Night Owl Cards

  Did I show this 1941 Play Ball Whit Wyatt I got about a month ago? I don't think I did, I used to be more on top of stuff like that but that's the way it's been in the hobby for me lately.   The first half of the year I've been in a hobby lull. The combination of weather, lack of decent transportation and the general cost of everything, particularly cards, has really cut into what I usually do in the hobby. That isn't just acquiring, but trading and organizing, too.   Don't worry, the desire is still there. I grab a card here and there when I can. I finally landed the 2025 Chrome Shoehei Ohtani for something under $5 -- it had been going for anywhere from 10-20 bucks for months.   My latest '75 buyback arrived several weeks ago. It was the 544th buyback in my chase and a key one. I've been aware of the Ron Santo buyback for years but it was always selling for more than 30 dollars. I finally landed one for two-thirds less.   It's been mostly small v...

    Growing up is all about figuring out who you are and what you want to be, but also what your interests are, what you enjoy and what speaks to you.   The first 20 years of your life you're constantly changing your interests -- I don't think about it much but I know it happened to me and when my daughter was young and a teenager, I saw it happen to her.   When I was 18 and starting college, I decided I wasn't interested in baseball cards anymore. I was pretty certain of that. I did buy complete sets of 1984 and 1985 Topps (when I was 18 and 19), just because having new baseball cards come to the house was always a thing, even if my interest in going out and buying packs had waned.   That idea of no longer being a card collector continued through almost the entire rest of the '80s, until when I came back to the hobby like gangbusters in 1989.   Because in 1989 I realized that I thought I knew better -- but I really didn't. And it cost me.   In 1984 al...

   Here's part 2 of my ranking of the Topps flagship sets. In this post I am including the sets issued in the last 10 years' time, 11 sets in all.   The more recent sets don't fare very well as you could probably guess. But one gets close to the top 20, and if you know me, you could guess that one, too.   When I ranked the sets the last time there were 64 to rank. Now there are 75. I'm not going through all the rankings again with all the commentary this time. Instead I'll show the recent sets and list where they placed.   Here we go:   75. 2021   There's a new bottom. 1996 is no longer bringing up the rear. 2021 Topps is awful. I know this is the pandemic set and Topps was doing what it could to work with photos with no fans and weird camera angles, but it wasn't the right call. The razor slashes infringe on the photo, like they're poking the player. Worst of all, the names are impossible to read, maybe the smallest in history -- I'd have to compare...