Night Owl Cards

  The other day I received one of those pink postage-due-your-cards-are-waiting-for-you-way-down-at-the-post-office slips.   I always go and pay the postage because CARDS, and even being down to one vehicle -- that also needs work done kind of immediately -- wasn't going to stop me. It was a little surprising how much "postage due" has gone up for simple PWE, but after seeing the contents, I was happy I made the effort.   The cards arrived from reader Casey, all 13 of them stuffed into that one envelope, and some required extra protection, too. But this wasn't 1991 Donruss, or even the average modern cards I usually receive. Certainly worth the cost.     I'll start with one of the many parallels in products these days. This is one of the acceptable ones because it involves color, and also I'm always grateful when someone sends me an Ohtani card.     My first team logo border parallel. I've seen plenty of these online over the last couple of years but n...

  Among my favorite types of cards are ones that show catchers in action. I'm sure many collectors will agree that is a cool shot.   I'm not sure why action photos of catchers stand out more than action photos of pitchers or hitters or infielders. Perhaps it's because they're less common, or all the equipment they wear, or the funny backward hat. I just know that I like them and I always have.   I started collecting in the '70s, but I really noticed a surge in catcher action shots during the 1980s. That's understandable, cards really shifted over to action in the '80s. And recently I began to wonder which '80s set featured the most catchers in action.   Aha, we now have a post.   I considered the Topps sets of the '80s first, of course. If I ever look for the catchers in action for Donruss and Fleer, that will be a separate post. And I had my ideas about which set might have the most. I've dedicated a whole post to the catchers cards of 1986 Topp...

  OK, I said last month when I did the last Elusive '80s post that the next one would show up pretty quick, and here it is.   Only a month between posts hasn't given me much time to tackle any of those elusive '80s needs but several are sitting in carts and you're looking at the most recent arrival, which was on the last post as a need -- the wonderfully charming Jiffy Pop Fernando. (Never mind that "1st annual" nonsense).   In this post I'm tackling the Dodgers I need from sets issued in 1987 -- still seems ludicrous that I would need anything from 1987, even with this series telling me that needs are all around me, no matter what year.   Expect a few more Valenzuela appearances.   1987     1987 Albuquerque Dukes Police    Technically not a Dodgers set but I've been known to gather Albuquerque Dukes cards from the '70s and '80s, as so many future Dodgers favorites are displayed on those cards. This is a 30-card set and I don't have a s...

(I feel like I'm repeating myself but I'm not actively trying to blog less, I just don't seem to have the time to dedicate to NOC like I once did. I'm still hoping that will change soon, but if the sporadic posting continues or worsens, it's not because I don't care. Time for Cardboard Appreciation. This is the 368th in a series):   Once I finished the 1969 Topps set six months ago, in the weeks that followed I noticed something about me as a collector.   I said that '69 would probably be the last large vintage set I would seriously chase and I still feel that way. I am still pursuing sets, but they're easier mid-1980s varieties or smaller 1970s oddballs.   But because of rising card costs on even some of those smaller pursuits, I've spent a lot of time gathering more modern Dodgers. I won't say it's not fun. I still like gathering cards of the guys I watch on my screen and some of those cards are very cool, but it's not the same as the v...

  Yes, more charting. I'm going to say this is the April thing to do and be fine with it.   As much as I gripe about how you can't even get a Shohei Ohtani base card without shelling out a buck fifty, I'm still adding cards of my new favorite player at a decent clip. Topps produces so many cards of him that I can't help it. And every time I check which players rank the highest in my collection in terms of number of cards, Ohtani is climbing the charts probably faster than anyone.   About a week or so ago I received a package from Jeremy of Topps Cards That Never Were , which made it very clear that he's not afraid to ship out Ohtani cards to someone who could really use them.   Uh, I guess there's not a base card in there, huh? But that foursome is pretty snazzy. The 2026 flagship card with the leaf pattern arrived in a separate envelope as Jeremy said he forgot to include it. He also added that I hope I like it. I do I do.   The green parallel Heritage card is ...