Night Owl Cards

I'm sure this has happened to everyone. You leave your home. You reach your destination however many minutes later. And you realize that you have no memory of anything that happened on your travels in between. That's how occupied I was yesterday as I headed out to run a few errands. I had planned to find most of what I was looking for in Target so I could then use the Target baseball card coupons that I kept forgetting. I had also planned to stop at the ATM to break in a new debit card. But before I knew it, I was pulling into a parking spot at Walmart, of all places. "Oh, no, no, no, no, no," I said out loud in disgust as I realized where I was. I hadn't stopped at the ATM, I hadn't gone to Target where I had coupons. I was in the gross Walmart parking lot with absolutely no knowledge of how I got there. Also, I had forgotten my Target coupons. So, resigned to my fate, I opened the door and walked toward Walmart, past the broken down shopping carts...

By now, you've got to be wondering whether I received anything hobby-related for Christmas. It's killing you. Just killing you. OK, maybe not. You're too busy rolling around in autographed swatch cards under the tree to worry about little ol' night owl. That's OK, because I've got a couple of stories to tell, and that's Christmas gift enough. I did receive some hobby-related items. And I did receive some cards. Perhaps they were not exactly the cards I wanted. Some will call me picky, some will nod their heads in agreement. I'll leave this post tonight and tomorrow's post here for you to decide. My daughter found me a blaster of Allen & Ginter. She is the most astute of the family in terms of knowing what I like, card-wise. But she still has that aversion to the card aisle that I see in people who don't collect cards. I get the feeling that it's much like when I'm required to wander through women's wear, or -- god forbi...

My daughter received an email this morning from her former place of employment exclaiming, "BLACK FRIDAY STARTS TODAY!" How typical of a profit-seeking business. Can't be satisfied with suckering people into their stores the day after Thanksgiving, they have to take Thanksgiving and the whole week, too. I won't be participating in Black Friday, either in person or online, as is my custom. But please don't go away disappointed! I do have some black-themed goods for you today. Matt from Bubba's Bangin' Batch of Baseball Bits sent me a bunch of cardboard darkness! First, he showed me a soccer card to throw me off the trail: He mumbled something in a note about all the cards being soccer cards. "Oh, great," I said to myself, completely falling for it. "I've got to get the chimney inspected so I can burn all these cards in the fireplace on camera." But I won't fall for a tirade on everything I don't understand ab...

I passed up a card show yesterday to travel to see family in one of those remote outposts in New York, other than the one in which I live. Normally, I'd be quite upset about missing a card show. But after what work has foisted on me the last few days, I welcomed the chance to be out of contact for a few days -- or as out-of-contact as is possible in this modern existence (stupid smart phone). My sister-in-law helped make up for my card show absence with a couple of store packs. She likes to give gifts to family visitors and knows exactly what I want. Allen & Ginter and Stadium Club are as good as you can get, and they came from someone who doesn't follow baseball at all. The Allen & Ginter hanger pack didn't contain anything exciting. This was the best card in the pack. I also would have been pleased by the Clayton Kershaw By the Numbers insert if I didn't have it already. As is customary, there was one short-print in the pack. This was it: ...

If you've collected for long enough then you've probably done that goofy thing where you give the cards you purchase powers of knowing. They're inanimate objects, yet sometimes, I could swear they know what I need. Or at the very least, they are trying to tell me something. It's the only way I can explain my recent experiences with Allen & Ginter. I haven't bought a lot of 2016 A&G because I'm not trying to complete the set. But A&G is one of my first choices during impulse buys because I still like the set and, oh yes, minis. So, speaking of minis, I pulled this one. Now, I had pulled the same mini when I bought my first blaster of A&G and posted its contents. And I had just sent that mini to a fellow collector. So what are the odds of getting that mini again? Yeah, I know some math guy is going to tell me and say that the probability is actually not all that unusual. Don't spoil my post. The A&G cards are trying to tell me...

(The deadline to enter the anniversary contest is almost here. If you're interested, you have until 9 p.m. tonight EST to enter the contest . It's closed to participants after that. On with the show). Here is a card of the Washington Nationals' Trea Turner. Fine player. Top prospect. Doing well in his first extended time with the big-league team. Saw him play for Syracuse last season. Started at shortstop. Went 1-for-3. Turner is card No. 300 in this year's Allen & Ginter set. It's the last card before the 50 short-prints hit. OK, that's enough of Turner, right? Every player gets just one card (or if it's A&G, every celebrity, thinker or edifice). One man, one card. It's the foundation of set-collecting. As important as one man, one vote. Without it, the whole system is compromised. So, let's get into the short-prints. Specifically card No. 342. Uh ... I will never get over this. No matter how many times I pull a diffe...