Night Owl Cards

  From the beginning, I was not impressed.   Trying to collect three sets was a lot. This was the new world in 1981, after collecting nothing but Topps for the previous six years (with some side runs into Kellogg's and Hostess). While eager to try out all the newness, I felt overwhelmed -- a newspaper carrier salary couldn't possibly cover three sets -- and was looking for ways to cut back. Finding fault with one of the new sets would help me control my habit.   Donruss made it easy that year.   The difference between its set and the Topps and Fleer sets that year was obvious right away. While Topps was printed on the cardboard that I knew from the beginning, and Fleer's was also sturdy if a bit rigid, Donruss was flimsy. You could bend the card easily. I had never experienced cards on such thin stock. Even the Hostess panels felt more solid.   I ranked Donruss third among the new trio right away and while purchasing all three throughout that summer of '81 -- be...

  Parallels are mostly considered a card phenomenon of the last 35 years, but they existed in the '80s, '70s and earlier.   I've written about one of the most noted parallel sets a whole bunch. It's my favorite set of all-time, the 1975 Topps minis test-issue set.   But the '70s had other cards that could be considered parallels even if that wasn't the intent. I'm thinking of the MSA discs mostly, but also O-Pee-Chee cards and cards in the 1977 Topps cloth stickers set. TCMA is also a good place to spot '70s parallels sometimes, too.   One of them involves the first set I ever bought.   I mentioned this set two months into starting this blog. It's the 1975 TCMA All-Time Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers team set. It's just 12 cards, featuring nothing but Dodger greats through history. I ordered it through the mail, most likely from the TCMA Advertiser, which came to my home. It's the first card set I ordered through the mail -- it may be the first...

  A couple of housekeeping things before I get to the topic tonight. First, I've figured out the issues I've had with commenting on some other blogs as well as, probably, why others sometimes can't comment on mine.   It comes down to Google being extra particular/unhelpful and requiring the Google Chrome browser for some blogs. I don't know why it's just some and not all. But it explains why I can comment on those difficult blogs at work because I use Chrome at work. Should've made that connection earlier.   Also, I'm still building stacks of Dodger cards for those who said they were interested. It's going to take a minute. March has slowed things down as it likes to do (its final kiss-off is really sucky weather this weekend). Hopefully next month I'll be sending packages out.   One of those collectors getting a gift of Dodgers is Jason, a.k.a., Heavy J , who recently took up the challenge of sending me Dodger cards I don't have already. This is...

  When I was a young, baseball-watching fool, I'd wonder about my dad. He was a fan, but he seemed so casual about it. He'd watch maybe an inning or two and then he'd get up and go out to the garage or do some other chore.   Even when he was watching he didn't seem to care. He didn't have as much knowledge about the players or teams as I did because he wasn't interested enough to learn. He was like that with a lot of sports (well, I guess football was the only other one. We didn't really watch any other sports).   Later I figured that's what happens when you get older, you lose interest. And it's true, I've lost interest in a lot about sports. I have not watched one single minute of the NCAA Tournament. I used to be invested. I'd always fill out brackets, at work or wherever. I'd get caught up in the early rounds and the upsets. When my daughter was turning 2 and we had a big birthday party, I had to be pulled away from the TV while watch...