Night Owl Cards

To the rookie mojo crowd, the 1980 Topps set is nothing more than Rickey Henderson's debut (or, for you Canadian collectors, Dave Stieb's debut). But the set means a lot more to me than that. It is the first set that I ever attempted to complete, walking the mile and a half to the drug store every weekend to buy packs on a 14-year-old's allowance. It also features an iconic design. Although not my favorite, when I see a collection of 1980 cards scattered across a table the scene just screams "these are what baseball cards are supposed to look like!!" Maybe it has something to do with all the flags on the front. But probably the aspect of the 1980 set that makes it stand out the most, for me, is the card back: The basic framework for the card back is similar to what Topps used throughout the 1970s. The 1977 set, in particular, looked almost exactly like this on the back. But the 1974, 1976, 1978 and 1979 sets all had similar characteristics. I welcomed ...

Remember this card? Yes, the good old days. I owned it for an entire five days. There were a lot of laughs. Some tears, too. And plenty of stupid, stupid trade offers (my personal favorite, a 1995 Norberto Martin for my Babe Ruth card). But now it's done. Over. Finished. A cloud of dust. I don't have Diamond Diecut Ruth anymore. I traded it. Sure, I could have sold it for some cash and bought something grand, but I don't know if I want to go through all of that right now. So, this is what I have instead: Diamond Diecut Jackie. Welcome home, Jackie. I think I'll keep ya. Unless, you know, someone throws a '56 Robinson at me.

I'm starting to feel that I have a lot of balls in the air on this blog and that I need to settle things down a bit before I start getting irritable. Or more irritable than usual. I'm not going to flake or anything, but I have noticed a slight sense of trepidation in the past week when approaching the computer to write. That's usually a warning sign to ease off the gas a little before night owl crashes through the barricade. So I'm going to do a couple of things here. First, I'm going to tie up a few loose ends in this post so I can focus on what I need to do. Secondly, I'm going to ask that if you read about me starting any new features, please find a way to shut down my blog. All right, a few items before I fall asleep sitting up. I'll break them down in the form of questions asked by a really annoying person as that might keep me awake: I. HEY, SMARTY PANTS, DIDN'T YOU KNOW SONIC REALLY DID MAKE CARDS? OK, I made a crack in this post tha...

Easter greetings, readers. I have saved this mini card from last year's Allen & Ginter set for this very moment. See what you wouldn't be able to do if A&G ceased to exist? But, now that my greeting is over, and you're off to gorge yourself on pig flesh, this card's usefulness is done. And that means it is immediately up for trade. As are almost all of my 2010 A&G minis. Here is why: I have had pretty good success acquiring the Dodger minis for all of the A&G sets so far. But, for some frustrating reason, people have not been willing to part with their 2010 A&G Dodger minis. Out of the Dodger minis made in 2010, I have three: Rafael Furcal, Russell Martin and Jonathan Broxton. Here is what I need: #46 - Chad Billingsley #62 - Matt Kemp #65 - Andre Ethier #79 - James Loney #220 - Manny Ramirez #275 - Clayton Kershaw #336 - Hiroki Kuroda That is pathetic. It has bothered me for months. I don't understand how I haven't c...

Throughout the Topps Million Card Giveaway, I never possessed a card that anyone really wanted. Oh, there were a few '50s or '60s cards that I redeemed that drew some modest interested, but nothing special. I would read about some bloggers turning away 30 offers a day for particular cards, and that never happened to me. But I have a feeling it's happening now. Amazon.com's hosting snafu tried to sabotage my little experiment in virtual cardboard courtship, but Topps' Diamond Giveaway site is back , baby, and the dumb-ass offers are rolling in! There are 18 offers right now for my Babe Ruth diamond diecut card. That figure changes almost hourly, but for the sake of this post, I'll say I've got 18 going now. Let's take a look at what people are throwing at the Babe: DIECUT-FOR-DIECUT OFFERS: These are trade offers from lucky people who have redeemed diecut cards themselves, but want to upgrade. Some of these I would have to be an idiot to take. ...