Night Owl Cards

... to that same old place that you laughed about . I'm not sure what it says about card blogging that it took a pandemic to send a whole bunch of former bloggers back to their roots and resurrect their long-dormant blogs, but I'm not going to question the why and how when some old friends are back in town. Just in the last couple of months I've noticed the return of Cardpocalypse , The Diamond King , Waxaholic , Orioles Card "O" the Day , Can't Have Too Many Cards , Lifetime Topps Project , Snagging Cardboard , Horizontal Heroes and ... what's this? ... even SewingMachineGuy On Cards! Can Beardy be far behind? Dinged Corners? Treasure Never Buried? My goodness, blogs aren't dead! Again! But some would say a card blog hasn't truly returned until they send you cards. Or at least I'm saying that because I need to form a post theme around some cards I received. Maybe The Angels, In Order and ARPSmith's Sportscard Obsession ha...

The arrival of Sandy Koufax's 1958 Topps card not only allowed me to complete his Topps run of cards, but it also finished off the 1958 Topps Dodgers team set, too. Koufax was the last card I needed. This gives me a nice run of completed 1950s Dodgers team sets, the 1956 through 1959 sets are done. I probably should get to work on that 1955 set. The '58 team set is an odd one and one I've never enjoyed greatly. As I said when I did the Topps set countdown , the '58 set has a DIY feel, which should be admirable but considering you're paying money for the thing, is a little disappointing. Great subject matter of course -- it was the 1950s -- but they look like scrapbook cutouts pasted on colored construction paper. The '58 Dodgers set adds to that inconsistency and slap-dash feel because this set marks the dawn of the Los Angeles Dodgers. While the '58 team card above pays homage to the 1957 Dodgers, the last Brooklyn team, the rest of the set is abou...

Today, I reached what is sure to be one of the card collecting highlights of my year. With the arrival of this 1958 Topps Sandy Koufax card, I have finished an almost 40-year quest to complete the career run of Koufax's cards in Topps flagship. This is an accomplishment that I didn't take seriously for many years and didn't become a realistic goal for me until around 2015 when I obtained three Koufax cards that summer. But, truthfully, I was working with some advantages early on. First, and most importantly, I acquired Koufax's 1955 rookie card when I was in high school in the early 1980s. That card, even in the battered shape that mine is in, has increased in cost exponentially as Koufax's legend has grown. Second, I became interested in Koufax vintage cards almost from the moment I started looking into vintage cards. And, at one or two of the first card shows I ever attended, I bought Koufax cards. Finally, this wouldn't be possible without the ...