Night Owl Cards

  I did some light card organizing over the weekend. I moved my 1983 Kellogg's 3-D complete set from binder pages to top loaders, as it's one of the later sets that I'm confident won't crack when confined like that (unlike mid-'70s 3-D sets).   I also moved a small stack of 1981 and 1982 Topps stickers into leftover pages I had bought for early '50s Bowman cards. It took me forever to realize that the stickers would fit that size, too.   I have less than 20 stickers from the '81 set, so it fit into one page (pockets double-bagged). That's a good thing because my 1981 Topps binder is large and STUFFED.    There's a reason for that but just to illustrate how large the '81 binder is, here is a photo of the 1980 Topps and 1981 Topps binders -- both flagship sets complete -- side-by-side.   The 1980 binder is 44 pages (double-bagged, of course) and the 1981 binder -- maybe a little overstuffed is 71 pages -- 71!!!   Where does that compare among the l...

  I collect for the kid in me, the kid I was. I've mentioned that many times. The purpose of my collection is to relive my childhood, yes. But it's also to advocate for my childhood, to avenge my childhood, if you will. There is so much that I wanted that I couldn't obtain as a kid. That's a common childhood feeling. But beyond the cookies and candy and Matchbox cars that I couldn't possess were the never-ending stream of baseball card collectibles. My appetite was huge and my pockets were empty. Parents didn't just give their kids entire sets when I was collecting as a kid and allowance meant a couple packs every two weeks ... maybe. Subscriptions to Baseball Digest and the TCMA Advertiser and Baseball Cards Magazine fanned the fire. Those publications revealed so many things that I didn't know I wanted. Renata Galasso cards, the Baseball Immortals set, Coke cards, and even non-card things like the Magnetic MLB Standings board (we had that), "champi...

I make my living as a writer and an editor, which automatically means I am not handy around the house. I don't want to make generalizations, but I haven't come across many writers who could build additions onto their homes. I'm sure there are those who can (and will now make themselves known), but being Tim the Toolman Taylor is not anything that I've enjoyed doing. My father is handy around the house. He grew up during The Depression and The War. People didn't have money, they did things themselves. It was an entire nation of DIY shows. When I was a teenager, he tried to get me interested in working on the car. I'd stand in front of the engine and try to keep my mind from wandering. It wasn't that I couldn't do it, or didn't understand, it's that my brain didn't want to go there. Now I have my own car and my own house. I often pay others to fix the car and the house. I've never been obsessed with being frugal. That seems to be ...

I can think of about four things that are going on in the hobby right now that I could address. But a couple aren't worth my time and aggravation. One is discussing the 2017 Topps flagship design released today, yet what they've come up with is not worth its own blog post. I'll fold it into a post in a couple of days. If you're dying to know right now, Twitter is where you go for my simple thoughts . Instead I'll stay with what I had intended to write. Actually, this is what I intended to write Monday before I wandered into some Topps Chrome. Like I said, there's a bunch of stuff happening. Last week was the National Sports Collectors Convention, held in another place I don't feel like traveling to, Atlantic City. I've yet to attend a National, and although I know I will get to one someday (right now the objective is 2018, but nobody's holding their breath), I won't be broken up if I never get there. Part of that reason is the cards ju...