Night Owl Cards

Greetings. While I'm still in family funeral limbo, how about another boxed set provided to me by reader Alan? This is a box of Fleer's EXCITING STARS from 1989. The one thing that strikes me when I see this box is how ancient it makes me feel. This is a common first reaction to a lot of things these days -- when I see the current cost of a dress shirt, any time someone says "just get the app," whenever I spot someone with pink hair -- my first thought is: HOW OLD AM I? 1989 doesn't seem that long ago until I do the math and realize that a good portion of grown-ups weren't around for Back to the Future II, let alone Back to the Future I. Just look at this box. Fleer stop existing more than a decade ago. Hills disappeared when Ames bought it out and then Ames went out of business! That was 17 years ago! Also, also: $1.97 for 44 cards??? You can't buy a single pack for that now. Look at the back: A paper checklist. Well, isn't that d...

When there's no time, it sure is handy having this stockpile of '80s boxed sets. This is another one from the stash given to me by reader Alan. I've mentioned many times how unfamiliar I was with Toys R Us as a kid. The store just wasn't available to me. And the disconnect between me and Toys R Us continued through early adulthood as the company decided to pair with Topps and issue consecutive years of a set of rookies right when I was attending college and then heading out into the work world. It was hardly a time for collecting some off-shoot set. Since my return to collecting, I've received the Dodgers that have appeared in these Toys R Us boxed sets and I've admired the bold, colorful design and borders. The sets were issued from 1987-91, but Dodgers appear only in the 1989-91 sets. So I've seen the yellow borders from 1989, the red ones from 1990 and the black ones from 1991. But I missed the 1988 blue borders. Those are the ones that I'm g...

You know you have a lot of cards when you got a card show and you start looking at the 5,000-count row boxes with the same kind of longing as you do the cards. I reached that point Sunday. That's because on top of going to the show, I was gifted with a number of great cards (and other things) from two different collectors during my stay. I first met Angus, as usual in the Wild Wings parking lot. He handed me a box of cards that dwarfed my meager offering . But I did do the driving! And threw down the gift cards for dinner afterward! The top card on the box was one I knew I'd get: Canadian skip Rachel Homan fills the curling hole in my female sports collection, featured in a recent post (it's not really a collection, it was just a blog exercise. But it's good to know I have a female version for all those sports. Too many dudes). Angus tried to get this A&G mini of Heidi Watney into my frankenset mini binder. Sadly, she can't beat out another f...