Night Owl Cards

There was some sort of dust-up between Marcus Stroman and the Blue Jays and the Yankees this week. I didn't really pay attention. I try not to watch any games involving the Yankees if I can help it. And, I am so over the "did you hear what he/she just said" storylines that plague our society these days. From the sports world to the celebrity world to the political world, I no longer care what someone said or who was offended. Show me what people are doing (hopefully something positive), and then it is a newsworthy story to me. Other than that, it's just babble. (Except if a pitcher screams "don't look at me" for no reason. That's just funny). So apparently Stroman yelled stuff and someone took offense. I know very little about Stroman, but my guess is that he is an animated, vocal sort, and that it is probably because he is a 5-foot-8 pitcher who constantly has had to prove himself to doubters throughout his baseball career. In fact, it's

If you've collected for long enough then you've probably done that goofy thing where you give the cards you purchase powers of knowing. They're inanimate objects, yet sometimes, I could swear they know what I need. Or at the very least, they are trying to tell me something. It's the only way I can explain my recent experiences with Allen & Ginter. I haven't bought a lot of 2016 A&G because I'm not trying to complete the set. But A&G is one of my first choices during impulse buys because I still like the set and, oh yes, minis. So, speaking of minis, I pulled this one. Now, I had pulled the same mini when I bought my first blaster of A&G and posted its contents. And I had just sent that mini to a fellow collector. So what are the odds of getting that mini again? Yeah, I know some math guy is going to tell me and say that the probability is actually not all that unusual. Don't spoil my post. The A&G cards are trying to tell me

I'm expanding on my most recent post from the 1985 Topps blog. That's the advantage of having more than one blog -- the other blogs sometimes give you ideas for the main blog, and that is very key. Until Topps issues a product every day (don't say "ToppsNow," wise guy) or there's a card show every day, it will always be a challenge to come up with material on a daily blog. So, this post is about the power of the mustache, specifically referring to one player. I would hope that everyone familiar with 1970s/80s baseball players knows about the power of the mustache. The sudden surge in ability for players like Ron Cey, Mike Schmidt, Davey Lopes, Steve Rogers, etc., once they grew some lip hair is right there in the statistics. But for me there is one player who documents this phenomenon better than any player. Dwight Evans enjoyed a long and prosperous career, mostly with the Red Sox, from 1972-91. But the tone of his career shifted about midway thro

I don't like missing card shows, because there are so few of them and they're shrinking by the year. So even though I was lucky enough to go to an unexpected show a couple of weeks ago, it's still eating me up that there is another show next month staring me in the face that I am going to miss. It is very much like me to focus on what I can't have instead of what I do have. Getting myself converted to a more positive way of thinking is a constant battle. So this is my attempt to focus on the PRO column in my hobby life, rather than the CON column. I may have just a couple of card shows to attend each year, but I also have many other card shows available to me from around the country. That's the benefit of writing a semi-well-read blog. People read about what you like, go to their show in Dreamland, Arizona, or wherever, and -- wham! -- you have card show cards in your possession. I like to call these people who go to a card show in distant lands "car

Showing all I have (of him) because he showed all he had (to us). RIP.