Night Owl Cards

I've been staring at the contents of a PWE from 2 by 3 Heroes for more than two weeks now. Although I appreciate the cards and do need some of them, I just haven't found my writing muse to pay proper tribute. Hey it happens. So, while I could go through the motions and launch into how this is my third different parallel of the 2013 Chrome Carl Crawford card and how pleased I am to add what was once called an "xrefractor" to my collection ... ... and mention how this second Davy Lopes 1981 Fleer Star Sticker gives me license to stick this item wherever my heart desires ... ... and say that ... well, say that ... well, um ... oh, hell, I just can't. It's 1991 Donruss and NO WORDS ARE COMING OUT. So I went elsewhere for inspiration. There was something that Jeff did on his blog that interested me. You know those 1989 minis that Topps is including as inserts in this year's set? Thanks for the card, Baseball Dad ! They die-cut t...

I completed the base set of Series 1 Dodgers for 2014 Topps with the arrival of a couple of packages from Cards on Cards and Starting Nine . (Actually, I think I might be missing a Kershaw league leaders card, but league leaders cards aren't even cards at this point). With the group from Cards On Cards was this red-bordered Garcia, who is serving as the "we must select someone from each team and plaster a rookie card logo on them" player for the Dodgers this year. It's also a night card. I know that only because Garcia appeared in three games for the Dodgers all season, and each of them was a night game. That made me wonder how many of the Dodger cards this year are night cards. So let's see. Here are all of the cards (minus one Kershaw league leader): Out of that group I am thinking that four or five are night cards with the possibility of a sixth one. It's very difficult to determine for sure, unless you know the exact dates of whe...

I received a few more 1975 Topps minis from Mark H. the other day. Mr. Sutherland is one of them. The cards would be appropriate for this post, but I don't have the time to scan them all in, so I'll have to find something pseudo creative for those cards in another post. Those minis get me down to needing about 70 more to complete the set (I counted the other day and can't remember the exact number now because I'm old -- duh, I'm collecting '75 minis). This is great, of course, but it also means that time is ticking on finally getting pages to fit all those '75 minis. But apparently, UltraPro is clued into my '75 Topps mini completion timeline because this it what it released today: When I saw it, I kind of sat and stared at it in stupor. I had just woken up after another long Olympic work session and my mind plays tricks on me in the late morning. So, I just sent a little message to UltraPro to make sure it wasn't all a dream. To ...

I had a day off the other day and to get the hell away from the Olympics I went out on the town. But I was with family, so instead of ending up at some bar on the sketchy side of town sitting next to a strumpet named Tina with vodka breath, I landed in the card aisle at Target. There were only three realistic options in that aisle. Some 2014 Topps, some 2013 A&G or some repack action. I'm not collecting 2014 Topps and all the Series 1 Dodgers are mine, so that's just a parallel exhibition and I didn't have the heart for it. I looked at A&G and that just seemed too expensive to me. But two repacks -- 200 cards -- for $10 bucks? That I can do. Even the guy who is always behind the checkout counter recognized the benefits of that kind of deal. "You get a lot of cards," he said. One of these days, I'm going to ask him if he's a collector. But right now he's annoying me because every time I go through his line with cards, he says "what...

Here is another tale about my want list. It's a pretty thorough list. Maybe not as thorough as some, but more complete than others. Like I said a few posts ago, I don't have a lot of enthusiasm for updating it with all the parallel nonsense of 2014. But there is the other end of the spectrum, too. You won't find on my want list any cards from earlier than 1952. Why is that? Well, frankly, five-plus years into this blog, I'm still not over the fact that people send me cards. And it's that part of me that thinks it's a little presumptuous to even be listing 1952 and 1953 Topps, let alone stuff from what I consider to be the prehistoric era of cards. So, there isn't a want list for something like 1950 Bowman. Do I like 1950 Bowman? Sure! It's got Brooklyn Dodgers in it, don't it? But, really, nobody's going to send me those kind of cards. I received one surprise from Dave of Tribe Cards way way back when he sent me a 1950 Bowman ...

I'm not sure how this is going to go. Do collectors treat Score with the same reverence and devotion as Topps, Upper Deck and even Fleer? I guess I'll find out. Score does have one thing going for it. For an 11-year period, Score was the card set of the people. Kids could buy a rack pack with their allowance money. Even college students like me at the time -- who spent most of their money on textbooks they would never use again -- could throw some change at Score. It was cheap, it was plentiful, it was pleasing. Score was simple, often colorful, and included most of your favorite players. The backs were wordy, but packed with information. Best of all, you could land a bunch of cards in a single purchase. This wasn't Upper Deck or Pinnacle. Score never got the memo that cards were suddenly an investment. And thank goodness it didn't. However, there is a certain sameness to Score sets from year to year. In terms of appreciation for individual sets, is there r...