Night Owl Cards

I have a list of bloggers that deserve card packages from me sitting on my card desk. It is 15 names long. It is 15 names long because I can't fit 20 on there. This list also doesn't include any "I trade with this person all the time so I guess it's time to send him some cards" packages. I can't wait for the day when I get to that point. Nope, all of the folks on the list have sent me something days, weeks, months ago and in my current "I can get 4 packages out a week" frame of mind, I am way behind. Meanwhile, March is still tossing lit firecrackers at me as I juggle card packages while peddling a unicycle. Evil, evil month. I have no way of stopping March. And I have no way of stopping cards from coming to my house (we all have our problems, don't we?) But I do have a way of preventing the "INCOMING" stack from spilling over and forming a giant pile of cardboard in the living room, the combustible materials interminglin...

Thank goodness someone revived this thing (although the image may be outdated now). I had no idea what I was going to write about tonight, and it's been like that just about every day for the last two weeks. Even though I do agree that part of my funk is because there isn't much new card-wise, I'm not going to complain about that because: 1. I already went on a rant about how that's not necessarily a good excuse. 2. If there were new card items at this time of year, I would be a complete mess because I can't possibly spend cash on cards in December, and I'd end up in a ball on the floor moaning about my misfortune. Drool would be involved. 3. If I convince myself that I must buy cards to eliminate my funk, I will end up with a blaster of 2011 American Pie, and I've already winced and shuddered over some of the cards that I've seen. (If there's a loose pack of the stuff, though, I'll give it a whirl). The Blog Bat Around is just the th...

Yesterday, Dinged Corners (so glad they're back) asked what we all would recommend to someone who hadn't been collecting in months. What was out on the shelves, virtual or otherwise, that would catch one's fancy? I ran through my mind all of the various choices released this year, discarded some automatically, and rambled off some incoherent answer. At the end, I realized there really wasn't anything great from 2011, and that the item that I recommended -- Topps Heritage -- won my vote solely because I like how it looks stacked up in a pile. To me, it looks like a cord of wood -- if wood was sliced very, very thinly. Don't look at me that way. I find firewood comforting. It's a cold weather thing. But I also realized that this was a sign of someone with a short attention span. Only a 2-year-old would recommend a card set based on what it looks like stacked up, as if they were building blocks. But that's how I've gone through card sets this year....

Wednesday was a real bummer of a day. First, there was the horrific news of the Russian hockey team plane crash that has devastated anyone and everyone connected to the NHL. Secondly, there is the almost catastrophic flooding and evacuations going on in many of the areas that I called home when I was growing up. Fortunately, my folks are on high ground. I called them to make sure it was high enough. Finally, just because things were going OK for me , someone decided I would drive over something metallic and sharp in the road on my way to work, and now I get to spend undetermined hours in a tire shop tomorrow. So, I'm looking for something brief and pleasant to take me away. There aren't any new '75 minis around right now, so I turned to Clayton Kershaw, the happiest part of the major league season for me. I recently picked up four cards of Kershaw. Why four? Well, it's all I could afford. But also because it got me to the magic 150-card mark. I now have 150 ...

By showing a Jackie Robinson Gypsy Queen sepia mini. I received it from Larry, the Sewingmachineguy . I probably should show the back of the card, too. Numbered 4 out of 99. On card No. 4. I suppose it could have been better. That 4 could have had a 2 after it and the card be numbered 42 out of 99. That would make it better. But why quibble? There are too many quibblers.

It's been over a month since I pulled this card and I still have it. Do you know how quickly this card would have disappeared from my clutches about two years ago? I would have had it for a week. Tops. There were about a dozen Mets bloggers at the time. I owed Mets collectors constantly. I couldn't keep Mets in stock, and I was afraid collectors were going to figure out a way to put a lien on my house. But things have changed. Just about all of the Mets bloggers have disappeared, or died off, or come to their senses, or something . There are a few around, but not in the numbers they were before. I find my Mets cards sitting on the shelf collecting dust. But nothing illustrates the lack of interest in Mets cards like this David Wright Gypsy Queen relic card. When I pulled it, I said it would take a Dodger Gypsy Queen relic card to get me to agree to a trade. I didn't really have any takers. It's a great-looking card. Of a popular Met. I suppose this is h...

The title for this post is a little flip, considering that some people haven't had much luck with the Diamond Giveaway at all. But I think I'm running out of interest in the site. That's probably because I've landed the other Diamond Diecut card that I really wanted. The Clayton Kershaw diecut was traded to me by reader Martin. I was so impressed by his transaction that I bumped his trade way up in the rotation. (As mentioned before, these cards are really much more sparkly and shiny than is capable of being shown on scans -- also my scanner bed apparently is plagued by dog hair. But don't let the dull scan ruin your appreciation of shiny, shiny goodness). This leaves only one other Dodger Diamond Cut to get -- Andre Ethier. I'm sure if I offered my Reggie Jackson Diamond Cut for Ethier, I'd land it right away. But I don't want to do that. Instead, I'm very close to requesting shipment of both my Jackson and Tommy Hanson Diamond Diecuts and se...

It's my third Jackie Robinson post in a row! We're celebrating the Memorial Day weekend with all Jackie Robinson all the time! It's Jackie Robinson Weekend! More programming brilliance of the kind you've come to expect from the dedicated folks at Night Owl Cards! Actually, it's just coincidence. And there's only one folk. And this is a poorly disguised trade post. If you haven't figured out, every Topps card set put out in the last three years is lousy with Robinsons, so I could probably extend Jackie Robinson weekend into the Jackie Robinson Summer of 2011 if I wished. Gypsy Queen is just one example of a set with countless Jackies. I showed the relic Jackie yesterday . There is also the Great Ones Jackie at the top of the post. Here is the framed green paper Jackie that arrived from Shane of Off the Wall . I didn't mean to steal Shane's thunder by showing the relic Jackie before this one. But just about all of my life is out of order ...