Night Owl Cards

Yesterday I read It's Like Having My Own Card Shop explain the reasoning for his blog name. (He's having a contest, check it out ). It was a tale of a glorious childhood in which there were five card shops within 10 minutes of his home. He used to spend hours at the card shop. But later, as we've all experienced, life took over and the number of card shops dwindled, and now we're all online trying to recapture that local card shop experience. Well, some of us are anyway. I'm not, because I never had that card shop experience. This is probably why I have had so much trouble with my current card shop in the past and with most card shops that I have encountered. But I know this is a very, very, very small sample size because quite honestly, I've never been in a situation that was described by Daniel in It's Like Having My Own Card Shop. My childhood LCS experience was limited to one visit to one card shop. I grew up in a small city about 3 ho...

I broke through August austerity to mail off a select few (re: three) packages today. I really shouldn't have done it. It looks like August austerity will stretch half way into September now. But sometimes you gotta live mas, as the TV zombies say. To celebrate, I pulled out the other half of the package that Robert sent me. It was several minis from this year's Allen & Ginter, which I really appreciate because it's been too long since I've added anything to the frankenset binder. Just a few hours ago, I had great fun going through the binder and holding a mini-off, deciding which minis get to reside in such exclusive company and which will be destined for trades or eternal box banishment. I'd like to relive that for you now. But before I do, I want to say that I think the minis with this year's A&G design (horizontal cards excluded) look terrific. Possibly the best-looking A&G minis ever. OK, here we go: First, the minis that gain entranc...

Welcome to the most beat-up 1956 Topps card in my collection. It may not look all that trashy to you lovers of off-condition vintage, but it is rather out of step with the rest of my '56s, and that's interesting to me. This is why: I am usually something of a condition snob. I like my cards to look as reasonably presentable as possible. I will never be interested in graded cards, but I like cards that look new. The exception to this rule is anything pre-1960s. I have very few stipulations for allowing pre-60s cards into my collection. They can have paper loss, pin holes, pencil marks, whatever. I only draw the line at major stains, large portions of the card missing, or if I sense smells emanating from said card. Normally, the well-loved nature of this Dave Pope card wouldn't faze me in the least. It fits the pattern of many of the cards that I own from the 1950s. Pope, unfortunately, is a victim of the company he keeps. In other words, he is an exception...

It has been 19 days since I bought a pack of cards or even a single card. This may not seem like a long time to some collectors. And I'll bet it definitely seems like an insignificant time to any noncollector who is now pointing and laughing at the previous sentence. But I know there are some sympathizers out there who ... um, sympathize. Trust me, it's not something I enjoy going through. I'll admit the first week or so is nothing. But after two weeks, you start noticing that there are no new cards around and that you haven't felt the sensation of wrappers crinkling for many, many, many,  minutes. Then comes the longing, the sense of entitlement, the whining and moaning. I'm generally just an overgrown teenager right now. It's tragic. So when Robert of $30 a Week Habit sent me a rack pack of Allen & Ginter, I shoved aside all the other cards and packages that people had sent me long before this rack pack arrived -- screw THEM, I said in my best te...

I've decided that indeed I have another series on this blog. "Legends of Cardboard" will one day soon take up residence in the tabs up top. This is going to make for some uncomfortable and unpopular decisions in the near future as I'll have to remove something that's already up there. But I'm ready for it. Besides, my blog, my rules. As you might recall by the first Legend of Cardboard post , I am trying to reclaim the phrase "legend of cardboard" and define it properly. A "legend of cardboard" is not that all-star you looked up to when you were a kid, leafing through your bubblegum cards. That is a "legend of the game." A true "legend of cardboard" is a player who 10-to-15 years after they stopped playing would be totally forgotten by fans if not for their very memorable pictures on baseball cards. These pictures rise above the average photo of their cardboard peers so much so that it's obvious that they have...

Good news kiddies! I've actually packaged up some cards for people! And they're sitting on a desk behind me right this very minute! This means, of course, that I've found enough money for packaging supplies but not enough to actually ship them. I'm hopeful Friday will change that. We shall see. But onto the other good news: we officially have our third inductee into the Cardboard Appreciation Hall of Fame! Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!! (yeah, I know. Too loud for a Monday). As expected, 1971 Vida Blue waltzed peaceably into the Hall with zero challenge from the ghostly '74 Dave Kingman card. The vote totals in the finale: 1. 1971 Topps Vida Blue: 42 votes 2. 1974 Topps Dave Kingman: 15 votes (57 total votes) Well done, Vida. I will add Blue's card to the Hall just as soon as I have a free moment. Thanks everyone for playing and voting. We'll do another round of Hall voting once I go through the proper amount of Cardboard A...