Night Owl Cards

  Around 15 years ago, I was up on the very latest in cards, all the new releases, when to get them, where to get them, etc.   The internet made it easy. There were several card sites that posted release dates regularly. Even some card blogs were there to tell you which set was coming out when. And I'd try to track everything: flagship, Heritage, Gypsy Queen, Bowman, Allen & Ginter, Chrome, Archives, etc., etc.   It's much different now. Information on the hobby is a lot more scattered. Most of all, I barely check release dates anymore. But it's not because the info is more difficult to find -- I just don't care. Mostly what I need is the date when flagship first comes out and the same with Heritage. And that's it.   I still want the Dodger cards though and, fortunately, a select few people still send me them. But now it's a surprise when the new cards come out.   Cards On Cards sent me another couple of envelopes a couple of weeks ago. It contained the ver...

   Ever since I was a kid I've been about the "more" of cards. I have always liked "more cards" over "less cards."   This probably has to do with not having a lot when I was a kid. I had old-school parents who thought kids should earn things through something called an allowance. I didn't have much money, and there was nobody around to just give me stuff unless my grandma made a visit or it was my birthday. Even then nobody was gifting me a complete set.   So when I finally started working and receiving a paycheck, well, adding as many cards as I could seemed like a great idea.   Add the fact that I come from the set-building generation -- what's the point of getting cards if they're not going toward a set? -- and more is the way to go. Those sets are at least 660 cards strong and filled with commons.   So through decades of following the "more mantra," I have added binders upon binders of cards and boxes upon boxes. You've se...

  Unlike the last couple of Father's Days, I'm posting on the actual day today. I took the last couple days off to refresh, so now I'm ready to go with just a small pack break.   Like last year , for Father's Day I received a hanger box of Heritage and a gift card (which shall go toward cards. Unlike last year, I'm not trying to complete the Heritage set, so the stakes are not high, which is key for this day. Absolutely no stakes on Father's Day. No stakes, only steaks!   Let's see what kind of box my daughter picked out this time around, just the highlights (and lowlights):     I do like the Record Breaker cards in this set. Yes, "XBHS" takes me out of 1977 but the overall vibe of the card reminds me of pulling the Minnie Minoso and Jose Morales Record Breakers back in '77.     The guy who tried to smite the Dodgers in last year's World Series. I haven't heard a whole lot about him this year -- admittedly I'm not paying too much at...

  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...

  Yes, more charting. I'm going to say this is the April thing to do and be fine with it.   As much as I gripe about how you can't even get a Shohei Ohtani base card without shelling out a buck fifty, I'm still adding cards of my new favorite player at a decent clip. Topps produces so many cards of him that I can't help it. And every time I check which players rank the highest in my collection in terms of number of cards, Ohtani is climbing the charts probably faster than anyone.   About a week or so ago I received a package from Jeremy of Topps Cards That Never Were , which made it very clear that he's not afraid to ship out Ohtani cards to someone who could really use them.   Uh, I guess there's not a base card in there, huh? But that foursome is pretty snazzy. The 2026 flagship card with the leaf pattern arrived in a separate envelope as Jeremy said he forgot to include it. He also added that I hope I like it. I do I do.   The green parallel Heritage card is ...

  With the way that Topps Heritage has dropped a lot of the traditions that made it so fun to collect, I kind of assumed/implied that every tribute used in the past was out the window. But that's not entirely the case.   The subsets from the chosen year still exist, the All-Star logos do, too. The design is the same -- um, sort of. And, I realized that Heritage is still matching card numbers, linking players who play on the respective team now with one who played on it then.   I don't know if it's happening as often as when I first did this comparison 12 or 13 years ago, probably not. But it's nice to know something is still right with this brand that's been the biggest disappointment of the 2026 card year for me so far.   I went through the modest amount of 2026 Heritage I have and found a handful of matches. I'll start with the obvious ones.   Each of the 2026 Heritage card shares its number with the 1977 Topps card. The italicizing of NL and removing the peri...