Moving on to cards that I like

Not every 2016 Topps card is brutal -- I just discovered a couple of night shots in the Perspectives insert set that I simply must have -- but I'm pretty much done sampling it. Just the Dodgers for me, thanks.

Plus, when the current set comes out and you don't like it, it's a blessing. Because you can focus on cards that you really like.

I've already been doing that -- you'll see some of what I picked up soon -- but I also need to show off Night Owl-collection-centric cards sent to me by fellow collectors. Today, you will see a bunch of goodies from Tim B., of I Love the Smell of Cardboard in the Morning. Coincidentally, his blog is where I saw the Perspectives night cards. So I must repay him with a post.

Speaking of smelling cardboard, Tim really sniffed out my want list for these cards.

 Let's see what he found extra stinky:

Zack Greinke, doing a little traitor-foreshadowing by appearing framed in Diamondback red. This brings my 2013 Dodger Target red parallel completion quest down to a single card. You'll be seeing Target red Matt Kemp on the Nebulous 9 pretty soon.

The best way to show cards of Bowman prospects that did next to nothing for the Dodgers is to group them together and try not to admit you need cards like this. And already I've said too much.

Here's a Bowman Chrome card of a guy you've heard of -- but that's not why people buy Bowman Chrome. Sorry, Adrian, Bowman Chrome fans don't care you're in the set. But I do.

1996 Bowman foil parallels. A scanner's mortal enemy.

Tim is another brave collector who is not afraid to send me cards of a set I dislike. It's on the want list for a reason, right? And that reason is to wonder why on earth Don Sutton's uniform is blue.

1999 Flair was a bizarre set with bizarre classifying and bizarre cards that looked nothing like each other. These were the best-looking cards of the group.

More want list needs from the 2003 Fleer Tradition Update set. Where do collectors find this stuff?

I'm officially Stepping Up! This is the last Stepping Up Dodger card that I needed. That's a big deal because there are approximately 400 Dodgers in this set. Apparently Mariners and Twins don't step up.

There aren't enough Branch Rickey cards. I don't know what Branch is doing here. Signaling an usher for cotton candy?

This is a card of Dodgers manager Chuck Dressen from the 1979 TCMA Dodgers of the '50s set. This is a set that needs more of my dedication. For starters, you can see what's in the background.


So that was some real want list melting from Tim, but he didn't stop there. He also sent me stuff that wasn't on my want lists.

A bunch of 2003 T206 minis. There were mini variations in this set, which probably seemed fun at the time but now just seems shoulder-shruggy.

Clayton Kershaw minis that weren't on my want list. What's wrong with me?

The Yasiel Puig mini is just my second from 2015 A&G. I dropped the ball on that set. The Dan Haren black beauty is numbered as all get-out.

I still don't know what to do with these patch things. And I can't give anyone a reasonable answer to why Dee Gordon is paired up with something that says "1941 Brooklyn Dodgers."

OK, let's see some parallels shall we?

Present-day foil parallel.

Soooo 2010 xrefractor parallel.

Pretty pink Chrome parallels.

And a hard-to-find Toys R Us purple parallel.

Really, really, really great stuff, Tim. You sure did your homework.

Meanwhile, I don't expect this post to get a lot of hits or comments. Everyone loves a good rant and a venting and that's what I've done the last couple of posts.

But when you say you like cards, sometimes nobody cares.

That's too bad. But I get it.

I just can't trash everything because here's the thing:

I like cards. A lot.