Night Owl Cards

I have determined that it is almost impossible to rank the all-star cards from 1975-81 -- what I call the "Golden Age of All-Star Cards" -- with any kind of objectivity. I'm really trying, because objectivity has been pounded into my head as a valuable thing to possess. But I basically threw up my hands after a few minutes of the whole business . I can't do it. Once you slap that all-star star or badge or banner on a card, it immediately becomes special. How can I eliminate any of the cards from the countdown if all of them are special? But press on I must. Because I do it for you. I give and give and give ... Anyway. The point is there are a lot of cards that you probably think should be in this Top 20 countdown, that I think should probably be in this Top 20 countdown, that aren't in the countdown. For example the 1975 Topps Pete Rose card, a card that I looked at as a tiny cardboard god when I was a kid, is not in the countdown. I don't even...

This is the time of the year when the card collecting world is at its craziest. If I was a player collector, I'd never survive. All of those brand new 1/1 of listings and other rare cards of your favorite player suddenly popping up everywhere would drain my will to live. I'm already exhausted as it is and I have plenty of collecting outlets -- new cards, old cards, Dodgers, every player under the sun, and under the moon. Sets, subsets, inserts sets, you name it. My collecting success isn't decided by a single guy. But I'm truly swamped right now. Buying a blaster of 2013 Topps might not have been the smartest idea, because I've created like 8 more trades for myself, and I should have known that was going to happen. So this is more for me than is for you. This is the itinerary for my card packaging. I'll try to stick to it. This weekend Pack and mail cards to: David (Pirates fan), mr. haverkamp, 2 by 3 Heroes, Phungo, Plain Gray Swatch and Twitter...

Remember when I said a couple of days ago about being glad to have a card show to go to so I wouldn't have to scurry all over town in a fruitless attempt to find 2013 Topps? Remember when I said a card show meant I didn't care that 2013 Topps was released this week? Funny how things can change with two days to play with and a Twitter account. I didn't expect to look for any 2013 Topps until Friday. Card show buzzes last at least a few days. I haven't even had a chance to organize the stuff I got from there. Plenty of time to wait out all of the crazy "look at the INSANE PATCH I pulled" chatter in the coming days. But then I started noticing something. The people finding 2013 Topps -- a day or two or three before today's release date -- were from everywhere. It wasn't just a pocket of collectors in New Jersey here and in California there. It was everywhere. A collector in Arkansas. Someone in Arizona. Another person in New York. Another perso...