Night Owl Cards

Top 10 reasons: 10. I'd get the "are you really going to talk trading cards to me" look. 9. I'd have to explain why a pack of cards costs $9.49. 8. She might ask to see my card room and tell me to clean it up. 7. She might ask to see my card room and see how much money I've spent. 6. I'd remind her that I inherited the collecting gene from her but instead of collecting something worthwhile like bells or angels, I collect pictures of men playing baseball. 5. I'd have to try to explain this: It would take me all Mother's Day. 4. I'd be tempted to ask if I could explore my parents' attic just one more time because I KNOW there are STILL some cards up there that I've somehow missed. 3. I'd be tempted to ask why she never buys me baseball cards anymore. 2. I'd have to hear her say the word "baseball" in that way that she says it that makes it seem like she's pronouncing a foreign word for t...

1965 means quite a bit to me. The set Topps put out that year was pretty good. The pennant flags on those cards is one of those "I wished I thought of that" designs. But also consider that the Dodgers won the World Series in '65. And Sandy Koufax pitched a perfect game. Oh, and I was born that year. "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" was the No. 1 song the day I touched down. It's terribly appropriate. The year 1965 was also when Herb Alpert and his Tijuana Brass released "Whipped Cream and Other Delights," a now-iconic, all-instrumental album as popular for its sleeve jacket as its memorable music. This LP is part of my childhood. My father listened to lots of instrumental music. Classical and marching band, mostly. Except for the children's records that my parents would play for my amusement (who remembers "Teddy Bear Picnic"?), the living room soundtrack 11 months out of the year was Beethoven, John Philip Sousa and Her...

Remember when I said a couple of days ago about being glad to have a card show to go to so I wouldn't have to scurry all over town in a fruitless attempt to find 2013 Topps? Remember when I said a card show meant I didn't care that 2013 Topps was released this week? Funny how things can change with two days to play with and a Twitter account. I didn't expect to look for any 2013 Topps until Friday. Card show buzzes last at least a few days. I haven't even had a chance to organize the stuff I got from there. Plenty of time to wait out all of the crazy "look at the INSANE PATCH I pulled" chatter in the coming days. But then I started noticing something. The people finding 2013 Topps -- a day or two or three before today's release date -- were from everywhere. It wasn't just a pocket of collectors in New Jersey here and in California there. It was everywhere. A collector in Arkansas. Someone in Arizona. Another person in New York. Another perso...