Night Owl Cards

   This is the 6,000th post on Night Owl Cards. That really feels weird to type.   That is such a big number that I could barely find a corresponding baseball statistic to go along with it, which is what I like to do when I reach a round-number milestone on this blog.   I did find one -- career total bases. Just four players in major league history have reached 6,000 career total bases. Hank Aaron is the king of total bases with 6,856.   The others are Albert Pujols, Stan Musial and Willie Mays, in that order.   I couldn't find much more to say about that, so I dug out a favorite card of each player in my collection to go with the respective player's total base total.     1. HANK AARON, 6856 total bases   Naturally, I pulled out my 1956 copy. This is one of the '56 cards landed during the summer of 2020 that kind of let me know I could actually finish this thing.     2. ALBERT PUJOLS, 6211 total bases   This card amuses me beca...

  There has to be a name for the experience of intending to send a package of cards to someone, packing up the cards, forgetting to mail off the cards for months, then finally sending the cards with a note of apology, both for forgetting and taking so long. There has to be a name because I've done it and you've done it. We've all done it multiple times. We need to stop doing it, stop the apologizing. Here's why: You're busy. I'm busy. I'm so busy that I don't remember that you told me you were going to send me cards. When was that? Months ago? Hell, last year ? I don't remember that! Who are you again? Sorry, I don't mean to be rude. I'm just busy. And forgetful. And old. I collect cards and write a blog, I believe that's the definition of being old. So no apology needed. In fact, whenever the cards arrive, that's the perfect time. That's when they were meant to arrive. I'm happy they showed up now, rather than months ago whe...

  Three weeks ago I won a card giveaway from The Diamond King. The winnings were a selection of random Albert Pujols cards in celebration of his recent retirement. The vast majority of cards were from his Cardinals and Angels days, where he spent the overwhelming amount of his baseball toiling. There were also three Dodgers cards, and ... one of them I needed. That's it. And that was all it took for me to enter. I won this card, and a whole bunch of non-Dodger cards. Some maybe wondered why I entered the contest. I'm not a player collector, and I am known for having very few good feelings for the Cardinals and the Angels. What was the point? The note that arrived with my winnings, alluded to these cards that seemingly didn't fit in my collection. Thank you, I shall. So, yes, obviously there isn't a lot here that I collect. But all that means is it's time to work the phone lines! The first thing I did was check the Pujols cards against Cards On Cards' want lists...

  I realize that I am fortunate to have a card room. Not every collector has one, in fact I didn't have one until three years ago, and I've been at this collecting thing for a long, long time. (My first packs weren't in '97 or in '87 or even in '77. Try 1975).   Inside that card room I have a card table and a card desk. I'm fortunate to have those, too. I have two binder shelves and a separate shelf cabinet for some card boxes. All very fortunate developments.   That's why I've been a bit concerned about my treatment of my room recently. Sure, some of the resulting mess was because I was upgrading some shelving (see photo above) and also launched a time-consuming giveaway.     But there's really no excuse for the clutter-fest on my card desk. I need to treat it better.   I know it doesn't look that messy. But that's deceptive. I'm losing cards, you guys, because of the way it looks. The bottom left third of the card desk is reserved f...