Night Owl Cards

As a kid, certain cards freaked me out. I don't think there's anything abnormal about that. The world is a scary place when you're little. If you have a vibrant imagination, like I did, just about anything can become frightening. So, yes, I thought there were monsters under the bed and ghouls in the closet. The next door neighbor seemed suspicious, the dog down the street didn't act quite right, and what the hell was THAT on TV last night? I saw a snippet of the Exorcist when I was very young, and I think it ruined me for life. Everything and anything was an opportunity to be spooked. This here 1975 Topps Ken Sanders card was the first card that creeped me out. Something about the photo didn't look quite right. The guy looked like a man, but also looked like a woman. He seemed like an uglier, more menacing version of Nurse Ratched , if that's even possible. I never saw "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" when I was young, so I don't know

Sandy looks so sad on the 1966 Topps set. I don't blame him, really. After Topps reached its 1960s peak with the '65 set, the following year was quite a drop-off in terms of design. A single name/position strip across the bottom, another strip for the team positioned diagonally along the left corner. That's all Topps was going to give you. It doesn't offer much. The card back is a little better. Here is the back of Koufax's final solo card in all of its miscut glory: Look at those lovely mid-1960s earned-run averages. I know what you're saying: MORE PINK! I guess you're right. But I always thought of the '66 card backgrounds as being red. (yes, I've just opened myself up for another round of "is it red" or "is it pink" comments). That card back looks a little more red. Or if you want to get technical, in an aquatic sort of way, we can call it "salmon-colored." But that DEFINITELY looks pink. Apparently

When I first heard about the Topps Chrome value packs, containing three orange refractors apiece and only available via retail, I thought it was a good idea. The price was a bit steep to be considered a "value," but it was a lot easier justifying throwing a 10 dollar bill at cards instead of a 20. So I've boughten a small amount. The thing that I thought was unusual is something that probably only I would notice -- why the color orange? I had grown accustomed to gorgeous blue refractors, and the less pleasing but no less pleasant purple refractors, or red, or black. But orange? It seemed like an odd color choice. Sure, Bowman had used orange refractors before and Topps and Bowman are the same thing. But, to me, orange was the exclusive domain of Bowman. Bowman always seemed a bit clueless about color. It would combine orange with red in a puke-inducing display, or produce the ugliest shade of blue I've ever seen, and trot it out for the masses.

The results are in for Roy White's best 1970s card. It was a fairly close race between the 1971, 1978 and 1976 entries. Two cool action shots and a photo of a guy with a lot of hair. But in the end, the 1971 card received the most votes (8-to-6-to-5) and will now reside in the "best of the '70s section" of the sidebar. I thank those who voted. I realize White isn't as well-known as some of the other guys, but he means just as much to me as some of the stars from that decade. Now, it's fitting that I'm showing a Roy White card because I'm getting ready to reveal the other half of the contents from the package from Jerry. The first half were all cards from my wants -- either Dodgers or set needs. The second half was this ... ... and this ... ... and this ... ... and this ... That's right. He sent me 50 Don Mattingly cards. Jerry likes to live dangerously -- sending a Yankee hater Yankee cards. But that's not telling the w

No, not Manny. I'm talking about Jerry. He's a guy I "met" when my blog was linked on the Uni Watch blog. One of the benefits of linkage from a big-time blog is that card collectors who have a more well-rounded life than those of us who just read blogs about cards will find you. Jerry had never seen my blog until the Uni Watch mention. But fortunately, he liked what he saw and we arranged a deal. What I received blew me away. He found cards from just about every area of my collecting interests. I'm under the impression that he has lots of cards. He's also looking for other folks to trade with -- and I've agreed to pass on some email addresses if you don't mind (if you do, please contact me). Like I said, he's got a bunch of cards and he likes the way us bloggers do business. No fuss, no Beckett. Just some "whatcha want, whatcha got" transacting. I'm going to break the cards that I received from Jerry into two posts because