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...

   Here's part 2 of my ranking of the Topps flagship sets. In this post I am including the sets issued in the last 10 years' time, 11 sets in all.   The more recent sets don't fare very well as you could probably guess. But one gets close to the top 20, and if you know me, you could guess that one, too.   When I ranked the sets the last time there were 64 to rank. Now there are 75. I'm not going through all the rankings again with all the commentary this time. Instead I'll show the recent sets and list where they placed.   Here we go:   75. 2021   There's a new bottom. 1996 is no longer bringing up the rear. 2021 Topps is awful. I know this is the pandemic set and Topps was doing what it could to work with photos with no fans and weird camera angles, but it wasn't the right call. The razor slashes infringe on the photo, like they're poking the player. Worst of all, the names are impossible to read, maybe the smallest in history -- I'd have to compare...