Night Owl Cards

  I've mentioned I've been chasing O-Pee-Chee Dodgers recently. There are hazards to this activity especially if you aren't paying attention.   I wasn't.   This 1975 Ken McMullen was advertised as an O-Pee-Chee card. I just took the title for its word. Apparently it was my first day on ebay because you can't be doing things like that. The seller even had a photograph of the back, which looked like this:   Obviously, that's not an OPC card. Where's the French? But I ignored that, saw a nifty price and bought it. Delayed disappointment was mine. I will not be buying from jpcardxpress again, especially since I see he's relisted it to sucker someone else. But dumb move on my part. And it ain't so bad because I love my '75 Topps dupes! Anyway, this is the lead-in for another segment of the '75 Topps countdown, where you will see Topps-and-only-Topps cards as you should be seeing! We're into the mid-400s of the countdown, which is mostly some m

(Appointments, responsibilities, work, appointments, responsibilities, work, appointments, responsibilities, work ... oh, hi, here is a blog post that I fit in when life is a driver's seat and a desk  ... appointments, responsibilities, work ... It's time for Cardboard Appreciation, this is the 325th in a series): I have slowly been picking off O-Pee-Chee Dodgers needs the last few months. It's been very methodical, because there's not a lot of cash but there are a lot of cards that I want. So I leave the OPC quest and then come back to it again.   In going through the 1981s that I needed (this is the second straight Cardboard Appreciation on a 1981 card, I'll have to fix that next time), I was a little surprised to see Rick Monday in the set.   I shouldn't have been. Yes, OPC sets were smaller than the Topps version during this time, and, yes, OPC picked and chose what Expos and Blue Jays showed up in the set. But Monday was still a notable player, and, unlike

  I've been sitting on this post for awhile in anticipation of something arriving in the mail. It hasn't arrived yet, it's usually here by now, but I'll get to that later. The point is I'm sick of waiting, so this is the post. It's actually worked out in a way because the delay has helped me add some 1970 Topps cards to this post that just arrived from mr haverkamp. He was digging around for some stuff at a card show and came across a few high-number needs of mine! There's that rascal Jose Pagan, always residing in the high numbers , making things difficult. Pretty pleased I don't have to chase this one down. Don Money's a great name from my childhood, I loved pulling his cards (although I remember him exclusively as a Milwaukee Brewer). This '70s version is well-worn and miscut but that monster rookie trophy helps balance things off nicely. Here's a grinning Bob Johnson. Generic name, generic playing position. At least his hat isn't airb

  This is the second of two posts inspired by the 1983 Topps Jeff Newman card ( the first one ). You never know where you're going to find inspiration. By 1983, Newman and the A's had experienced Billy Ball and a slight improvement in their fortunes, although they'd backslide in the mid '80s until the Bash Brothers came along. But Newman was part of the worst team of my childhood, the 1979 Oakland A's. They went 54-108 for a .333 winning percentage and they seemed like the most pathetic club ever produced. Here is a general look at that team from the 1979 Topps perspective: I know these are actually pictures of the 1978 A's, but they weren't very good either and, still, what a collection of "who???" In hindsight, players like Tony Armas, Mitchell Page and Mike Norris would go on to be name players. But when we were collecting these cards, very few of these guys were familiar. (This should have been a Joy of a Team Set post). As I pulled Taylor Dunc

  I have a lot of cards. TCDB says I have 101,790, and I know for a fact that I have more than that, even without including all the Dodgers dupes. So I realize it's not easy to find cards to send me even with a lot of interests. Yet, people still try and I really do appreciate it. Some attempts have been made recently that I need to acknowledge here, there was varying success.   An envelope of cards from the very busy Fuji . The purpose of this send was supplying me with one of the three remaining cards I need from the 1985 Rock Star Concert set. All that's left is a Huey Lewis card and another Pat Benatar card (think the "Love Is A Battlefield" video). Fuji added a couple of Baseball Card Magazine cards from the early '90s, but I own each of those already. The beauty of these cards, though, is they're subject to the cutting whims of the magazine owner. I know for sure that this Ramon Martinez is a finer trim than the one I previously owned. This envelope arri