Of age

 

Fifteen years ago today, really early in the morning, so early that I almost never stay up that late anymore, I wrote the first post on this blog.

Night Owl Cards has been around for so long that it's outlived its usefulness for a lot of people. Many once read but they don't anymore. Many once blogged but they don't anymore. A whole host of card collectors active on social media have no idea what NOC is nor that card blogs once ruled the world, or even have the patience or ability to read more than four paragraphs in a row.

 

But that's a them problem, not a me problem.

 

NOC has served me very well. My collection is abundantly more impressive than it was 15 years ago, than it would be if I never started a blog. I have completed sets and obtained cards that I never dreamed of owning before 2008. I have received kind words of thanks from throughout the country and the world for writing this blog. Correspondence from The Netherlands, Australia, China, you name it. I've been able to interact with major league players and their families through the beauty of the internet and my "family of blogs."

And this blog has earned me money, through magazine writing, a job I did used to dream about as a youngster.

So, yeah, blogging may not be "relevant" to those who measure social media trends or a lot of people who have fled blogging for "something easier" or less time-consuming. But blogging still means quite a bit to me (also, for the first time, I'm starting to feel like this blog may outlive some social media sites).

Besides, 15 years down isn't all that long. The blog is still a teenager!

 

I have a lot of nostalgia for what was happening with blogs 15 years ago and I've written about that. On this occasion I thought I'd go back to 2008 and relive a number of NOC firsts that happened those first four months I blogged. Consider it my Firsts series, the Night Owl Cards edition.

 

FIRST CARD I SHOWED ON THE BLOG

A 2007 Upper Deck First Edition card of Justin Verlander. That's right, Verlander and NOC are both still in action!

This was the only card on the first post I made and it showed up at 3:34 in the morning. I am somewhat surprised that I still own this card.

FIRST OFFICIAL AWESOME NIGHT CARD

The Verlander is a night card, but the first Awesome Night Card post featured this 1983 Topps Britt Burns card. I rarely write Awesome Night Card posts anymore and I was a lot less particular about my scans being straight back then.

FIRST PACK RIP

The first pack I opened on the blog was an underwhelming selection of 2008 Topps Chrome. It did contain a Dodger (Brad Penny) but it also contained TWO of those Mickey Mantle cards that were pervasive 15 years ago. It took me a long time to figure out it's not productive to buy packs housing Rockies, and I still lose my mind from time to time.

FIRST HIT PULLED

My favorite thing to open at this time was 2008 Allen & Ginter. It's still my favorite A&G set. I was in full blaster-buying mode particularly when I started the blog. This Tom Glavine relic pull was featured. I don't have this no more.

FIRST CARDBOARD APPRECIATION POST

Cardboard Appreciation is still rocking, I'm up to 324 of them, which is pretty good considering they've become just about the least-read posts I write. I like doing them because they're often simple and a lot less time-consuming and also because it gives me the chance to showcase a card I'm particularly fascinated with at that time.

Obviously I will never stop being fascinated with this Boog Powell card, the very first CA subject.

FIRST PRIZE PACKAGE RECEIVED

I landed a nice box of cards from Dave of Tribe Cards and was forever changed. The wild west show of blogging where people just sailed boxes of cards across the country to unsuspecting collectors for absolutely nothing is still the craziest outpouring of card generosity I've ever seen. This hobby is very generous, but the current versions can not compare.

The Stan Javier signed card was also the first autograph I landed from a fellow blogger.

 

FIRST CUSTOM CARD RECEIVED

There was lots of custom-card making during the early blogging days, although very few were printing off their creations. This '75 Koufax image arrived in an email from Travis of Punk Rock Paint (I know many of you reading this now don't know these blog references, but they were/are very cool people). I still have it. I should print it out myself finally.

FIRST TRADE FROM ACROSS THE POND

A staggering trade to my experience showed up that first year from Westgate-On-Sea in Kent, England, good ol' Jake Plumstead from The Pursuit Of '80sness. How the heck did he get those current baseball cards all the way out there? I don't think I still know. I also wonder how he's doing these days.

 

FIRST TEAM TRADE

All right! Someone who is still blogging and was blogging before I was! My first team-for-team trade was with Kerry of Cards On Cards back in October of 2008. And as I showed a couple days ago, it's still an effective way to get the cards you want.

FIRST SET COMPLETED

The first set I completed while blogging was within the first couple of months and it was 2008 Allen & Ginter, the first of seven straight A&G sets I'd finish.

FIRST OLDER SET COMPLETED

That would be 1983 Topps -- hey, it's that Jeff Newman card again -- my favorite 1980s set of all-time.

FIRST PARALLEL PULLED

I unwisely bought a pack of 2008 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes but was rewarded with this red parallel of Andre Ethier.

FIRST GIVEAWAY

With all the giveaways going on around me in 2008, it just seemed like the thing to do. So I gave away a bunch of packs of 1993 Upper Deck that I picked up at a show. I don't think many of them stuck together.

FIRST CARDS BOUGHT AT A CARD SHOW

I had started going back to shows a couple years before starting the blog. But at my first show since blogging in October of '08 I was in full pursuit of the 1971 Topps set. I was also grabbing Dodger needs from the mid-to-late '60s/early '70s. Both of these cards arrived from that first show.

FIRST ODDBALL SET LANDED

The first oddball cards I received through the blog was the 5-card 1978 Zest set, which I still adore for this Willie Montanez card. It came from JayBee, who blogging old-timers know as the guy who maintained the ultimate card blog roll. That's where you went to find out what new card blogs had started, so you could add them to your roll.

JayBee was one of the big bloggers from the time, but he slowly got out of the game and then he said he started checking my blog roll to update his. I don't do such a good job of tracking down new blogs these days (it doesn't help that the blog roll updating function is broken). But some new card blogs do keep showing up.

That's the thing about blogs -- they keep going years and years and years after people have tried to kill them off. And I'm always amazed that while readers disappear, new ones show up. It happens every single year.

So, yeah, I'll keep writing this blog and keep being a so-called shining light among dwindling readership.

Life may have its say, but I'll try to keep going at the same pace and do some of the same things. And if ever, in the future, I decide to stop blogging, I will try not to disappear without a word, or delete my blog, or any of those weird things that sometimes happen.

 

Still no guarantees. After all, NOC is entering year 16 now. It can drive. And other things. Watch out. 

(Thanks for reading).