Night Owl Cards

   I've made many references about my sister-in-law's ability to select exactly the right box or packs of cards when she's picking out a gift.   It's happened over and over. The cards I get from her, I never pull myself.   But this time it was even more impressive. She didn't even have to pick out the box herself.   She sent a Target gift card for Father's Day. It took me awhile to decide what kind of cards I wanted. I ended up settling on a Topps Series 2 box, it was the only thing in my wheelhouse and I almost always purchase some Series 2, particularly if it's a set I like, and that's the case for 2026.   The box arrived a few days ago and right from the first pack I knew it contained my sister-in-law's magic touch. Yet she didn't touch the box!   I don't think most people are interested in seeing every card -- it's Series 2 -- so I'll offer a highlight from each pack. That'll be enough to show that this wasn't the ordinary...

  I've done a fairly good job of avoiding the blaster purchase over the last four or five years.   Once a standard pick-up, I gradually pulled away due to  blaster-exclusive "manufactured relics," then general unavailability during the pandemic, then a hike in price and the repeated frustration of pulling Marlins and Diamondbacks.   There are really only 3 times out of the year that I respond to the blaster siren call: When the new Topps flagship comes out, when new Heritage comes out, and when I get a gift card for Christmas. (Keep in mind I was regularly buying multiple blasters a week a dozen years ago).   The Target Christmas gift card arrives when I'm at my weakest. Typically at the holiday I haven't received any separate cards as gifts and I've also avoided buying cards during the holiday season so I can purchase gifts for others. The gift card gives me permission because I haven't opened packs in soooooooo long.   So that lengthy intro was intended ...

  A pretty crappy month-plus-one-more-week turned around for me in the last couple days, fortunately.   This is all relative, of course, with the state of things lately, but it was nice to be bubbly for a day. To briefly recap, in the last couple of days I learned that my retirement is not a pipe dream, my daughter who was laid off by AI last month landed a job with a salary significantly larger than her last position, and someone at work agreed to write a story instead of me writing it on top of my too many job responsibilities. Happy dance!   In there somewhere -- Friday, I think -- I received three card packages in the mail. This never happens like it used to on the blogs. Where once I could get three mailings from other bloggers around 4-5 times a week, if I want that kind of incoming now, I have to buy the things myself.   So that was nice. And probably the nicest surprise came from Kenny of Torren' Up Cards , who sent me a single pack all the way from his place...

  I am in that wonderful between period in which I've opened Christmas gifts but there are more to come. So I hesitated writing this post as there could be more cards to come. But I can just write another brag post later! All the cards I received so far came from my sister-in-law. You've read about her before. She's the one with the magic touch when it comes to selecting items in the card aisle. Two years ago she sent an Archives blaster that yielded a George Foster autograph , which I still have. There were many instances before that, too. This year I received two hanger packs of 2024 Update from her. These are the first packs of Update I've opened as I've purposely avoided them, simply hand-picking the Dodgers.     Upon opening the first pack I felt like I made the right call, probably right around pulling that Padres' duo rookie card. "Why am I opening a pack with Padres rookies?" was about the exact thought I had. These cards seemed meaningless.   ...