Night Owl Cards

  From the beginning, I was not impressed.   Trying to collect three sets was a lot. This was the new world in 1981, after collecting nothing but Topps for the previous six years (with some side runs into Kellogg's and Hostess). While eager to try out all the newness, I felt overwhelmed -- a newspaper carrier salary couldn't possibly cover three sets -- and was looking for ways to cut back. Finding fault with one of the new sets would help me control my habit.   Donruss made it easy that year.   The difference between its set and the Topps and Fleer sets that year was obvious right away. While Topps was printed on the cardboard that I knew from the beginning, and Fleer's was also sturdy if a bit rigid, Donruss was flimsy. You could bend the card easily. I had never experienced cards on such thin stock. Even the Hostess panels felt more solid.   I ranked Donruss third among the new trio right away and while purchasing all three throughout that summer of '81 -- be...

  Last week I bought a blaster of 2024 Topps with the cash that I didn't spend at the card show that I went to at the start of the month.  That doesn't sound like the smartest of moves -- save that cash for something vintage you want! -- but I've been living my card-purchasing life online for the last month-plus and it's getting tired. I needed to buy in person.   I had planned to add some Heritage but it wasn't there. I could have missed it because there were two guys dominating the space talking about their next Magic thingy and I had to squeeze past them. But I was happy with the '24 Topps.     Some of the highlights, there were others that I needed, too. There were also many, many dupes, so I won't be getting any more retail. It's all about Heritage now anyway. (If I was MLB commish, I would reinstate real extra innings first and ban public displays of unnecessary ballplayer yelling next). I did pull my first autograph of the year. This was appropria...

  It's been a loaded week with not a lot of time for thoughtful posts. But the doctor's visit is done, the new car's been purchased, the co-worker's vacation is almost over and the work meeting's been canceled. Welcome, light, it seemed like that tunnel would never end. I don't have a lot of energy remaining, but someone supplied a well-timed pick-me-up just yesterday. I've mentioned a couple of times on the blog about those occasions when you get extra cards thrown in with an ebay purchase. We all know that unexpected surprise. I haven't experienced it all that much, actually, and none of the throw-ins have been inspiring. But someone went the extra mile this time. All I bought was a 1976 Hostess Larry Dierker card for my set quest. It was 3 dollars, about average for a well-trimmed card from that time. When the envelope arrived with cheery greetings all over the place, it came with several friends, too. We're not done yet, but I just wanted to poin...

This has long been an obsession of mine but probably isn't an obsession with very many other people, so I fully expect blog clicks to be in the "whatever" range. But I'll see your "whatever" with my "whatever." Onward. As someone who collected as a kid in the '70s, I've always noticed so-called "big head" photos. That's what we called them then. We thought they were weird. Who wants to see a giant head on a baseball card? We wanted to see action, or at the very least someone with a bat or a ball in their hand. But, of course, like everything nostalgic, as the years passed and cards continued to hammer collectors with nonstop action, I started to long for those "big head" cards, or remember them fondly anyway. There was a resurgence of "big heads" in the late '80s/early '90s with the arrival of Upper Deck, and I think it was noticed enough that other collectors began to refer to them, althou...

I'm really on an early Donruss kick lately. It hasn't been intentional, but I don't mind. If you see me getting goopy over '91 Donruss, then you should be concerned. No, it's just 1984 Donruss' turn in the rotation for this periodic exercise in which I determine the best card for each team for every set that I have completed. 1984 Donruss is my second complete set from that year. You saw the other set the last time I did this series. It's also one of those blogosphere-completed sets. Those are sets for which a great deal of the cards came from fellow bloggers or readers. Like 1988 Score, I had precious few 1984 Donruss prior to starting a blog and now I have the whole thing. As addressed in the 1984 Topps posting, I collected very little in 1984. I bought three or four packs of Donruss and I bought a box of '84 Topps at the start of the year. It's interesting to note that the only set that year that I collected as I had in the past -- Fleer...

I'm returning to that terrific card box from David -- the box that was my National -- for one last post. I mentioned in that post that I received several base cards from 2013 Topps Series 2. I'm still debating whether I want to complete the thing or not (leaning toward "not"). But tucked in that box of 2013 cards were what I thought was packaging filler. Donruss puzzle pieces. Through the life of this blog, I have received my share of Donruss puzzle remnants that served as filler. Those thick cardboard slabs are excellent packing material and I have probably around 40 pieces just sitting in a box in my basement. It's quite the variety ... An arm of Aaron here ... An ear of Yaz there ... And half a cranium of Stan the Man. It's like a slaughterhouse floor for cardboard greats. I had even accumulated seven different pieces for the Duke Snider puzzle from the 1984 Donruss set (yet another reason why it's the only Donruss s...