Night Owl Cards

You ever play that game in which you calculate how many years it's been since you were a kid and then take that total and subtract it from one of those years when you were a kid and come up with a difference that causes you to instantly turn off all the lights in your house and hide in a dark corner of your room? Yeah, that's not a fun game to play when you start to hit a certain age. It's been more than 40 years since the 1973 Topps set has been issued. Subtract 40 from 1973 and you're in the Great Depression -- in more ways than one. The only time when this exercise is fun is when it comes to cards. I am combining two recent packages that I received because each of them feature 1973 Topps (I can't have every post being '73s, as wonderful as they are). The '73s were central to the package. But with 1973 at the center, each package contained a card from either side of the spectrum -- 40 or so years after 1973 and 40 or so years before 1973. Now th...

I received these two 1969 Topps Stamps from Mark Hoyle awhile ago. I like them quite a bit. Who doesn't like anything with a picture of Don Drysdale on it? And Ron Fairly? Well, he's just dreamy. Ask those Mad Men secretaries from the '60s. But these stamps sat and sat and sat on my card desk for weeks upon weeks, waiting for me to have something to say about them. I had already babbled about stamps before , and, well, nothing else was coming to me. There was another reason why they sat there. I don't know what to do with non 2 1/2-by-3 1/2 items. Oh, I have a lot of irregular cards. I refuse to be prejudiced. But if it's not 2 1/2-by-3 1/2, it's going to have to be really special (see 1975 Topps minis) for me to make specific accommodations. Otherwise stuff like this disappears in a box. And that's terrible. Stamps from 1969 with pictures of Don Drysdale should not go in a box, with a cover, so I can stumble across them once every six months an...

A couple of things before I get to the mystery: 1. Time is running out to vote on the biggest improvement and the biggest bust in Score's illustrious baseball trading card history. You have a matter of hours to place your vote on the sidebar. It doesn't seem like people have much of an opinion on Score, but I don't want to leave anyone out. 2. I realize I am pokey on sending out packages again. All I have to do is look in the general direction of the card desk to feel the shame envelop me. Sorry, March is a hellfire mistress. I hope things will calm down in a couple of weeks. But it's that second point that I think is contributing to this mystery. I deal with a lot of collectors. People always sending me stuff or contacting me for trades, etc. I can barely keep pace, but I do try to be friendly about it. "Friendly," though, does not eliminate "forgetful." I received a package yesterday with no return address. There was nothing on the pac...