Night Owl Cards

This tastefully appropriate advertisement for the blog you are currently reading will soon reside on my sidebar. I keep thinking that my blog layout needs a rejigger and something like this should be the kick in the pants that I need. But I doubt I'll do anything. The owlie ad was created by Mark of Mark's Ephemera . He is after some of my 1971 Topps. Seeing that I have a few extras, and now a feathered friend in a cummerbund touting the virtues of reading Night Owl Cards, I am more than happy to ship some off. You may be surprised to learn that I don't believe I am all that wise most of the time. Often I'm berating myself for being a stupid owl. So a logo like this will keep the pressure on to come up with only the wisest of musings. I happen to have probably the wisest musing that I've ever placed on this blog right here, right now. Here it is: Rick Wise has not one, not two, not three, but four cards in the 1972 Topps set. To my knowledge, he has ...

I don't expect everyone to follow along with what cards I need at every second. But if you're extremely perceptive, you may have noticed that the Nebulous 9 list is now mini-size. It's a mere three items. That's because a couple of collectors did spot that list and did one of the finest jobs of fulfilling that list since I first posted it a few years back. One of those collectors was Baseball Dad , who sent me a few cards just recently but had to rush a certain other one to me right away. That, ladies and gentlemen, had been the card that was on the Nebulous 9 list longer than any other. It's the card I wanted most (perhaps the only card I truly wanted) from the 2012 Panini Cooperstown set. Welcome, young Vin Scully, legendary voice of summer. You're finally off my wish list. The other collector was Mark and his Ephemeras . His mission was to take out my entire Nebulous 9 list and he just about did it. This card arrived before Mark's m...

Recently, I've received some collectible tins from a couple fellow bloggers. These come directly from the period when I wasn't collecting, and so, like anything from that period, I look at it quizzically as if I'm a dog and someone has just placed a piece of lettuce in front of me ("What is this? I can't eat this and I can't play with it!"). The first tin was a Sweet Spot version that came from Max at Starting Nine . I apologize for the horrible stolen images, but the World Series game is almost on, I've got a story to write for work and there is no time to fool around with a camera. Trust me, this is what the tin I received looks like. Without the muddled blurriness. This is from 2007 and I was collecting a little in '07, but mostly just base Topps and I had no clue that there was a thing called Sweet Spot. Now let's go to an era in which I had no knowledge of 99 percent of the cards that were produced then: More ganked...

I'm looking for a way to turn this into a "business" card. The image was devised and sent to me by Mark from Mark's Ephemera . It's pretty cool, and I'm sure making a card out of it wouldn't be too difficult. The question is: will I have the time? That's always the question. To illustrate, I received an astonishing assortment of card packages today. Possibly the greatest mail since I've been doing this blog -- mostly because all three packages were tied together by one theme, but each unique in their own way. But I have no time to show them off. It would take too much focus (and too much scanning) and there isn't much of that available today. So I'll save that for another day and instead present you with another installment of "team colors." This is the final Team Colors in the series. I've now documented all 30 teams and I've decided I'm not going to extend the series by charting colors for defunct teams. O...

All of my Christmas shopping is done. Even more impressively, all of my Christmas wrapping is done. The latter is a four-hour marathon of incompetence, so to actually rid myself of that whole embarrassment is something to celebrate. But I'm not as impressive as some of you people out there. You know who you are. The ones who send me cards that arrive immediately before the holiday, as if they're Christmas gifts or something. Some of you even write festive things on the notes with the package, like "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays." You're all so on top of everything. Meanwhile, I've halted card shipping because of a Pre-Christmas Post Office Phobia. There won't be any "Merry Christmas, You Wonderful Blogger" notes from me because I can't get out from under the holiday. But please note that I think you're all terrific. And, much, much, much better shoppers than I. So let's see what arrived amid all the ribbons ...

This is likely to be rambling and disconnected. That's what happens when you're reluctant. Somebody called me a "guru" in the comments of the last post. I've also been called "godfather" and "dean" and all those other mighty-might nouns that make me cringe. Let me fill you in on a little secret. I hate being the answer man. As you might know, I'm somewhat of an answer man in real life. I'm a boss. Not one of those big bosses. I'm one of those in-between bosses that gets crap from both sides. There are many days when I question why I ever wanted to be a boss, and there have been days when I've been within seconds of telling my superior that I would rather just write and maybe we could work something out. But still, here I am, being a boss. I think the reason for my issues in this area is that I can't be everything that everyone wants me to be. The people under you want you to do certain things and be a certai...

I mentioned a few days ago that I'm doing an update to my want lists. I'm not removing anything from them (don't I wish). I'm mostly adding a bunch of sets that I glossed over the last time, and I'm even throwing in some parallel sets, too, because I like to have unattainable goals. Speaking of that, I have reached the point of updating that would make most collectors hesitate. I have reached the mid-1990s. Specifically, I'm at the tail end of 1995 and stopping for reinforcements before plowing through 1996. A lot of collectors -- mostly those who grew up during the '90s -- love the '90s era of cards. The variety. The innovation. The choice. But as a team collector from an earlier time, the '90s is a black hole of cards for me. I like the cards. It's just there's no way I'm going to collect them all. It forces a change in mind-set. Back in the '70s, early '80s, you could conceivably "collect them all." It was sat...