Night Owl Cards

    We're in February now and you know what that means -- the first new cards of the season.   I think Topps is still issuing 2025 sets but the first for real-for real 2026 set is scheduled for release a week from Wednesday -- Series 1 of flagship drops on Feb. 11.   Every year since connecting with the collecting community on social media I've had to fight the urge to find the first cards of the season as early as possible. When blogs were THE THING it was a race to find those cards and I'd lament never getting the jump on spotting them first. When Twitter was THE THING I'd marvel at how collectors would display the first cards of the season even before the release date. HOW? And I'd try desperately to get to Target or Walmart to find my own. Sometimes it would take 5 or 6 tries to spot the new cards.   In more recent years I've paced myself, ignored the "fomo" feeling and calmly collecting the current sets at my own rate. Each year for the last three...

  I can't say there was ever a time when I liked every card that came out of a pack or into my collection.   Even in my youngest days of opening packs, between 1974-76, there were cards I didn't like. That was based entirely on the goofy whims of little kids -- what the player looked like, whether they wore a hat, whether they had a "weird" (to us) name.   As I grew older, my dislikes were based on other ideas: what team they played for, whether their team had wronged my team and sometimes the behavior of the player on the field, which was mostly confined to Reggie Jackson and Pete Rose.   Now my card dislikes can come from a host of reasons: certain teams and behaviors, sure, but also what card brand it is, what ridiculous parallel it is, and -- here's something we never considered as kids -- what those players say and how they act off the field. It's safe to say that we know too much and it's affecting the way I feel about the cards that arrive at my hom...

  This is the giveaway post featuring the extras from my winnings from The Diamond King vintage giveaway on his blog last month.   I'll reveal the cards I'm giving away and the entry instructions at the end of the post, so you greedy grubbies can scroll right to the end if you like.   But I wanted to mention that DK's giveaway also encouraged participants to send cards out themselves. This is something I still do, even after 18 years, though not as often the last 5 or 6 years (still there are cards on my desk right now that are waiting for packaging and sending, as it's always been). But Kevin seemed to strike a nerve as I was the beneficiary of three separate card sends that I believe were related to The Diamond King's request.   First let's see some cards I received from gcrl from cards as I see them . Neither of us needs instructions for sending out cards, especially to fellow Dodger fans, but we'll take any excuse!   Goodies of the parallel kind. Will g...

  My favorite decade that I have lived in, as a whole, is the 1980s, easily. I've written about this several times. Here is one that sums it up best.   Still, it can't top the '70s when it comes to cards. The '70s will always be my favorite decade for cards. This is the reason why I think I should be done with '80s cards by now. It's been nearly 40 years since that decade ended. You're not the '70s! Why am I still collecting your cards?   Well, that's because there are so many of them. Even though the '80s produced the first set that didn't impress me (1982 Donruss), the first set I didn't like (1986 Donruss) and the first set I didn't really get (1987 Topps), there was still so much to like. That's why I'm still trying to put the bow on 1983 Donruss, 1985 Donruss and 1987 Fleer right now.   And it's also why I just accepted a whole shoebox full of 1989 Score from Bru of Remember The Astrodome .       Lordy, what have I d...