Night Owl Cards

I haven't been doing very well with card packages recently. There just isn't the time there used to be. Two or three years ago I was on a once-a-week schedule for packaging and sending out. But that's become every three weeks or four weeks, or whenever the work gods deem me worthy of free time. Consequently, packages have been slow to arrive at the home (although I do see three in the mailbox as I write). I was in this state of card package limbo over the weekend, when I got the mail on Saturday. As a U.S. citizen, you must know by now that nothing but nothing good ever shows up on Saturday. I shuffled through three flimsy looking envelopes, fully expecting an ad or a bill, and there was one small white envelope, in the shape of a greeting card, that I looked over. It was from R.C., who has sent me some excellent cards in the past. In fact, on two separate occasions, he has sent the above 1961 Topps Duke Snider card. But I had to the shake the cobwebs on the wh...

Wow. Now that's a trophy! Talk about face percentage ! This might be a contender for trophy percentage. This trophy grabbed my attention right away and although it might be difficult to find space in the home for something that size, I prefer that to the MVP trophies the All-Star Game is giving out these days. If you are like me, you were unaware that the look of the MVP trophy has changed over time. It didn't even dawn on me until I saw this card and I automatically recognized that All-Star MVPs of recent years weren't hauling around things like this immediately after the game. No, the All-Star MVP trophy now looks like this: It's a glass baseball bat. Sturdy, appropriate and easy to store, but not what I think of when I think of a trophy. The baseball bat MVP trophy has been around at least since 2009. Here Carl Crawford displays his All-Star award. It's a bit odd that he's showing a bat when he received the award for a leaping catch that k...

Hey, the Blog Bat Around is back! It's only been four years since I wrote one of these things. I suppose if I actually did anything to jump-start this series on my own maybe four years wouldn't go by between episodes. Anyway, this latest edition has been started by garveyceyrusselllopes . He discusses cards he used to own and wishes he still did, and wonders if others have similar regrets. My first response to that was "I know how you feel, but, no, not really." Then, I thought about it a little, and that's still the way I think. But it took some time to get there. Let me tell you a little story first before I explain why. Perhaps you've heard, there has been a manhunt for two escaped murderers in the wilds of Adirondack Park. Yesterday, police found, shot and killed one of the escapees, Richard Matt, the man on the right. The other man, David Sweat, is still on the run as of this writing. But I know they'll get him, too. For most of y...

I received footwear for Father's Day. Don't bother to ask about kind or brand names. I don't care about that stuff anymore. I'm a middle-aged man, far beyond the age of obsessing about what you see when you look down. I'm a forward thinker! Who also spends a lot of time looking backward! But at least I'm doing it in an upward fashion. In fact, just as important as what was inside the box is the box itself. As I was opening the package, I realized that these shoeboxes were much needed. I have just two shoeboxes that store cards and that has been the way it's been for quite awhile. Most of my cards are in binders or in those long card boxes. But dupes are starting to pile up, and I have carved out enough space in a closet to fit in two extra shoeboxes. I can't wait to add some cards to them. It takes me back to when I was a kid. Before binders and hobby-customized boxes, all of my cards were in shoeboxes. That's just what you did with card...

I've never been a star-chaser. I don't stand in lines for autographs or thrust balls at famous people to sign. I don't go to Broadway shows, tour Hollywood homes, or even watch many movies. As for cards, I think I established the kind of collector I am way back when. I don't need a map to the stars. Star cards are only slightly more interesting than "common" cards, and I'd rather have a card of that forgotten long reliever than a second card of an all-star. But we don't live in that collecting world anymore and haven't for some time. I'm going to go ahead and blame Fleer's SuperStar Specials. OK, that's a little unfair. Fleer didn't activate the star-worshipping that we now know all by itself. It had partners in crime in Donruss, Upper Deck, Topps, Sportflics, Score, etc. And before I get too high on the horse, I'll remind everyone that my beloved Kellogg's 3-D Super Stars was almost nothing but star players. Bu...