Night Owl Cards

  I don't spend a lot of time checking how many cards I have of each player but it's fun to do from time to time.   As someone who collects sets first and then my team, player collection totals are a natural subset of those and easy to categorize on TCDB or on whichever favorite counting spreadsheet you prefer. Also, unlike set or team collecting, the totals change fairly often.   When Johnny's Trading Spot sends out one of his "inventory cleanser" packages, I can't help but notice those player totals because the guys he's scrapping stand out.   Alex Verdugos   Up to 87 cards. 153rd on the list.     Dalton Rushings   43 cards. 471st on the list.     Tony Gonsolins   75 cards. 189th on the list.     Walker Buehlers (still haven't come to terms with his Padre-ness)   287 cards. 20th on the list.     Duke Sniders   318 cards. 16th on the list.      Shawn Green and (tiny) Fernando Valenzuela...

   Someone on social media posed the question the other day regarding Rickey Henderson's domination of the American League stolen base title during the 1980s.   Henderson led the AL in stolen bases every year from 1980 through 1991 except for one.   The question: who led the league in stolen bases the year Henderson did not?   I had no idea.   I was on top of that stuff during the latter half of the 1970s and early 1980s. That's because baseball cards were there for me, specifically league-leader cards. I've mentioned many times how I relied on baseball cards to tell me important facts from the previous year -- league leaders, postseason results, records broken, etc. I went to cards before the newspaper or TV.   That's how those facts entered my head and stayed there. If someone asked me who led the American League and National League in batting average in 1977, all I needed to do was picture the '78 League Leader card with Dave Parker and Rod Carew on...

  I'm now 50-plus years into my collecting journey. I haven't seen it all when it comes to cards, but I've seen way more than I haven't.   That's why the concept of "new to me" means more than it ever has. I love finding cards that are new to me. It's probably why I still buy packs of current product, because they have the best chance containing cards I've never laid eyes on.   It doesn't matter the era for new-to-me. Sure, the very best is something from the '70s or '80s, but I've covered that period pretty thoroughly so chances are slim. I'll take "new" from any time period. Even the '90s.   That's where the card up top comes in.    It arrived from of a very nice send from Dennis of Too Many Verlanders . But you could see the question marks forming above my head. "Now what the hell is this?"   So many questions. What year is this? What set is this? Is this an insert? It looks like an insert. What...

   This rookie card of Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Kirby Higbe arrived the other day.   It marked what could be the end of my pursuit of the 1941 Play Ball Brooklyn Dodgers. There are five cards in the team set. I now have four of them. The fifth one has been priced out of most people's ranges.   So I'm good with having four of them and calling it complete. As a "glass is half empty" guy in many situations, I don't expect to obtain the Pee Wee Reese rookie.   Therefore, let's look at the cards I do have:     Dolph Camilli was the first. It's the best-looking one by far. I don't have a handle on all of the set's cards but I wouldn't be surprised if it's the best-looking one in the entire set.     Next came Hot Potato Hamlin and Whit Wyatt. Wyatt has the healthiest of creases going through the upper right quadrant. I was not picky about condition in picking up these cards so it doesn't bother me (though it wasn't that evident in the ebay...