Night Owl Cards

  All these years doing this blog thing and the hobby still hasn't figured out how to work around my schedule.   I've got a couple of items to catch up to because I was too busy earlier in the week (doesn't Topps know I'm running a giveaway contest ?).   First, NOC was named "Favorite Blog" during TCDB's site awards Sunday.   It's the sixth straight year at the top for NOC and the seventh time in eight years. Maybe it's time to retire me out of the category? But I won't say no to continued winnings. I'm still a sucker for awards.   Second, Topps revealed the design for 2026 flagship on Monday.     I wasn't going to mention anything on the blog about it until it was time to open packs, mostly because it's not that inspiring to me. But I've pondered it a little more and I think this is a design that will look better in hand.   That was somewhat the case with 2025 Topps but I think this one will fare better. Let's go quickly t...

  I keep forgetting to acknowledge TCDB and their members for voting my blog as "Favorite Blog" again this year. This makes it five years in a row and six out of the past seven. "Favorite blog" seems like an outdated award even to me -- sounds something like "favorite cassette tape" -- but it shows that people are still reading and still enjoying and it's nice to have that reminder. Or maybe it's like the Gold Glove award and people vote purely on reputation.   There is the medal table, except I get a crown. Now on to the honor that more people care about -- and they really do care about it. The Baseball Hall of Fame announced the baseball writers' selections for this year's Hall of Fame class. Three players are going in -- Ichiro, CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner -- joining the earlier committee picks of Dave Parker and Dick Allen. This means I need to update the Most Hall of Famers tally, which I'll get to when the 2025 class is inducted....

  Before I get into a very 1975 Topps-centric post, I need to acknowledge the vote over on TCDB, which shows no favoritism toward any card set. In the annual awards show results announced yesterday, this blog showed up as the favorite once again.     Thank you for voting NOC favorite blog for the fourth year running. Glad to see collectors still enjoying the content after all these years. Even if I do go on about the '75 set a little much ... So let's get to it! We will get down to the final 300 cards in the set at the end of this episode. I think we're still in the thick of standard fare for mid-1970s cards right now and I am a big fan of '70s standard fare!   320. Steve Brye (card 151) There are still several "bat as light sabre" card photo poses left in the countdown. I have liked these from the very first year I started collecting. As I've written many times, Steve Brye was the favorite player of my brother's stuffed lion. Yes, I know that's a ...

  Trading Card Database announced its site's end of the year awards yesterday and Night Owl Cards is your favorite card blog once again! Thanks for continuing to read my nonsense after so many years. Sometimes I feel like that rock band that has overstayed its welcome. But stuff like this helps me know I should continue. You'll note a couple of familiar blogs also on that list and the two tied for No. 3 are well-known TCDB users and promoters, at least that I've seen. I am not. I don't have anything against the site at all, in fact I think it's great. I simply am late to the party and haven't had the chance to get involved in everything TCDB has to offer, so it feels weird to be honored without taking part like those other blog operators.   I'm late to the party in everything having to do with the hobby and it seems more so the case the last few years. As I pull away from modern cards, I am starting to lose track of what sets there are. I've long since s...