Night Owl Cards

I missed the National Sports Card Convention again this year. Honestly, the show isn't exactly convenient for those with families, unless it's in your backyard, and, of course, Chicago is nowhere near me. One day I will make it a priority, schedule a budget (I have a difficult time with "spending a lot of money to spend a lot of money"), and hit the road. Atlantic City is unlikely next year, but Cleveland looks real good in 2018. So what did I do while a bunch of collectors were at the National? Well, I windowshopped from afar, as usual. I really enjoy the videos that people put together while either out on the floor or back in the hotel as they show off their wares. And I also settled down with the giant box of Dodger dupes that you see there and started organizing. I know, it sounds pretty pathetic when you know that there are people a thousand miles away marveling at 36 graded Michael Jordan rookie cards all in one place or unearthing that card from 1923...

I have this insanely unscientific method of determining whether people are buying sets on any given year: I check to see how quickly I complete the Dodgers team for the given set. Then I compare it to how quickly I completed other team sets for that year and for past years and I have my answer. I told you it was unscientific. For example, the year that we're wrapping up right now, off the top of my head, I know that I've completed two Dodgers team sets. The most recent one was Stadium Club. I received the last two Dodgers that I needed for that set from Shane of Shoebox Legends . Here they are: Add those to the rest: ... and Stadium Club is complete. (Completed without me buying a pack, I might add, since it'd be too much trouble for a card shop around here to stock actual cards ). My guess is that I completed it so quickly because Stadium Club was so popular with collectors. People bought this stuff. The other Dodger team set from 2...

Those of you who participated in or watched Nacho Grande's Stadium Club group break probably already know what I am going to write about, so go click on riveting election coverage if you're bored. I hardly ever join group breaks anymore. Someone who needs to save every dime shouldn't be playing slot machines. But this group break was different. This year's version of Stadium Club isn't available in retail stores. And it's a beautiful product. If I wanted a chance to own the Dodgers in the set, I had to join. And so I did. As expected, I received a bunch of Dodgers. Also, as expected, I received a bunch of dupes. You don't bust a bunch of cards from a 200-card set and not expect doubles. But Stadium Club -- at least in my experience --  is especially known for horrid collation. You got your full bleed photos. You got your quality pictures. You got the same damn cards over and over again. But if you want some gorgeous cards sometimes you have to t...

Perhaps you've heard that 1.8 percent of major league baseball fans are happy because the Giants won the World Series again. As you can imagine, I'm part of the 98.2 percent that is not happy. In the least. I can't bring myself to say it was a great postseason or Series or any of that 'yay, baseball!' stuff because I'm too INVESTED. Also, I'll never get used to the fact that a team that ended the season six games behind gets a World Series trophy. That's regardless of whether it's the Giants or not ... OK, it annoys me more that it's the Giants ... but, really, baseball what are you doing to yourself? I know it's irreparable and most fans have moved on and the other sports have been dealing with this for a long time since way back when I was a child, but six games behind, man. Six. Games. Behind. Anyway, it's another lost postseason and to add to that joy I've worked 15 days straight and there's no real certainty about my n...