Night Owl Cards

I am focusing on several card pursuits at once, per usual, and I hate how I drop one after a single purchase or two because my head turns for some hot "young" card thing (it's usually not "young," it's usually vintage). This is why I go so long between completing card sets.   So, I tried to focus on the 1969 Topps chase for a little while and did well enough to get through about three purchases, but then I got distracted by 1975 Hostess, which I felt like I was neglecting, so -- wham -- I placed some cash down on that the other day. But that was after vowing to get back into finishing the 1971 Laughlin World Series set, which I promptly dropped to get this:   Say hello to Harold Reese in all of his weathered glory. This is from 1950 Bowman, and I guess I can forgive myself for going off on a collecting tangent here.   I want to try to get some of the other 1950s Bowman Brooklyn Dodgers sets complete, or as complete as I can. But the only way for me to do th...

  Since the start of the year I have been trying to focus on two of my "if it happens, it happens" resolutions. Those two things are to read more books and work on improving my sleep. I work a night job. I often don't get done with work until midnight or 1, 2 in the morning. This is tough on sleep because, as you know, you need to unwind after a work shift -- or at least most people do. For day-shifters, that's easy, they unwind in the evening time, lots of hours before bed. But for me, my unwind time is confined to a couple hours late at night. I've often spent it online, wandering the card blogs or watching videos or just reading stuff. But staring at backlit screens before bed isn't good for sleep. So to hit both resolutions at once, an hour before turning in, I shut off my devices and read a book. It's worked pretty well so far (when the cat isn't acting up) and my sleep improved almost instantly. The first book I'm reading (I have a whole shel...

  I have probably mentioned a couple times that I feel like my era of collecting is underrepresented on social media. That's likely because folks who collected as kids in the '70s are less likely to be appearing on Twitter/X or Instagram. And I don't do cards on Facebook, which probably has a better chance of showing card stuff from my era. But it's difficult for me to match the glee for late '80s and '90s cards that I see constantly on those other social media sites. Like I've said before, it seems like every collector online began collecting in 1987. There's probably a book in there somewhere because it's definitely a thing. But I don't want to collect stuff from that time. I see pack-openings of 1990 Donruss a lot. I already know what's in those packs, they do, too. I don't have any desire to be trapped in a 1990 time loop. Also, and this is the key thing, I like cards issued earlier a whole lot more. Folks who collected those cards fr...

  I'm one of those "don't get your hopes up" people.   I assume this is a defense mechanism to avoid crushing disappointment. It manifests itself in many ways, and yes, it shows up in the hobby.   Even from the beginning of collecting as a kid, I set my standards low. The only thing I knew to collect were the packs at the store down the street. But I didn't have any money or transportation so I knew any thoughts about completing the entire set were unrealistic.   When I became aware of vintage -- what we called "old cards" then -- I was grateful for whatever came my way, which wasn't much. I had to pick and choose what I wanted, a particular favorite card or cards from a set I liked.   This is how my attachment to certain sets grew. I gravitated to sets like '71 Topps and '56 Topps because I liked them and I knew if I focused on just those, I could accomplish something. Why try to chase down everything? You'll never get those. You deliver...

My card collecting friend R.C. sent me a few cards recently. He said he didn't have a need for them and hoped I might find them useful. These weren't your average cards so I can find a variety of uses for them. In fact, I can break the uses down into: 1. Keepers (Cards I can use in my collection) 2. Traders (Cards I'd be willing to use in a trade for the right deal) 3. Giveaways (Cards that I can use in a giveaway next month) Let's see the breakdown with pretty pictures. 1. KEEPERS This was not the only legends short-print in the package but it is the only one I will definitely keep. The 2009 set was the first one to add short-printed legends cards, I believe, and I remember the carefree days when this was a new-and-interesting concept. Plus, the 2009 Topps set is the first one I completed after coming to blogging. And you can't beat seeing Ryne Sandberg in a Phillies uniform. These are each upgrades. As a proud 1970s card collector, I...

With little time and even less motivation, it's time to determine whether the oldest night card I own and one of the newest night cards I own will make the Night Card Binder. The oldest card, of course, is vastly more interesting. This is a 1950 Bowman card of pitcher Marino Pieretti. Even if you know nothing about Pieretti, and that was me about 10 minutes ago, it's a fascinating card. Check out the painted glow from the lights beaming down on the right-hander. Now, look at the back. There are two points of interest for me. First, observe Pieretti's height and weight. Five-seven, 158 pounds. Those are my measurements there. Dammit, if I was born in 1921, I could've been a major league pitcher even at 5-7. Next, note that Pieretti was born in Italy. That's pretty cool. Pieretti was raised in San Francisco, where baseball thrived in the 1940s and 50s. Pieretti was popular in the area long after his playing career ended. But in 1977, he had liver cancer ...