Night Owl Cards

And it's definitely "not going" at all. I haven't received an autograph in the mail in months. And, just as telling, I haven't sent out an autograph request through the mail in months. I'm not sure why that is. Either life got in the way, or stamps got too expensive, or the disappointment of a couple TTM failures affected me, or I just stopped caring. Probably a little bit of all four. But I am committed to posting a periodic update on my limited foray into TTM tries, so here is my latest one. I continue to wait for a return of my autograph request to Bob Welch , one of my 100 all-time favorite ball players. I sent out the request in August. People tell me waiting a few months is nothing. So, I'll continue to wait. I've waited even longer for Orel Hershiser . I sent out a request in June. Still nothing. I know people have waited a year or more and received an autograph in the mail. But I also know that folks have received a TTM autograph from Hers...

The last time I did this , I was waiting on an autographed card from Fernando Valenzuela. He came through for me, big-time . It's been more than two months since my first update, so I figured I'd find out where I'm at, TTM -wise. I have a general idea in my brain, but I can get flighty. And if it's not written down (my pockets are full of lists), or on the record somehow, I'm going to forget. So far, I'm 4-for-5 with through-the-mail autograph tries. Ron Cey and Duke Snider, two of my all-time favorites, both came through. Since my last update, Fernando Valenzuela and Jerry Reuss -- two other favorites -- also delivered. Hideo Nomo , sadly, did not. I received my card returned, with a "return to sender/unable to forward" sticker. Two cards are still floating out there. Both former players are currently working and away from home. The Orel Hershiser card, up top, is waiting for him when he gets back from his ESPN announcing gig. This Chris Speier...

Easter greetings! In honor of the greatest comeback in history (rising from the dead kind of puts the 1978 Yankees in their place, doesn't it?), I've done a minimal amount of research on the Dodgers' greatest comeback players. All of these players won the annual Comeback Player of the Year Award, which began in 1965. So take a moment between the ham -- or if you come from an Italian family like me, some amazing pasta -- and the chocolate bunnies and read about a few players who experienced their own rebirths. Their own little Easter on the ballfield. Phil Regan, 1966 Comeback Player of the Year. Regan, after some pretty good years for the Tigers, had an awful 1965 season. He was 1-5 with a 5.02 ERA for Detroit and also spent a lot of time playing for the team's minor league affiliate in Syracuse. The Tigers got rid of Regan in a trade with the Dodgers for infielder Dick Tracewski. That turned out to be a mistake because Regan had one of the most dominant seasons for a ...

Cards arrived from both Andy of 78 Topps and David of Tribe Cards on Friday. I'm grateful for all of the cards they sent, because honestly I didn't deserve any of them. Andy's cards came in response to me sending him that sweet Mattingly '93 Upper Deck hologram card. I had promised him something Mattingly-related a few weeks back as part of his contest winnings, and he insisted on sending me some Dodgers in return. David's cards came after I was the only one to wager a guess on the packaging that came with his cards from Treasure Never Buried. Only my guess wasn't a guess. It was an admission of cluelessness. And for that, I received the above David Justice bat relic card -- quite nice -- and some even nicer cards to be featured in a minute. Some wonderful stuff, indeed, from some very nice folks. I'm throwing the highlights of both Andy's and David's cards together. I hope that's OK. And again, the cluelessness card factor is high here. But I ...

There's no doubt about it, Topps Chrome blue refractors are pretty cards. The word "pretty" has been used in recent years to describe certain super-fancy cards, and that has made me think: Cards? Pretty? Baseball? Pretty? Guys spitting and swearing and clutching and grabbing and yelling? Pretty? Cards and baseball just don't seem to go with "pretty." Neither does football or hockey or mixed martial arts for that matter. We never used to call cards "pretty." They were cool or sweet or awesome or even "gnarly" for a time. But not "pretty." And I think that's because back then so many of the cards we collected reminded us of our dads. The players looked like our dads. They looked like dad when he taught us to throw, all the while keeping one eye on the football game on the portable black-and-white on the patio. They looked like dad when he gave you that admonishing stare. "Now what did you really feed the dog, Jimmy?...