Night Owl Cards

    It's no surprise that I would subscribe to that theory. Night owls wouldn't be caught dead spouting sayings about worms and early birds. Later has always worked for me, in dozens of scenarios. The latest one was the monthly card show this afternoon. The show doesn't start in the afternoon. Like most weekend shows, it's open bright and early, when I'm still sleeping. I'll get up early Saturday for a long road trip but otherwise, wake me up at 11.  That doesn't stop me from going into a mild panic that all the card goodies will be gone by the time I get there. So sometimes I roust myself up earlier than I want to. I did that last month, and when I got there, the place was so packed that I ended up not buying anything because I couldn't breathe. So this time I traveled through Saturday at my usual leisurely pace. I arrived at the show at around 1 (this is also the approximate time that I arrive at the big show at the state fairgrounds, and it's alwa

  There has to be a name for the experience of intending to send a package of cards to someone, packing up the cards, forgetting to mail off the cards for months, then finally sending the cards with a note of apology, both for forgetting and taking so long. There has to be a name because I've done it and you've done it. We've all done it multiple times. We need to stop doing it, stop the apologizing. Here's why: You're busy. I'm busy. I'm so busy that I don't remember that you told me you were going to send me cards. When was that? Months ago? Hell, last year ? I don't remember that! Who are you again? Sorry, I don't mean to be rude. I'm just busy. And forgetful. And old. I collect cards and write a blog, I believe that's the definition of being old. So no apology needed. In fact, whenever the cards arrive, that's the perfect time. That's when they were meant to arrive. I'm happy they showed up now, rather than months ago whe

  I mentioned on my 1975 buyback milestone post that I was easing up on the chase after reaching 500 buybacks for the set, so I could focus on some other card things. But a few other buybacks trickled in before I made that decision so I'm now at 505 of the 660 cards in buyback form. Here are the last five that arrived from the recent binge: Some good ones there. Happy to get the Dock Ellis out of the way, though it wasn't exactly cheap. Two of the cards in that group have not shown up on the 1975 Topps worst-to-best countdown yet, which means they're in the final 200. We're getting into the 100's now, all these cards to come are great -- heck a whole bunch prior to the final 200 were great. This isn't 2017 Topps you know. Time for another edition of the countdown:   200. Frank Taveras, card 277 The card that introduced me to Frank Taveras. It was an instant favorite, and every Taveras card to follow was a disappointment (especially when he went to the Mets). I r

  Diversity is a huge deal in the business world and I've been hearing about it virtually my entire career, probably even during college when I was preparing for my career. Diversity, in a different way, is a big factor in the hobby, as it relates to variety, different brands, different styles of cards, etc. When collectors complain about Topps' exclusive license, they're complaining about a lack of diversity. But as far as individual collectors, there are those who have diverse collections and those who keep the parameters limited. I admire those collectors with limits and am also baffled by them. Every time I hear someone say they collect only Topps cards, I feel a swell of admiration for that collector and at the same time I yell, "HOW? You're missing so much!" I can't do that. My collection is diverse. Sure, people could put me in a specific category -- set collector, team collector -- but I like too many card things to stay in the same lane all the ti

  I went to a reunion of a local baseball team yesterday.  This was as local as a local team can get. It wasn't minor league ball, nor even semipro ball -- nobody was getting paid, I don't think -- it was just guys in college or just out of school playing on a team because they wanted to keep playing. They did that for three years, in the early 1970s, and then stopped. And they didn't reunite until yesterday, more than 50 years later. One of the players on those teams was Dave Trembley, who you may remember as the Baltimore Orioles' manager from 2007-10. He's a local guy. I've written about him in my Brush With Greatness series and a couple other times -- but that was awhile ago. He's retired now from major league ball, I believe. The organizers of the reunion started out wanting to recognize only Trembley for all he's done -- stuff like that doesn't happen regularly around here -- but he didn't want to be the center of attention. Only until it b