Night Owl Cards

  As much as I've complained about the pokemonification of card shows the last couple of years, when they are right, they are very right. Nothing else can compare, certainly not the online options that I rely on way too frequently.   This past Saturday's monthly show was quite right and I think not being able to get to it last month is only part of the reason I enjoyed it so much.   I know I've gone through the plusses for card shows before but I'm doing it again because it was very apparent this time.       1. OFF-CONDITION VINTAGE   Can you get off-condition vintage online? I don't know. Maybe. All I know is that I've stopped trying because it either stopped being available or the prices got mind-numbingly stupid.   But at a show that's not the case. I go to one table all the time and great vintage cards are waiting for me every time. This is what I picked up this time. The Ron Fairly I thought was an upgrade in my team set but it's not so now i...

  Hey, it's July. My favorite month. Maybe I can celebrate by surpassing the record-low number of posts I made to this blog last month.   I never would have figured that June would be the month with my lowest total ever. If I had to guess, it certainly would be March. But I posted just 12 times last month, four less than my previous low, which was in May 2019 when my mom passed.   Nothing happened in June nearly as tragic as six years ago but just a firestorm of everything: multiple writing assignments outside of this blog, constant vehicle issues, the present job schedule and this past weekend, in which I went out of town for my nephew's graduation.   It's the final high school graduation for all the nieces and nephews. All done. Probably no high school graduations again unless I make it for a grandkid's ceremony. While I was in Buffalo, I made sure to return to Dave and Adam's.     I never spend too much time around the clothing, it's all too expensive, e...

  Life is still too busy and full of upheaval, even with getting some tasks out of the way. I just finished and filed my Beckett magazine story so hopefully I'm done with that (and hopefully it reads well). But there is still far too much happening.   That doesn't mean I'm not collecting. Cards still come to the house ("stuff I need to blog" is really stacking up). Today the weird Topps High Numbers "Team Quads" insert of the Dodgers arrived. These are a riff on the 1975 rookie stars cards except the title here should be "Team's Four Most Marketable Players".   I also found time for the monthly card show today. I skipped it last month after going to shows on back-to-back weeks in April.   I was in a casual mood and you could tell shoppers were getting into summer mode as it was rather light (still people bopping you with their pelican case things). I hoped that I could find a Hank Aaron or Steve Carlton for my 1969 Topps chase, but no luck ...

    As expected, I received some more 2025 Heritage in the mail at the end of last week. First, Rod of Padrographs sent me a bunch of his extras and then later the same day, the Fanatics "megabox" that I ordered back in March finally showed up.   After going through all of that, I am just short of halfway through on the set at 45 percent. As always with Heritage, this is deceptive since there are an ungodly 100 short-prints and I have like eight of them.   But I'm still enjoying the cards, despite all the drawbacks of modern sets, and I can see myself perhaps acquiring a hobby box at some point (maybe after prices go down) to continue building the set.   I've still got some observations and thoughts on this year's set, so I'll break all of this up into Rod's sends and then my box from Fanatics.     ROD'S CARDS   I received three stuffed nine-pocket pages of cards from Rod, not all 2025 Heritage but most of it was. It really helped make a dent and...