Night Owl Cards

I started this blog in 2008. It doesn't seem that long ago, but it actually is when you consider the lifespan of a major league player with a major league team. Clayton Kershaw is just one of two players who were featured with the Dodgers in a 2008 Topps set that is still with the Dodgers. The other one is Andre Ethier. This despite the fact that he has been traded in my mind about 78 times in the last seven years. If you want to relax the parameters a little, then there are a couple of other Dodgers in 2008 cards that are still with the team: Rick Honeycutt is still the pitching coach. And Eric Stults is back with the team after a long time away, although he was sent down and may end up getting released anyway. But back to Kershaw, because all that other stuff was a tangent. Back in 2008, I made a commitment to Kershaw. I saw a pitcher who would perform greatness and I was confident it would happen. In that year, I decided he was my favorite player a

(So, you know that Topps Heritage coupon that I lamented forgetting because it wasn't in my wallet? I added it to my wallet only to realize that there was no money at the end of the month to be spending frivolously on cards. The coupon expires tomorrow. Weee. Let's visit a time when I was buying cards. It's time for Cardboard Appreciation. This is the 225th in a series): Lately, Cardboard Appreciation has been converted into a "dumping ground" for cards I have acquired as potential selections for the 100 Best Baseball Cards of the '70s countdown. But I can't think of any better examples of cards that I am appreciating than these ones. I love cards from the '70s, and have viewed virtually all of them in my time as a collector. To stumble across one that either I have not seen or I maybe saw in passing online or at a card show, is quite a hoot. They become my New Favorite Cards. This Dave Ricketts masterpiece arrived today. It speaks to me in a

One thing I'll never understand about card blogging is that when you write about paying money for cards at a card show, it always draws reaction, but if you write about getting cards for free from a fellow collector, few people bother to read. I don't get it. These are free cards everybody! FREE. They fit into my collection -- just like any card I'd buy from a card show -- except they cost me nothing. No nickel boxes, no dime boxes because there were no nickels or dimes expended. They were FREE. Doesn't that blow anyone's mind anymore? Are we so immune to getting free cards that it's worth at most a shrug? Maybe it's the story part of it. When I go to a card show, I try to tell a story about what went on when I was at the show. I don't just show cards, because I can do that on any post. A card show is an EVENT. It needs to be documented thoroughly. So, yeah, I'm having a real good time at a card show and I try to convey that in my recounting.

Last year, when Stadium Club came out of retirement -- again -- this card made the rounds as one of the best photos in the set. Strong words, because Stadium Club is known for its photos. But I went as far as calling it the best card of 2014, and I still think it is. It's the best for a few reasons, but one of them is that I had never seen that picture of Jackie Robinson on a card before. That instantly makes it fascinating. This is because collectors have been buried in Jackie Robinson cards for the last five or six years. Robinson is in almost every set, either as a base card or an insert. My Robinson card collection has grown like a weed until I am now numb to most Jackie Robinson cards. I'm numb not just because of the frequency but because of the repetition of the Robinson photos used. As you know, the same Robinson pictures have popped up over and over and frequently enough for me and others to rant about it. Repeated pictures is just about the most annoying th