Night Owl Cards

  Most of the time when I show new Dodger card arrivals it's related to cards a fellow collector/trader sent or it's a larger order from sportlots or COMC or another online site.   Rarely do I show single card purchases unless I can turn it into a post. I guess I'm doing that now, but this 2026 Sports Illustrated For Kids Yoshinobu Yamamoto card could be any Dodger card to get this quick post started. (Yes, another quick post, I swear someone made the days only 22 hours now).   This is the first 2026 Dodger in my collection that was not made by Topps. I received it in a unique TCDB trade in which I traded a couple 9-pocket mini pages for it (I hope JR3 has received the pages, I always get nervous when I see no update in the transactions for a few days -- especially since the USPS ate a few random Dodgers I ordered a month ago).   Obviously I don't have a lot of 2026 Dodgers yet but it's a good time to go through another update of how many Dodger cards I have for eac...

  2025 Topps is scheduled for released this week. Apparently some people are somehow already opening it on video. I have stopped watching card videos because I can't take the beating to my IQ. I'm also no longer on Twitter (same reason), which was absolutely saturated with new cards during flagship release time.   I don't know what my local card aisles will look like when I venture out (it won't be on release date, which is a Wednesday and also the day of the week my job practically kills me). The local spots have been pretty grim lately -- my theory is the popularity of the monthly card show has something to do with that. But last year, my Target was decked out with 2024 Topps in February. I've heard Fanatics has upped the card count for this year (don't panic, it's still not a junk wax levels), so I hope that means I can find some this month.   But mostly it doesn't matter for my collection. I have enough card projects. I'm constantly forgetting ab...

  It's that time of year when I update the numbers on how many Dodgers cards I have for each year since I started the blog. I wrote a post on this last year and it revealed a definite divide among collectors. Some really like charting their collection progress. Some leave it to a simple "complete!" and move on. I like charting. I'd feel lost without it, like I didn't really know my collection. Plus, it's one of the more fun aspects of collecting for me -- seeing your progress in numbers.   But this does take some time to do and I have even less time than ever for whatever reason. How did I post twice a day, send out six trade packages a week, make a card aisle run twice a week, all while raising a rugrat? What happened to me?   Fortunately, there is Trading Card Database. They are the Charting Your Collection guys so I make that work for me.   I was through updating my Dodgers-per-year in a matter of a few minutes using TCDB. Here is my progress from the prev...

  I like to assess my collection periodically via numbers. It's the best way I know to document progress and, for me, accumulating cards is progress (I don't understand collectors who get excited by selling off their cards -- the hobby is called "collecting," not "divesting"). Without totaling my cards periodically, this process would be mindless accumulation. What do I have? I don't know! How about this card in front of me! That's all I can tell you! At least with numbers, I feel like I'm making good time, even if it's still really mindless accumulation but with numbers. So every year at this time, for the last couple of years, I've gone through quickly and added the number of Dodgers I've accumulated each year. It's not super-accurate but It gives me an understanding of how "well" I've done and also I can assess how enthusiastic I was that year. It also is a good window on what was going on in the hobby that year....