Night Owl Cards

  Last weekend, my wife went on a girls weekend to her hometown of Buffalo, showing the north country locals around and all there is to do when you're in an actual city.   They checked out the new stadium and a couple great restaurants (Buffalo has an endless supply) and several female-centric shops that make my eyes sleepy. On their way back home they stopped at Viddler's, a well-known retro 5-and-dime store outside of the city.   My dearest likes to find me something on her trips without me and this time it actually involved cards, which doesn't happen much at all.     She brought back four of these packs, which I had never seen in my life. I didn't have any idea what was inside. My abilities of perception continue to decrease as I get older so I didn't even see the "modern & vintage" reference on the packs and my mind raced about what weirdness was inside -- Disney characters or odd knock-off dinosaur cards -- OK, I'm making that sound more inte...

  It's time to give away some more cards that no longer fit in my collection. I haven't done one of these since July. But it's almost been a year since I started these giveaways, so there's at least one more before I see if I want to continue this.   My purpose in giving these cards away is to free up some space on the two shelves that house most of my binders.   That's shelf one. There are five binders that are lying flat (not counting the top shelf) that I'd like to move into a vertical position with the rest of them. But it's proving to be a tougher task than I thought. I think I just have too many cards that I'd like to keep in binders -- forever.   I could put some binders on the top shelf but I don't want to stress out that top shelf any more, it's an old unit and there's some bowing. If I leave it the way it is, it should be OK.     This is the other, sturdier shelf. There is one binder lying flat -- the 2024 Heritage binder -- that I...

  About a week or two ago I started thinking about purchasing some current product. It had been awhile. This was even before I saw that The Collector had landed a hobby box of 2026 Topps Update and thought it looked like a good idea.   Clearly I had been away for too long and had lost my senses.   But then last week I received an envelope from Chris with Dodgers cards from said Update set.    This is about what you can expect from Update if you're a team collector, and it's been this way for several years -- relief pitchers Series 1 and 2 ignored, pointless "rookie debut" cards and equally pointless combo cards of "more than one guy". Also, we've got to get these cameramen off our cards and off the field. I don't care about the photo angle you're providing. I don't need dudes in civilian clothes on the field chasing players around! You're taking me out of the moment!     The inserts are even more appreciated, even if I have my issues wit...

  As you've probably heard/read by now, this year's World Series teams have a few things in common.   It is a matchup of two "small-market" teams. It's two teams that play "small ball," or at least "smaller ball" than most of MLB teams have been playing the last several years. Both teams are based on pitching, speed, fielding, smart base-running and each have a couple of phenomenal hitters.   Also, both play in domed stadiums.   But there's more than those things that make them similar for me. For the longest time, my brain has frequently considered them the same team. I've often thought of the two teams as mirror images, the Rays as the "American League Brewers" and the Brewers as "the National League Rays". Maybe it wouldn't be that way if they were in the same league (they probably should be, shouldn't they Mr. Selig?). I mean I do the same thing with the Brewers and the Mariners. The main reason I tend to...

   I've been collecting in a public space for a long time, there are so many cards that I have seen over and over and over.   So it's surprising when I get a card that is exotic to me. In the last week, I have received several packages and envelopes from fellow bloggers -- surprising in itself -- that contain what I would call an "exotic" card.   I decided to focus on those cards. But I'm not doing it all in one post. I don't have the time for that and it's not fair to those who sent the cards. So I'm going to space them out over time. That way you (but mostly, I) don't get bored.   The first exotic card came from Zippy Zappy of Torren' Up Cards . It's the latest in a series of envelopes from him. I could actually consider all four of the cards he sent "exotic". They certainly aren't showing up on my store shelves.     Three of the cards are from the 2026 Stadium Club Nippon Professional Baseball League set, issued only in Jap...

  Baseball season is essentially over, and football season has begun in my household. See: Sunday afternoon, when the Bills game dominated the TV and we turned over to the Guardians-Rays only after the Bills' win was done. (It was in the eighth inning).   So that means it's time for my one or two football posts out of the year.   I grabbed a couple of football cards from the Diamond Jesters Time Travel inventory last month, one from the 1980s -- Freeman McNeil there -- and one from the 1970s.   John Rowser from 1975.   This is how football cards come into my collection these days -- a card here and a card there, whether through the Time Travel Trading, something I find appealing at a card show or maybe landing a card from one of those social media selling sites.   There is very little intent behind those purchases. I'm not seeking the card out, I'm not building the set, it's just something that I enjoy, either the player or the design or something about it...