working around young college students and had a smile for everyone, even a couple of notoriously grumpy people who worked there with him.  Cliff loved to play the lottery and everyone knew that. He would always respond to jokes about him throwing money away every week by saying, "You've got to be in it to win it!" I'm sure that wasn't the first time I heard that phrase, but it really stuck with me with Cliff uttering it so often. And it's what I think of now every baseball trade deadline or offseason. You've got to be in it to win it. Once I used to rag on the Yankees, like a lot of people did, because they "bought their championships." But that was a...

I've heard a mention or two of this past World Series being "one of the greatest ever." I'm not 100 percent sure where I heard such a sweeping statement but if I had to guess, it would be Twitter, that all-or-nothing social media outlet that I do enjoy but also shake my head over when I read the extreme reactions that occur daily there. It was not "one of the greatest ever." I'm not sure if I'd even call it "good." Keep in mind, I've been watching World Series for more than 40 years, so I've seen a few good ones and bad ones and have a little perspective. But I'd say about the only thing this World Series had going for it is that it lasted seven games and that the road team won every game. It was fine. If you like baseball it was fine. But that's about it. You know how I can tell? I didn't panic at work over a single game this Series. Usually, the most exciting World Series games -- the ones every fan root...

(The deadline to enter the anniversary contest is almost here. If you're interested, you have until 9 p.m. tonight EST to enter the contest . It's closed to participants after that. On with the show). Here is a card of the Washington Nationals' Trea Turner. Fine player. Top prospect. Doing well in his first extended time with the big-league team. Saw him play for Syracuse last season. Started at shortstop. Went 1-for-3. Turner is card No. 300 in this year's Allen & Ginter set. It's the last card before the 50 short-prints hit. OK, that's enough of Turner, right? Every player gets just one card (or if it's A&G, every celebrity, thinker or edifice). One man, one card. It's the foundation of set-collecting. As important as one man, one vote. Without it, the whole system is compromised. So, let's get into the short-prints. Specifically card No. 342. Uh ... I will never get over this. No matter how many times I pull a diffe...