Night Owl Cards

Not every 2016 Topps card is brutal -- I just discovered a couple of night shots in the Perspectives insert set that I simply must have -- but I'm pretty much done sampling it. Just the Dodgers for me, thanks. Plus, when the current set comes out and you don't like it, it's a blessing. Because you can focus on cards that you really like. I've already been doing that -- you'll see some of what I picked up soon -- but I also need to show off Night Owl-collection-centric cards sent to me by fellow collectors. Today, you will see a bunch of goodies from Tim B., of I Love the Smell of Cardboard in the Morning. Coincidentally, his blog is where I saw the Perspectives night cards. So I must repay him with a post. Speaking of smelling cardboard, Tim really sniffed out my want list for these cards.  Let's see what he found extra stinky: Zack Greinke, doing a little traitor-foreshadowing by appearing framed in Diamondback red. This brings my 2013 Dodger T...

The first person to respond to my request for 1975 Topps buyback cards is Michael. Although it's the first time I've received cards from him, the stuff he's sent has popped up on Dime Boxes and I would imagine other places. This brings my grand total of '75 buybacks to five. Wooooooooo! Milestone number! The set will be complete in no time! Like many of the '75 buybacks showing up in hobby cases, Lynn McGlothen probably doesn't mean a whole lot to many breakers. But he does to me. I owned his mini card back in 1975 and although it didn't make much of an impact, I always loved his 1976 Topps card. How much did I love it? About this much. So, yes, McGlothen is very much a part of my childhood. He had most of his success for the Cardinals, then bounced around a few teams before arm issues ended his career. Sadly, he died in a mobile home fire a couple of years after he stopped playing. Sorry to bring the room down like that. Let's se...

Since we're " stealing " post titles now, I figured I'd steal one myself, but put a little bit of a twist on it. I grew up in a household where "hate" was considered a terribly strong word reserved for the most evil of entities, and the word "stupid" was banned altogether. I considered this "stupid" because the kids I knew were saying words far worse than "stupid," although I can see my mother's point all these years later. However, that hasn't stopped me. The word "stupid" has appeared on this blog in 288 posts. The word "hate" has appeared in 775 posts. I hate like hell that I've used the word "hate" that much, but I'd like to believe that the vast majority of hate references were in regard to my opinion of cards. Not that this makes sense to my mom or anyone who considers these things merely cardboard pictures of men, but "hate" seems to do an adequate job hig...

This is one of those "stadium scenes" inserts in this year's Opening Day set. Cards On Cards sent it to me and I'm glad it's mine, because I take what I can get when it comes to the Dodger Stadium experience. The Stadium Scenes set is a bit of a disappointment for me, mostly because most of the 17 cards in the set  don't really show much of the stadium. It's a lot of players signing autographs and mascots. But I just want to see the ballpark. (Please note the rare appearance of foil in an Opening Day set on these cards). This particular photo, while showing the instantly recognizable center field Dodgers sign as you approach the ballpark (it's actually the other side of the scoreboard, I believe), doesn't give me any appreciation for what I think is still one of the most beautiful parks in Major League Baseball. This picture is taken from the parking lot, where you see light poles, an imposing length of fence, and --- weee! -- a Time War...