Night Owl Cards

  I received an unexpected quick flyer in the mail last week from reader Grant. Of the variety of items in the envelope, very few were cards.   Just two, in fact. One was this 2025 Topps Cosmic Chrome Josh Allen card. I consider it good luck because the package arrived on Thursday, mere hours before Allen and the Bills beat up on the Lions defense. (I know, not difficult to do).   This was the other card, a Heritage buyback, a.k.a., someone/something stamped Rick Auerbach's 1976 Topps card.   This is just my second '76 Heritage buyback, as only 1975 cards get the collecting treatment in this house. But I certainly will take any stamped Dodgers, no matter the year.   And that was it for the cards.   But there was more and I consider it the highlight of the envelope.     Those are wax pack wrappers -- from my prime collecting time -- and a couple are from sets that I never collected as a kid -- because I never saw them for sale.   For informati...

  From the beginning, I was not impressed.   Trying to collect three sets was a lot. This was the new world in 1981, after collecting nothing but Topps for the previous six years (with some side runs into Kellogg's and Hostess). While eager to try out all the newness, I felt overwhelmed -- a newspaper carrier salary couldn't possibly cover three sets -- and was looking for ways to cut back. Finding fault with one of the new sets would help me control my habit.   Donruss made it easy that year.   The difference between its set and the Topps and Fleer sets that year was obvious right away. While Topps was printed on the cardboard that I knew from the beginning, and Fleer's was also sturdy if a bit rigid, Donruss was flimsy. You could bend the card easily. I had never experienced cards on such thin stock. Even the Hostess panels felt more solid.   I ranked Donruss third among the new trio right away and while purchasing all three throughout that summer of '81 -- be...

  Last week I bought a blaster of 2024 Topps with the cash that I didn't spend at the card show that I went to at the start of the month.  That doesn't sound like the smartest of moves -- save that cash for something vintage you want! -- but I've been living my card-purchasing life online for the last month-plus and it's getting tired. I needed to buy in person.   I had planned to add some Heritage but it wasn't there. I could have missed it because there were two guys dominating the space talking about their next Magic thingy and I had to squeeze past them. But I was happy with the '24 Topps.     Some of the highlights, there were others that I needed, too. There were also many, many dupes, so I won't be getting any more retail. It's all about Heritage now anyway. (If I was MLB commish, I would reinstate real extra innings first and ban public displays of unnecessary ballplayer yelling next). I did pull my first autograph of the year. This was appropria...

  I've hassled Donruss pretty good over the life of this blog, slagging them for childish '80s designs, repetitive card backs with just five years of stats, and burying every man, woman and child in sets from the late 1980s. But there is one element of those old Donruss days that no card company can match. Not Fleer, not Upper Deck and certainly not Topps. Through one, small gesture, Donruss endeared itself to a generation of collectors and still does to this day, if I am any example. See if you can tell what it is. It's right here on this card:   It's on this one, too:   And on this one: Surely you have figured it by now ...   DONRUSS PUT THE YEAR THE SET WAS ISSUED ON THE FRONT OF THE CARD! Right there on the front. Where every collector could see it instantly. No questions, no wondering, no confusion, it's right with the logo. 1984!! This set was issued in 19-EIGHTY- FOUR! I've never been more confident about a card fact in my life. You would think this wo...