Night Owl Cards

I hope you don't mind seeing an overload of 1973 Topps over the next few days. Wait -- was that a groan? Do you have some sort of problem with backgrounds featuring men wearing purple leisure suits? I didn't think so. As soon as I announced that I was trying to complete the '73 set, packages started arriving at the door. I have two or three more of them to show, but none of them are as significant as this one. This one package was set by Mark of My Best Friend Collects Chipper Jones . He apparently has completed that set and had, oh, just a few leftovers sitting around in a shoebox. "Take what you need and send the rest back," he said in a note that accompanied 200 or so '73 Topps! OK, then. I've taken my needs and it amounts to around 160 (how's that for an excellent percentage?). I'll be sending the rest back hopefully this week or early next week. I really cannot get to the sending portion of this hobby lately. There were so many ...

Here's a question for you. Would you rather receive cards in the mail that are a surprise or directly off your want list? As usual, I like both ways. It's the reason I continue to buy packs and also post a detailed want list. I want what I want but surprise me. You'll see a semi-surprise package soon, but right now I want to praise some cards that I received that were expected -- because they are on my want list. I received a couple of PWE's recently from two different collectors. One is Chris from Twitter. This has to be the 4th or 5 envelope he's sent. The other is Mark from My Best Friend Collects Chipper Jones . I could tell as soon as I pulled the cards from the envelopes that people have been checking my want list. Some cards from Mark first: These are needs from the 1995 Topps Archives set. I've mentioned many times that my want list for this set is not correct, but these three were definite wants. One day -- probably when I think I ha...

I haven't liked much that I've read online this week. I won't go into any more detail than that because I definitely do not want anyone injecting political arguments into this blog. I'll just say that maybe an online break from anything that's not a card blog will be good for me for a little while. But I'll keep posting here, and tonight I have just a few cards that are so big they can not only block out the sun, but probably the entire internet, too. They are Topps Big Baseball cards, of course. Everyone knows them. I'm getting closer and closer to finishing off all the Dodgers in the set. Mark from My Best Friend Collects Chipper Jones sent me a handful (well, more than a handful because these cards are HUGE) off the want lists. Five of the cards are from the 1989 Topps Big set, the biggest set when it comes to the amount of Dodgers included. I like to call this set the "Building Blocks on the Steps" set.  With these five, I need...

When I find something I like, I obsessively analyze it. That's how you know I like it. If only my past girlfriends knew this. One of the few things that I like about the cards that have been issued in 2016 is the 1979-style cards from Topps Archives. I think they're rather well-done, capturing the look and spirit of the original 1979 Topps set, and doing a much better job overall than past versions of Archives. I like them so much that I'm trying to complete the '79 portion of Archives. That is some kind of dedication because of those 10 stupid short-prints, but that just shows you my devotion. I am now down to needing just 14 of the '79s because I just received a package from Mark M., from the My Best Friend Collects Chipper Jones blog. He sent me 37 cards from that portion of Archives, and now I must obsessively dissect them because I enjoy them so. Let's start with what I like most about these things. The full-body shots and pictures taken from...