Night Owl Cards

Yes, the Awesome Night Card series has been hijacked by the Stadium Lights insert series. That series is the reason why I skipped the Awesome Night Card post last week. It's the reason why I'm showing two awesome night cards again this time. I just can't think of any other night cards until I get this set out of the way. These two cards came from Adam, who runs a fledgling blog called Big Sexy Cards . I believe the blog title is a tribute to the Bulls' Kurt Thomas. Don't ask me to explain more. I don't follow basketball. The arrival of Tulowitzki and Utley means I need just two more cards to finish off the set. The Robinson Cano card is on its way to me. After that, all I will need is the Adrian Gonzalez card. You know what that means. If you ever want to see any other night cards on this blog again, photoshopped Gonzalez needs to arrive in my clutches. Give up A-Gone, and none of my night cards get hurt. And then we can all turn out the lights and

I might have given the impression that the Topps value boxes are instant gold. I had purchased two of them, and they had yielded two diamond diecut cards, a few other decent Diamond Giveaway redemptions, a 1-in-50 packs short-print, and a relic. But then I bought box three and it was a dud. I don't want anyone thinking that I'm doing free advertising for the boys downtown, so I'm documenting the ugliness here. First of all, almost half my inserts were dupes, including the David Price Kimball here. Secondly, the Heritage hobby packs produced a single short-print that I probably won't keep. Then we get to the ugliness of the code cards, the portion of the box that had delivered definite value two times already. The first code card uncover this: Andre, forgive me, but I don't like the '87 set, it's more plentiful than dirt, and there's no way I'm ever going to be able to trade you. The second code uncovered this: Annnnnnnd slowly backin

I'm telling you, those Topps value boxes sure are distracting. I grabbed another one and redeemed this Roy Halladay diamond cut card. I also redeemed two 1967 cards and pulled a Heritage relic of Jayson Werth. These things are absolutely addicting. I'm almost afraid to mention them for fear I'll head back and the 10 boxes I saw there last night will all be gone. The value boxes are also keeping me from focusing on what is truly amazing about this hobby, which is finding collectors just as enthused as you are and exchanging cards with them. I hope I never forget that. The most exciting thing isn't mojo hits or busting the latest product. It's finding people who are as excited about collecting cards as you are. One of those people is fellow Dodger fan, Spiegel . I think he might be one of the most enthusiastic collectors I have had the occasion to virtually meet. He sent me some cards recently. And by recently, I mean long ago. We didn't even have Gypsy Queen

I'm quite certain that this card is the product of an out-of-court settlement between Topps and Michael Saunders. In exchange for Saunders dropping his suit against Topps -- lodged when Topps produced a  2010 Heritage photo that made it look as if Saunders was having his brain pulverized by levitating aliens -- Topps agreed to make Saunders look like a superhero in its 2011 set. This card, now that I own it, could be the best card of 2011. But this isn't a "best card" post. This is a "define the design" post. It is time to name the 2011 Topps set. This set borrows from a few different sets. I'm thinking of 1997 Stadium Club, 1996 Topps and a couple others.  It's a super-clean design, which sometimes makes for difficult naming. Hmmm, let's see, we have an arch and a snazzy baseball with the team logo. That's not a lot to go on. The highlight of the design is the baseball, which Topps somehow jiggered to appear as if it is indente

I received this card and most of the rest of the Dodgers from the 1993 Topps Florida Marlins commemorative factory set from Cardsplitter at The Call of Cardboard . Topps issued a Marlins set and Rockies set to recognize the first seasons of the two franchises. The cards are the same in every way to the regular '93 set except for a stamp with a Marlins logo for the Marlins set and a Rockies logo for the Rockies set. I hate ripping on cards that are sent to me through the sheer goodwill of others, but I can not stand parallel cards like this. These are the definition of pointless parallels. But back in '93 that's what parallels were, mere foil stamping. I am sure collectors ate this up back then. I was on my way out of collecting in 1993 so I don't know if I thought anything about them at all. Since then, parallels are all growed up. Some of them are so fantastic that it makes you forget that it's a fancied-up duplicate of the base card. Some of them are garb

(Have you ever stood in line in the rain for the opening of a new Olive Garden? Neither have I. Yet, it happened where I live. I was dying to go up to each person and ask them why they were there. Here is to "thinking things through." This is Cardboard Appreciation. It's the 111th in a series): As a major league baseball fan, I am done "wishing." Here is what I mean by that: The Dodgers have this guy in their bullpen named Jonathan Broxton. He's a big guy from Georgia. He's an ox. How can you not like the fact that an ox plays for your team? We've got an ox in our bullpen. He's gigantic and throws close to 100 and can obliterate the hitter. He's ours and not yours. He seems like a likable guy, too. I like him anyway. And because I like him, I really want him to do well. He should do well because I like him. But it doesn't work that way. I've known that for some time now. When I was a kid, I liked players for no reason at

True to form, I forgot to include a '56 of the Month post for March. Apparently, I was too busy or something. Excuses, excuses. So, I am showing two '56 cards for April. And, as an added bonus, I am going to be uncharacteristically brief, because -- here's a surprise: I have no time. Johnny and Eddie O'Brien were identical twins who grew up as young high school hotshots in South Amboy, N.J., also the hometown area of former major league managers Jack McKeon and Tom Kelly. Colleges came calling and the O'Briens were so desperate to play together that they took offers from Seattle University, because it was about the only college that was willing to provide scholarships for both. All the way on the other side of the country, the O'Briens became basketball stars. They played on a team that defeated the Harlem Globetrotters. That got the attention of Branch Rickey, who was general manager of the Pirates at the time. Rickey offered the brothers fat bonus contr