Night Owl Cards

Out of the many people that I have traded with over the last five years, I don't think anyone has done as fine a job of consistently meeting my card needs with each single package than Max . This isn't to say that I haven't received spectacular packages from others. That would be a tremendous lie. But Max is the only one who every time I open a package from him, the overriding thought is "he gets me." The cards in these packages usually meet a variety of my collecting needs so efficiently that I can run a checklist here on the blog of my wants and check each of them off with what Max has sent. Like so: NIGHT CARD ✅ I'm quite sure I have this card already, but I haven't featured it on Awesome Night Card yet. In night card dupe situations, I'd normally put one of these with the night card collection and the other with the 1991 Upper Deck set collection task. But if you think I'm attempting to complete the achingly generic '91 ...

There's a lot of talk in sports about "peaking at the right time," being able to put all the elements together -- or finding that key element -- to save a team's season or win it a championship. You know, kind of like what the Dodgers are doing right now. But this can apply in lot of other areas in life. A well-timed comment, last-ditch effort, sudden discovery can change the outcome for the better and sometimes forever. And so it is with Topps 2013 (this is a card blog after all). As you know, I hadn't planned to collect much of 2013 Topps, or any current set, because of various tinkerings that made me turn more and more toward older sets. But then Topps went and did something to make me buy much more than I intended. It came up with the best base parallel I have ever seen. I've always been partial to color parallels. The best ones for me are the cards in which the entire background is paralleled. Think '08 Baseball Heroes (the parallel mete...

I am dragging out a few of these card packages while I formulate some more substantial posts that may never actually run because I never have any time anymore. Yup, what you're seeing here is one giant stall tactic. It could last for weeks. So, this is one last card from Corey of Adventures in 1952 Topps and Third Base Coach for the Dodgers Until He Finds a Managing Job . It appears to be a common variety 1987 Topps Steve Sax card. I think, conservatively estimated, I have 30 versions of this card. But this is where you would be missing out if you didn't flip the card over to take a look. There is a refreshing amount of talk about card backs on the blogs and I know there are a lot of collectors who enjoy reading the backs. But, just like those Playboy subscribers back in the day, a sizable group of people are in this hobby just for the pictures. I'm guilty of this from time to time, too. I could spend half a week catching up on all the card backs I haven't...

You wouldn't think someone who has used as many words as I have during my time on this blog would ever come across a day in which he's run out of things to say ... ... but I did and I have. See you tomorrow when I have something.

One of the great things about collecting cards is there are so many different directions to go. I haven't studied other hobbies very closely, but I imagine some are a lot more limiting than card collecting. How many clay pots can you really make? Because there is so much variety and so much to collect -- and because my collecting interests are relatively varied -- I am forever coming across "firsts" in my collecting life. To me, that's pretty impressive. Keep in mind, I saw my first cards in 1974. That was 39 years ago. I should know a lot about cards and have experienced a lot. But most of the time I feel that I don't and I haven't. The other day -- OK, it was like 2 or 3 weeks ago -- I achieved one of those firsts. A very cool one, too. It has to do with the man you see on the card above. My Roy Campanella card collection is deceptively large. I have 92 different cards of Campy, including my pride-and-joy here, the "Symbol of Courage" ca...

If you're like me and are old enough, there are certain years that you treasure more than others. As the years speed by, you grow increasingly fond of them even as your memories of what those years were actually like play tricks on you. I have affection for 1983, 1987, 1988 and grudging respect for a few years in the 1990s. But the very first year that I ever held in high esteem in my mind was 1979. From a world perspective, 1979 was a lousy year. I won't bore you with the details. Trust me. It was. From a personal perspective I was 13, going on 14, and enamored with what I suddenly knew about the wild world. The politics, the celebrities, the television, the music. The Love Boat and the Devil Went Down To Georgia were two of the most fascinating "events" of that year for me (which should also tell you something about '79). I will defend crazy things about '79 just because my brain claims the year is special. Donna Summer's Bad Girls. My Sharona. ...