Night Owl Cards

(If I was still on Twitter I would have witnessed approximately 78 pack rips of 2026 Topps by now. HAVE YOU RIPPED ANY 2026 TOPPS YET?!?!?!?!? Ignorance is bliss. I don't even feel like checking out the local big-boxes. Time for Cardboard Appreciation, this is the 364th in a series):   I was reminded of this card recently by The Writer's Journey as he displayed it over on Bluesky. It's a fascinating card for anyone who collected the 1983 Topps set as I did in the year of Michael Jackson.   I completed the set way back in the first year of this blog. But I wasn't actually finished because I didn't have this card. which arrived today.   In 1982, the Angels' Reggie Jackson and the Brewers' Gorman Thomas tied for the American League in home runs with 39 each. That led to the following uncomfortable card in 1983 Topps:   I really don't like three-person league leaders cards (see all of the Topps league leader cards for the last couple of decades), unless the...

  It's been almost a daily ritual around here the last few weeks to clear snow off the car, out of the driveway, along the walkways. This morning I got up to pull my car in from the street and nearly face-planted because the snow was covering up a sheet of ice that fell around 4 a.m. last night (driving home from work was a bit of an adventure).   Through it all I think I've done an OK job of regularly sending out card envelopes and packages, although I've had to have the conversation with myself over whether it's safe to drive to the post office at least a half-dozen times.   But almost once a week I get there, and I'll be mailing out the latest downsizing box in the next trip. Meanwhile, I received cards (and other items) in response to my last downsizing send . Claimant Mike delivered!   This is not required nor expected but lets see the goods, there is quite the variety.      Starting with an owl card because owl.   It's been awhile since I've...

  I watched hardly any of the Super Bowl last night and I was trying to think of the last time I didn't watch it.   My first thought was maybe 2015, because the teams were the Seahawks and Patriots that year, too (I don't like either team). But this was when the Super Bowl was required viewing for my job. I was at the office and between 2002 and 2022, I was working during the Super Bowl. We'd watch the game at the office, then get the results in the paper.   So, my lowest-viewed Super Bowl had to occur before that, but it gets fuzzy. It's possible I didn't watch much of the Ravens-Giants in 2001 because zero interest in those teams, too. But it's also possible I haven't watched so little of the Super Bowl since the mid-1970s when I was just starting to get into football.   I began the Super Bowl last night in the kitchen washing the dishes (yes, that's how much I cared). Then I went to my card room and started a little reorganizing that is taking place t...

   I skipped the monthly card show today because we did get about five inches of snow last night and then the temperature promptly dropped below zero. So to get to the show I'd have to bundle up, clear off the car, shovel out the driveway, all in sub-zero conditions. It just didn't seem worth it.   The monthly show has made me soft. I used to risk driving an hour through lake-effect to get to a show when there was just 2 or 3 a year!   So, sorry, I will have no show wares to show off this time. But maybe someone will like what I have instead:   FREE CARDS!   Yes, I'm still downsizing. This is the third edition of attempting to rid cards from my house in hopes that someone else can use them. To recap, I'm trying to clear some room for cards that I want and shelving space to house those cards. That means scrapping cards that have long sat in boxes and a lot of it stuff that doesn't fit my style.   There are around 500 cards this time around.   Like ...

(I am preparing to have my dinner at the office again tonight after yet another prediction of a late afternoon/early evening snowstorm. This is convenient for 9-5 workers, who can close up shop early, but definitely not for me. Let's see if I can get out of the work parking lot late tonight. Time for Cardboard Appreciation. This is the 363rd in a series):   My collecting during the junk wax era was sporadic. I've written many times that I didn't collect between 1986-88 (save for one pack of Topps I bought in '88). I collected Topps like crazy in 1989, then went cold turkey again in 1990. I came back somewhere in 1991 collecting casually and then bought a bunch in '92 and '93.   I can see good and bad points to this. The good: I have no fond memories for mediocre sets like 1990 Donruss or overvalue 1989 Upper Deck. The bad: I missed several players commonly known by junk wax devotees, who were kids at the time and memorized the front and back of every card.   For...

  In my continuing quest to plug the gaps as far as any baseball card set issued during my youth, I recently landed the 1980 Burger King Pitch, Hit & Run set.   Like the Burger King team sets of the late 1970s/1980, this set's design was produced by Topps and used the flagship design from the year of issue. As a youngster, I was well-aware of the Burger King team sets, but I don't recall knowing about the Pitch, Hit & Run set. It's possible that I had outgrown the advertising used for this set (I was 14) and it passed me by. I know I was too old to participate in Pitch, Hit & Run activities.   Still, this was a huge oversight on my part, this set is 100% filled with the players from my youth and it also features one of my all-time favorite aspects of cards from this time -- updates and variations -- spin-offs from the flagship set, whether related to changing teams or for no good reason at all.   My favorite aspect of sets like O-Pee-Chee is alterations f...