Night Owl Cards

(I looked up what national food day it is today because there's always a food day celebration. Today is National Chip and Dip Day -- my wife will be thrilled -- and National Melba Toast Day. But actually, around here, it's National Donut Day because someone dropped off three DOZEN donuts at work today because I wrote a story about his kid. Time for Cardboard Appreciation. This is the 320th in a series): I'm willing to guess that some collectors would vote Wes Covington into the Cardboard Appreciation Hall of Fame right now. They'd probably also consider him a Legend Of Cardboard. It's true that this particular card, his fantastic 1961 Topps item, is a worthy Cardboard Appreciation Hall of Famer. And when the time comes to vote in the next candidate, he will get his shot, and I expect the card to do very well. But the standards for a Legend Of Cardboard are even higher. These are my standards alone, so you're welcome to build your own Legend Of Cardboard buildi...

  The World Baseball Classic final is tonight. Folks on social media have been picking sides, because that's what they like to do. To them, the WBC is either a worthless exhibition fraught with danger or what baseball must be like in heaven.   I'm somewhere in between as usual. I haven't watched a lot of it, but what I have watched was interesting. The U.S.-Venezuela game was very engaging. I was surprised by that. I'm not somebody who thinks they should play this every year, but it's a fun outlet and makes spring training a little more interesting than it is. Also it helps that Mookie Betts is playing for the U.S.   It's also helped get me involved in current baseball this year, which I had been slow about. I'm going to blame the fact that Heritage isn't out yet. Not only that, there is zero news on when it is going to be released. I have a gift card specifically marked for the arrival of 2023 Heritage and instead Big League is going to be released at t...

  I collect for the kid in me, the kid I was. I've mentioned that many times. The purpose of my collection is to relive my childhood, yes. But it's also to advocate for my childhood, to avenge my childhood, if you will. There is so much that I wanted that I couldn't obtain as a kid. That's a common childhood feeling. But beyond the cookies and candy and Matchbox cars that I couldn't possess were the never-ending stream of baseball card collectibles. My appetite was huge and my pockets were empty. Parents didn't just give their kids entire sets when I was collecting as a kid and allowance meant a couple packs every two weeks ... maybe. Subscriptions to Baseball Digest and the TCMA Advertiser and Baseball Cards Magazine fanned the fire. Those publications revealed so many things that I didn't know I wanted. Renata Galasso cards, the Baseball Immortals set, Coke cards, and even non-card things like the Magnetic MLB Standings board (we had that), "champi...

  Trading Card Database trade offers have come pretty fast-and-furious for me in the last month-plus. None of these are big trades, but there's been eight of them since early February and that adds up when you're trying to conserve space on your card desk. So I'm finishing off what I have to show here and providing a little countdown as well. I've noted that certain cards have been popular sends from my TCDB partners. They definitely revolve around sets. I think a main reason for that is because I have noted my wants for sets, but haven't done a lot of other want-listing for stuff like Dodgers and such. That's the next project. TCDB is full of projects. It's practically like my mom was -- always finding me another task to do. But I certainly appreciate getting set-fillers, more than almost any other kind of card really. I'm on this planet to fill sets -- if you're defining existence by hobby missions anyway.   So let's see what the most popular c...

  I took a sick day from work Wednesday. If I'm remembering correctly, it's the first sick day I've taken in 11 years. The previous sick day before that one was in 1995.   Then I forced myself into work yesterday. It went OK. But after four hours, I could feel my body shutting down and left. Whatever time-bomb head cold I acquired started slowly days ago until exploding into action Tuesday. Wednesday I could barely lift my head.   I'm feeling a little better today, but thinking long and leisurely about sports cards is not in me right now. This is why I trade with people: so I can have new card content queued up for when I am inevitably detained.   A new send from Doug of Sportscards From The Dollar Store arrived a week or two ago. I always look forward to these. He finds some fancy stuff that I'll never track down, and also delves into other sports ... so I don't have to.   There you go. Like some Sabres. Doug very nicely stuck to my interests in the non-Dodger...