Night Owl Cards

  I finished off the outstanding 1978 Kellogg's 3-D set last week when the final card arrived. Wrapping up that set also finished the trifecta of Kellogg's sets that I consider the absolute pinnacle of the Kellogg's 3-D experience. The 1976, 1977 and 1978 sets are completed, sleeved and stacked, and every time I look at them I have to beat back the memories with a cereal spoon. I don't remember much about the '76 cards, but memories of the year are all up in my brain. Meanwhile, the '77 and '78 cards are the first ones I ordered off the Frosted Flakes box and waited FOREVER for them to arrive. Few folks remember how cutting edge the 1978 Kellogg's set seemed at the time. Not only was Kellogg's using the very '70s color of BRIGHT YELLOW as its primary backdrop, but it slapped its brand logo on the front of every card in bright red. In terms of content, the first Blue Jay and Mariner to appear in a Kellogg's set showed up in '78. Eddie Mur...

  I remember reading a cover story in the "Gusto" section of The Buffalo News -- the paper's "it's time for weekend fun" section -- during the summer of 1987. It was the 20th anniversary of the "Summer of Love" and also the 20th year since the release of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band" by the Beatles. It was considered the Beatles' masterpiece, the greatest album ever made, and there was a track-by-track break down that I remember reading on my grandmother's front porch. Amazingly, somehow, that was almost 35 years ago. The 55th anniversary of that album is next summer. But I'm going to write about the Beatles album that celebrates its 55th anniversary this summer. In yet another example of how perceptions change over time, "Revolver" is now considered among many critics as the Beatles' best album and is ranked ahead of Sgt. Pepper's on a few lists. I still prefer Sgt. Pepper's (I was alw...

  As an adult with a home, bills, family and job, there is nothing quite like the feeling of no commitments.   I'm never totally free of every commitment. There's always a bill or some hovering work thing, but I happen to be in a period in life in which a couple of problems that I have fretted over since adulthood began are no longer an issue. That's a tremendous feeling. It's like a Saturday afternoon in the summer with no responsibilities and the sun shining away.   But I'm a responsible person, who feels responsible, so there is always something I Must Do, even in the hobby.   Usually that hobby commitment is sending return envelopes to those who have sent me cards. I don't get in a yank about that as much as I once did. You should have seen me in 2008: "What? He's sending me cards for nothing? Oh the guilt . MUST RECIPROCATE. MUST RECIPROCATE."   I don't do that anymore. But I do like to be nice and respond when I get a card from someone. S...

  I enjoy picking up snazzy chrome cards of forgotten or discarded Dodgers for cheap. It's amazing to me what collectors kick to the curb so callously in pursuit of the latest and greatest. And so with a recent quick Sportlots order I nabbed the following four: It's nice to be a veteran of card collecting and of baseball watching so you have the memory of when all of the above were a big deal ... well, maybe not Odalis Perez.   And speaking of memories, this year marks the 25th anniversary of Topps' Chrome brand. It began in 1996 and what a phenomenon it's been. Chrome has also been pretty darn polarizing.   To some collectors, they are the most ridiculous cards, basically asking collectors to buy the same card twice. To others, they are the most glorious cards ever made and really the only collectible cards worth their time.   As usual, I fall somewhere in the middle.   I enjoy Chrome quite a bit, but it was a bigger deal for me a few years ago when Topps desig...