Night Owl Cards

  I don't spend a lot of time checking how many cards I have of each player but it's fun to do from time to time.   As someone who collects sets first and then my team, player collection totals are a natural subset of those and easy to categorize on TCDB or on whichever favorite counting spreadsheet you prefer. Also, unlike set or team collecting, the totals change fairly often.   When Johnny's Trading Spot sends out one of his "inventory cleanser" packages, I can't help but notice those player totals because the guys he's scrapping stand out.   Alex Verdugos   Up to 87 cards. 153rd on the list.     Dalton Rushings   43 cards. 471st on the list.     Tony Gonsolins   75 cards. 189th on the list.     Walker Buehlers (still haven't come to terms with his Padre-ness)   287 cards. 20th on the list.     Duke Sniders   318 cards. 16th on the list.      Shawn Green and (tiny) Fernando Valenzuela...

  Blogging in detail can take a lot of time and effort. I've got several observations and pick-ups to discuss and none of them are worth dedicating a whole post to -- so let's drag out the "housekeeping"' label and piece together a bunch of unrelated topics! I do that a lot, though not since 2024.   Up first is this terrific Hideo Nomo Dueling Dugouts insert from 1997 Pinnacle Inside. I've been intrigued by these from afar for a long time and finally received my first one last year (Karim Garcia on "the back" of the Vladimir Guerrero card). It was time to get a full-fledged Dodger one this time.   The kicker to these is you can turn the dial on the side and it shows the player's stats for that year in the center windows. So cool. Here is a look at the other years on this card:   Outstanding. Interestingly Nomo's stats with the Japan Pacific League's Kintetsu Buffaloes are shown for 1994 but 1993 is blank despite Nomo playing for the same ...

  It's been almost a daily ritual around here the last few weeks to clear snow off the car, out of the driveway, along the walkways. This morning I got up to pull my car in from the street and nearly face-planted because the snow was covering up a sheet of ice that fell around 4 a.m. last night (driving home from work was a bit of an adventure).   Through it all I think I've done an OK job of regularly sending out card envelopes and packages, although I've had to have the conversation with myself over whether it's safe to drive to the post office at least a half-dozen times.   But almost once a week I get there, and I'll be mailing out the latest downsizing box in the next trip. Meanwhile, I received cards (and other items) in response to my last downsizing send . Claimant Mike delivered!   This is not required nor expected but lets see the goods, there is quite the variety.      Starting with an owl card because owl.   It's been awhile since I've...

(Hi folks. I'm two work days away from vacation! It's all I'm thinking about. So let's get on with this so I can think about it some more! Time for Cardboard Appreciation. This is the 353rd in a series):    I don't remember how I discovered this Hideo Nomo card -- probably wandering on ebay at some point -- but when I did, I could feel myself jump in my chair from astonishment.   What? Hideo Nomo is back in Topps products?? When did this happen?   Nomo is one of my favorite players to collect -- ever. There are lots of past posts about that. But he hasn't shown up in cards pretty much since he retired. Outside of some faceless Leaf relic cards a few years ago -- and those really aren't cards -- there's been nothing. Lots of Ichiro and, lordy, too much Hideki Matsui, but no Nomo.   Obviously I had to have this card and I jumped on it. And I was giddy when it arrived. I showed it off so proudly (and I've been doing less of that lately). But something a...

  I recently returned to my plan to chase down the Dodgers I'm missing in old Heritage sets.   In almost all cases these are short-prints, and I quickly lose enthusiasm after seeing prices and drop the chase for months before coming back to it. But this time when I visited, the prices weren't bad -- it's just there weren't a lot available.   I added the Kaz Ishii short-print from 2004 Heritage. Look at him roll his eyes at those short-printing ways.     I also added another famous Japanese pitcher for the Dodgers, maybe you heard of him. Heritage short-printed his card, too, in 2005 Heritage.   While I was searching for other Heritage SPs from this time period I happened across an insert from 2005 that I didn't have, so I threw that in my cart and called it a night.     This card recognizes his two home runs on the final day of the 1956 season that clinched the pennant for the Dodgers.      I knew the photo used on the front seemed ...