Night Owl Cards

I don't know if this comes across in my blog writing -- probably not -- but I am a pretty reserved person in real life. My wife says it is one of the first things that she noticed about me. She says I would never get too excited or too down about anything. "Low-key," I think is what she said. I had never noticed this about me before, but when she said that, I began to become more aware of it. And then others started to say the same thing. So, I figured, well, I guess that's who I am -- low-key, regular guy Night Owl. That doesn't mean I don't get excited about things or don't have opinions. Anyone who reads this blog knows that. But in real life, you will rarely see me respond in an over-the-top way, and you certainly won't hear anyone tell me to "calm down." And, by no means, will you ever, ever hear me say the word, "awesome." I don't think I have said the word "awesome" since I was in high school. "Awesome&quo

So, I was wandering through the blogs this afternoon as is my custom. It's a happy little time, devoid of worries or aggravations. It is a time when the sun always shines, purple bunnies hop through the meadow behind my backyard, and beautiful music emanates from a perfect blue sky. And then I saw THIS ... WHA??? JACKIE? IN A GIANTS UNIFORM?????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH ! OH THE HORROR!!!!!! THE HORROR!!!!! It is my understanding that this monstrosity is one of the cards created for release at the National this summer. Apparently, according to the newsletter released today, they "wondered, what would Jackie have looked like in a Giants uniform and the 2009 National ( Topps ) VIP card of Jackie Robinson answers that question." Well, isn't that lovely. Harmless musing. Mere wondering. How delightful. Should I know about any other horrifying non-existent scenarios that you are scheming to bring to reality under the guise of me

I've been thinking about this for some time. In fact, I've been thinking about it so long, that I've lost all perspective on whether it's a good idea or just plain morbid. It has to do with patch cards. I've mentioned a couple of times that I don't understand the fascination with them at all. I especially don't understand manufactured patches, which don't have any connection to an actual patch worn on baseball uniform. But one thing that might be intriguing would be related to patches that were used to commemorate a ballplayer or other baseball figure who had recently died. The No. 21 worn here by Rennie Stennett to honor the late, great Roberto Clemente. The No. 19 worn by the Dodgers throughout the 1978 postseason. The No. 10 worn by the Yankees after Phil Rizzuto's death a couple years ago. Is it too callous for me to suggest that it would be a good idea to later feature patch cards of the deceased player, in which the card consisted of pieces

You may remember I pulled this card from a pack of Upper Deck SPx from the hobby shop a couple weeks ago. I immediately put it on the blogging block because I knew someone would be interested in it and give me something nifty in exchange. That someone turned out to be Ben of Cardboard Icons , who is a noted Red Sox fan and a familiar trade partner. I dropped his card in the mail on Saturday, but I have already received the cards he sent me. And we're going to have a look. Now, keep in mind not all of these cards were sent in exchange for the relic. A bunch were Dodgers that Ben had set aside already. And I sent him some other Red Sox besides the relic (I actually need to send him a few more). The two cards that sold me on the trade are featured first, then others will follow. Ben sent an autographed card of Brett Butler. I can't think of a more appropriate card of Butler to get autographed than this '92 Topps. He was a bunting machine. And here is an autographed Bowma

(Another check of the holiday insights calendar reveals that today is "Camera Day." Wow, where would baseball cards be without cameras? There's a piece of technology worth appreciating. It's time for Cardboard Appreciation. This is the 37 th in a series): During my first installment of card collecting, I rarely saw minor league cards in person. The only place I could view them were in mail-order catalogs. Teams would give team sets away at the park. But I didn't live anywhere near a professional ballpark. In fact, the first minor league cards I ever saw in person was the 1989 team set of the now-defunct Niagara Falls Rapids, a Class A franchise of the Detroit Tigers. I covered that team and actually appeared in that team set. I blogged about it here . So, when I read that there would be a minor league set issued nationally, by some company called "Line Drive," I was intrigued. It was 1991, and I would make weekly trips to the only drug store in the tin

For all nine of you who participated, here are the random results for the random contest held here a few days ago. I get the impression that people aren't fans of multiple choice questions. Or questions in which they can't possibly determine the correct answer. Or maybe it's that 50 random cards of 2009 product just isn't enough incentive to pretend you're in school again, filling in tiny circles with a No. 2 pencil. That's OK. Someone is going home with free cards and that's really all I wanted -- that, and to amuse myself in some off-the-wall fashion. Mission accomplished. So, here are the totally random answers. And by random, I do me random. I won't list the questions 1 through 10 as I did in the previous post. I'm mixing them up. I'm showing the cards upside down, too. Why? Well, I wanted to feature the answers upside down as they often do in magazine or newspaper quizzes. But I couldn't figure out how to do that. Plus it would require t

Like I said yesterday, I bought a couple of jumbo packs of Upper Deck O-Pee- Chee to satisfy my curiosity. I had already decided I wouldn't collect the set, although it's one that is supposedly in my wheelhouse, since it's old school/retro/imitation vintage. It just didn't interest me enough to fully commit. After seeing the cards in person, I know I made the right choice, mostly because of one factor that I'll get to in a minute. But before I do that, I'll mention all that I like about the set, because, really, it is much better than a bunch of stuff that's out there right now: 1. The cardboard stock. Always a plus. They should jettison the super-glossy, index-card flimstrosity that they're printing cards on now and go with the thicker board forever. 2. The old-school, bright-color look. A lot of folks are saying these cards remind them of 1976 Topps , because of the two bars of different colors across the bottom of the player cards. I can see