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 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.   ...

  Like many people, I went out of town this past weekend to visit family for the holiday. Unlike many people, I came back with an Easter pack of cards. Back in my youngster days, I received packs of cards in my Easter basket once or twice and it's nice that somebody is continuing that very worthy tradition even though I'm not getting baskets of chocolate anymore.   My sister-in-law picked up a fat pack of 2023 Topps for me, along with some Ultra Pro team bags (and graded card sleeves -- because, yeah, I'm always grading cards). I've mentioned on this blog a few times that she finds the best packs, and this was no exception, although don't aim too high, nothing super exciting.   My main mission opening this pack was to see if I could continue my streak of absolutely no dupes in my collection of 2023 Topps. This would be my first '23 pack opening since the first opening back in February and I've been mighty proud of no dupes after pulling 134 cards.   Let'...

  A couple of weeks ago I was supposed to travel to see my in-laws for the Christmas season and gift exchanges. That didn't happen for reasons not worth getting into, but it left me in a little bit of a lurch because I was pretty sure my sister-in-law had gotten me some hobby-related materials -- she always does -- and I was in desperate need of some supplies.   I didn't know when my gifts and I would happily unite, but quicker than I expected, my sister-in-law shipped them to us and they arrived last week. I opened them Friday in a covid-booster-shot haze and immediately took a nap afterward.     There they are all protected and festive. As someone who knows my sister-in-law and has been in the hobby for quite awhile, I knew most of what I was looking at before I even opened it. Those hobby shapes are unimistakable and the little gift bags must be gift cards (they were). The only one I didn't know was the green package on the left. It turns out they were the penny s...