Night Owl Cards

  It's super-rare, 15-plus years into this hobby online, to receive a trade package in which every card erases a need. It requires -- on the part of the sender -- attention to want lists, having inventory that a veteran collector requires and, most of all, a bunch of luck. Even with all the transacting Cards On Cards and I have done over this time, in which we've gone over each others wants repeatedly and again, the dupes will slip in. It's part of the process. This is why when I received a package from him a couple of weeks ago, I was floored that every single card was needed, a 100 percent success rate. That's hard to do! Turns out I miscalculated a bit, but I'll get to that. First stuff I NEEEEEEEEEDED .   This is how long this send has been sitting on my card desk. These two cards were Dodger set team needs when I received them. Since then, I've completed the team set. The Ohtani-Betts card arrived today as the final want (big surprise that was the last one...

If you had told me, not even 15 years ago, that I'd still be writing this post in 2024, heck that I would still be blogging in 2024, or even that there would be Opening Days to celebrate in 2024, or a semi-functioning world in 2024, I would have been pleasantly surprised. Opening Day is still a tradition we have and for many teams it starts tomorrow. (The Dodgers and Padres got a jump on things but it wasn't their idea). And if that tradition is still going, then this tradition is still going. Not a lot to discuss this time out, as compared with last year . A shout-out to Mike D. , who in the comments on last year's post, predicted a Rangers victory and a 2023 Topps Rangers card appearance on the 2024 edition. But, sorry, no Corey Seager card. I've got to maintain at least a little creative control. Let's get to it: The last time the RANGERS won the World Series, cards looked like this: The last time the ASTROS won the World Series, cards looked like this: The las...

  Arrrrrgh, I am really trying to prevent myself from preordering a hobby box of 2024 Heritage. It's very tempting given what year Heritage is covering and the devil on my shoulder is reminding me that I promised years ago that I'd buy a case when we got to this year. A case is out of the question these days. A hobby box is probably a foregone conclusion but I'm trying to hold off until near release date or just after (I can't be one of those people who buys a hobby box six months later, sure the savings are great but I have a somewhat timely blog to run!). So hopefully I don't cave. I will have this countdown to keep me focused and hopefully it won't get me too charged up to start looking up Dave and Adam's or Steel City Collectibles or one of those other sites. I'll just keep telling myself that I'll pull a dumb color swap or black-and-white variation and what the hell am I going to do with those? So I'll put that out of my mind for now and get...