Night Owl Cards

Some of you may have gathered by this post that I don't exactly care for 1986 Topps. I'm sorry for any misunderstanding. I actually quite enjoy '86 Topps. If I didn't like it, I wouldn't be collecting it. But, like I said, part of my reason for collecting it is it's kind of a misfit among the other fine Topps offerings of the 1980s. Blurry photos, odd poses, etc. Anyway, Matt of Heartbreaking Cards either read my post or saw my huge '86 Topps want list and got the gist of what I was saying: I collect these babies. Then, he did something wonderful: he asked if I wanted a whole mess of 1986 Topps that he had purchased long ago and had barely touched. And he said he'd send them to me without hope for anything in return. Wow, Matt, merry Christmas to you, too. The 338 cards off my want list (take a look at the '86 want list now. It's gone on a diet) arrived when I was out of town. I'm kind of going out of order in terms of when the card packages...

Long before there was "Manny being Manny," there was "Rickey is Rickey." Except Rickey Henderson actually uttered "Rickey is Rickey" before it became a catch phrase. Or so the legend goes. Not only was Rickey Henderson one of the most talented players ever, he was one of the most entertaining, just from a quotebook standpoint. There are web sites devoted to Henderson's quotes, and there have been some wonderful articles written about him. If you haven't read Tom Verducci's Sports Illustrated article "What Is Rickey Henderson Doing in Newark?" from about five years back, and you want to be entertained, head to SI's archives and give it a read. The reason I bring all of this up is Man of Steal from Rickey Henderson Collectibles and I arranged a team trade. And since Man of Steal is Man of Steal and Night Owl is Night Owl, that means a trade of A's for Dodgers. I'm glad Brad wasn't looking for Henderson cards from me bec...

It's good to be back. Don't get me wrong, it's nice to get away. I enjoyed the food (absolutely love my mother's turkey stuffing), the family (my three-year-old niece is destined to have her name in lights), and staying as far away from shopping malls as possible (I was scarred for life as a department store worker many years ago, and I'll never join the crowd on Black Friday). But my hobby and my blog suffered over the last few days. Without stores to go to or a fairly usable computer (the one that was available allowed me only to comment on a blog here or there), my card-viewing abilities were limited. And, much to my surprise, quite a few bloggers were updating their sites over the holiday, so I'm scrambling to keep up on what I missed since early Wednesday. I'm sure readers of this blog have seen many of the following posts, but in case they haven't, here's what drew my interest during a manic hour-plus of catching up on the card blogging univers...