Night Owl Cards

This is the only "sealed" card in my collection. By "sealed," I mean an encased card that is not removed easily. I own a handful of cards that are housed in screwdowns of various kinds, but all I need to release them is a screwdriver. With a graded card, it takes more effort, more force. So this is my only graded card that is still encased. I don't really believe in graded cards, but I keep this one secure because it's the most beautiful Dodger card ever made, and also because I think it's comical that a card so magnificent received a "poor" grade from PSA. Foolishness like that must be preserved. Any other sealed card that I receive gets extracted, released, freed. I recently received a handful of cards from madding of Cards On Cards , two of which I would describe as "sealed." I don't know how this was obtained. But I'm sure it wasn't pulled from a pack like this. Some sort of exclusive or redemption from...

The myth of New Year's is that a flip of the calendar will change you as a person. I think we all know that's not true. If you want to change, you have to do some work. But even with that, you're still basically the same person. Habits and outlooks are changeable. But you will still be you. This was never more clear to me than when I was in the Target card aisle today, the very first day of 2015. I buy cards a lot on New Year's Day. The stores are deserted. The weather sucks. People are brainwashed by college football. It's a great time to find some cardboard. Besides, it's one of the few times I have cash -- because someone gave me one of those nifty red Target cards. My pre-Christmas plans, if I were to receive one of those Target cards, was to spend it on some 2014 Allen & Ginter. I had so little money in the past year that I managed just one blaster of the stuff and a couple stray packs. It was time to prove that I was still serious about coll...

Freaked you out a little with that title, huh? Don't worry, there's plenty of inspiration on tap for this blog, even in these energy-sapping winter times. What I am referring to is my existence as a team collector. I still love the Dodgers and all of their cards, of course. It's just that I feel my grip slipping on every card that's Dodgerish, especially for more recent sets. I feel that I'm not as serious of a team collector as I was three years ago. Take this Panini Pinnacle card of Paco Rodriguez (gosh, that's a lot of "Ps"). It arrived from Adam of ARPSmith's Sportscard Obsession  -- you'll see more cards from him very soon. I took one look at it and knew that I didn't have it yet. But there was no number on a want list to cross off. Because I had never created a want list for 2013 Panini Pinnacle. It feels a little ridiculous making want lists for Panini in the first place. But I used to do it. I used to create team want...