Night Owl Cards

  My first COMC order of the year came in today. I've settled into averaging out to two COMC orders a year. It used to be more than that, but there are more options now and also COMC prices have been unreasonable in many cases for several years, so I've been forced to comparison shop.   My first order of the year is usually smaller than the one that often shows up in the fall. But both orders usually show how scattered my interests are. I read stories about collectors working on some super-focused, often highly unattainable pursuit and only that pursuit . Every time, I am filled with feelings of admiration/envy (wish I could do that) mixed with feelings of relief (glad I chase more than one thing!).   This order is very much this-and-that. It took almost exactly a month to show up, which is fine, though I was expecting earlier based on the lightening speed from several months ago.     One of the first items I put in my cart were the last two Dodgers I needed fro...

  My Black Friday COMC order came in yesterday. I'm pleased to say that it showed up more than two weeks earlier than was originally forecast. This order was not as grand as I wanted it to be. When it got time to request shipment, money was a little tighter than I expected, I had to let some cards go. But I didn't let go of the oddball cards, which actually was a good portion of the order. I gravitate toward oddballs -- I think readers know this about me -- and since I've completed so many of the main sets from the '70s and '80s, oddballs are almost all that's left. That's fine with me, because the more I think of it, I like hanging out with the oddballs. When I think of what's the opposite of those kinds of cards, high-end grade specimens of superstars and hot rookies, I know that those cards can bring out my least favorite kind of behavior in collectors, just about the rudest people I've seen in the hobby. But I rarely see that among collectors who...

  My most recent COMC order arrived the other day, after waiting a bit longer than they said I was going to wait, about two weeks longer. I don't know if that indicates anything but it's not a big deal right now because it's still not as long as I've been waiting for the Beckett Vintage Collector issue with Rickey Henderson on the cover. I mentioned a couple weeks ago that it probably should have shown up about a month ago, and normally I wouldn't care too much but I suspect an article of mine (or maybe two) is in it. If I had a decent book store near me (aka Barnes & Noble), I could check for it myself, but living among the rubes, I can't do that without planning an outing. I bring this all up again because my articles paid for the 1970 Nolan Ryan I showed last time and they also paid for my COMC order. This is "the other half," although it's a lot more than one card and also cost a lot less. So, let's get to it, since other people aren...

I think I'm the only card blogger who gets hassled in the comments when they stray from sports. I've yet to see anyone actually say "Stick to Sports!", the common exclamation that helped bring down many an ESPN employee -- this is a blog and nobody is paying for content. But the sentiment is there periodically and I suppose it's testament to the readership size here that people come to the blog with certain expectations. I would think that if people didn't like what I was writing, they would just move on. I know that's what most readers do. There are some bloggers who used to comment on this blog all the time that I haven't seen comment here in months or even years. I just assume they're not interested in the content. But as I've said many times, my hobby interests are varied and sometimes they stray into the blog. They definitely stray into how I collect cards. There's a reason why I like Allen & Ginter and Wacky Packages, esp...