Night Owl Cards

I have had a decent amount of success completing sets. By my count, I have completed 36 of them -- probably more if you include dinky 10-card insert sets. But only twice have I been able to complete a set without even trying. "Twice?" you're saying. " Twice? How did you do it even once?" I don't know. Strange and wonderful things happen when you start a card blog. The first time was when Max sent me the 1981 Topps Traded set . What a glorious day that was. I devoted four posts to it. Then last week, it was another traded set. From completely out of the ether, Too Many Verlanders sent me the entire 1990 Topps Traded set of 132 cards. I didn't ask for it. I asked for Dodgers and Bills, and WHAM! there was the 1990 Traded set. Pretty cool. The '90 Traded set doesn't get a lot of love. First, there are two different versions of it. The factory set and the pack set vary in texture on the back (light cardboard, dark cardboard). That...

Until I started this blog, I never won anything. I know a lot of people say this, but it's true for me, too. Door prizes, radio contests, church raffles, fantasy baseball, race you to the corner. Nothing. This used to bother me. It bothered me so much that when I won third place in the seventh grade science fair, I hung onto that ribbon like it was a Nobel Prize. I was proud of that ribbon. It was well-earned, and at least I didn't debase myself and go the "exploding volcano" route, which has been and ever will be the biggest lowest common denominator gimmick in the history of science fairs. But then something happened: I started blogging about cards and I started winning contests. I don't know how many I've won exactly. Somewhere between 6 and 10, I think. And some I didn't have to do anything to win, so the feeling of accomplishment is non-existent. But I've also won a couple things at card shows, and after all those years of watching the volcano wi...

Look at this card. It's a disgrace. It's an affront to any self-respecting Dodger fan on the planet. I can't look at it without getting a dull pang in my stomach. Gooden rounding third? Dwight GOODEN rounding THIRD? Look at the scoreboard. The Mets are leading the Dodgers 7-3. In the third inning . And the pitcher is rounding third. I'm sure if I was watching this game, I changed it to "Bowling for Dollars" at this point. I looked the game up. It took place on July 21, 1991 at Shea Stadium. The Mets won 9-4 on the strength of their six-run third inning. Gooden went 2-for-2 with two RBIs and a run scored. Dodgers pitcher Bob Ojeda gave up eight runs in 2 2/3 innings. And I've got to relive it every time I look at this card. You know what Stadium Club did to me by issuing this card don't you? They peed on my rug. They peed on my f-ing rug. Yeah, this is one of the cards that I pulled from the many packs of early '90s wonderfulness that Mike...