Night Owl Cards

  Just a quick observation while I'm dealing with more visiting and various summer activities.   I received these two 2026 Bowman cards from The Shlabotnik Report about three weeks ago. They were my first look at this year's Bowman. I don't buy those cards anymore.   One of the many reasons I don't is because Bowman has no interest in distinctive designs, which can be attached to a respective year. They look far too similar to me every year.   In general this is an issue with modern cards. Having grown up with cards in the 1970s, I need my cards to look vastly different from year to year. So it's a generational thing, I have a feeling.   So when I saw the two 2026 cards I thought they didn't look any different from the previous year ... or the previous five years. And then I realized it has been this way now for 15 years.     This is a Bowman card from 2011. Those of you who were collecting then know that Bowman liked its black borders at the time. ...

   As a baseball fan it's fun to look back on games I've attended and remember the ballplayers I witnessed in person.   I'm not lucky enough to be able to go to a big league game every week or even every year. So seeing those notable players is extra special to me and, yes, I've written about that . I've watched Dennis Eckersley, Cal Ripken Jr., Vladimir Guerrero Sr., Reggie Jackson, Jim Rice, Adrian Beltre, George Brett and Jim Palmer.   But this post isn't about those guys. Instead have you have looked up the players you watched that you didn't know you watched?   I came across this idea off a BlueSky post when I realized that I watched former Blue Jays second baseman Damaso Garcia during the first game I attended in person. But I didn't see the Blue Jays in my first game. I saw the Royals and Yankees. Garcia was playing for the Yankees in 1978 and on July 15 he appeared in the game I watched in Yankee Stadium.   My mind was blown. I didn't even kn...

  Hey, it's another downsizing post. I didn't get to one of these in June and there are still cards that need to go out the door.   I've been pretty lax in adding cards to my collection, too. I blame some of this on the post office. There's been two times in the last month where I've ordered a single card ... and then waited a month for it to arrive. The second one hasn't appeared yet, and it damn well better because it finishes a team set and it wasn't cheap (i.e. another Heritage short-print).   That's put a damper on ordering through the mail, just a little. But a few cards have indeed arrived.     I've recently returned to the team O-Pee-Chee quest. After finishing off the '80s sets and some of the late '70s I moved on to other things. But it's time to get back. I'm starting with 1990 because it's the easiest. That Orel Hershiser was a former Nebulous Nine need.     BlueSky followers know that this 1965 Topps Leon Wagner card ...

  Around 15 years ago, I was up on the very latest in cards, all the new releases, when to get them, where to get them, etc.   The internet made it easy. There were several card sites that posted release dates regularly. Even some card blogs were there to tell you which set was coming out when. And I'd try to track everything: flagship, Heritage, Gypsy Queen, Bowman, Allen & Ginter, Chrome, Archives, etc., etc.   It's much different now. Information on the hobby is a lot more scattered. Most of all, I barely check release dates anymore. But it's not because the info is more difficult to find -- I just don't care. Mostly what I need is the date when flagship first comes out and the same with Heritage. And that's it.   I still want the Dodger cards though and, fortunately, a select few people still send me them. But now it's a surprise when the new cards come out.   Cards On Cards sent me another couple of envelopes a couple of weeks ago. It contained the ver...

  I keep forgetting that the latest Hall of Fame induction ceremony is coming up this weekend. Usually I prepare these Hall of Fame posts in advance but I suddenly realized that I've got to get it done by the weekend.   My reason for forgetting is that this class is quite forgettable. It's three players from the '90s/'00s/'10s. All three are not exactly popular among baseball fans as a whole. Two were Dodgers and neither came out of it well. The other guy spent virtually his whole career on irksome teams aggravating and tormenting the Dodgers (sometimes in trashy ways). So, no, I won't be watching the ceremony.   But I will update my most Hall of Famers series, which I am doing yearly now that I've covered every Topps flagship set, documenting how many Hall of Famers are in each one.   Like last year, I am only listing the years for which the totals have changed after adding Carlos Beltran, Andruw Jones and Jeff Kent.   This time around 25 sets have increase...

  I don't like saying cards are "a waste of money" because collectors get so much of that nonsense from noncollectors during their lifetime.   Generally card collecting is not a waste of money for a myriad of reasons, from being educational to improving mental health. But as the hobby continues to sink under Fanatics' heavy-handed rule, there are times when, yes, even I have to admit that cards can be money down the drain.   Here is what made me think this way:   I received not one, but two Target gift cards for my birthday. I was determined to use them on cards (I may become very boring and rethink that strategy thanks to this). Instead of purchasing another Series 2 box, which was quite productive for me, I selected the latest Topps Chrome Platinum offering. Not a smooth move.   I knew I was doing something dumb yet I am very confident in justifying my card purchases. "It'll all work out" I rationalized -- because quite often it does. But the following...

  The birthday went pretty well. They're quiet these days. The highlight may be a new chair for my desk area where I type these posts. Yay! Also, I did use the gift card (actually two of them) for some current cards. You'll see that in the coming weeks.   After this post I'm taking a few days off from the blog. There are vacation things to do, yes, but also I've been getting a little cranky about blog stuff and that's an indication that I need some time away.   It'll also allow me to rededicate myself to some other topics besides showing off the latest cards, which I've done a lot of lately ... and am doing now.   A series of arrivals have been piling up on the roll-top desk and it's a mess so I'm clearing out. Enjoy the card view.     These were my latest claims on Diamond Jesters' Time Travel Trading. Both probably need explaining. For the Sweetness card, I added it simply because his earlier cards have been so difficult to obtain. Might as we...