Night Owl Cards

  It's getting so that I'm running out of places to turn to find cards that I like that aren't stupidly expensive or unavailable.   Modern cards are out in that area. They're seeded with short-prints and often they prevent you from finishing a set. See: 2025 Topps Heritage.   Vintage in many cases is out. Thank goodness for card shows, I can still find them there. But looking for cheap vintage online is a old-fashioned practice that became fruitless a few years ago.   Even my dear '70s is filled with roadblocks. I'm at a stand-still with both Kellogg's and Hostess, either because of prices (Kellogg's) or unavailability (Hostess).   Sure, I like a whole bunch of different kinds of cards so I can always pivot, but the only reliable period to pivot is the 1980s. Heck, that's still a decade that makes people just give away whatever was manufactured during those 10 years. Thank goodness! There's a reason I've written so many odes to the 1980s.   R...

    OK, now that I've established myself as an oddball in the current collecting landscape -- preferring vintage cards and all -- it's appropriate that I show off some recent "oddball" arrivals in my collection.   This runs the gamut and covers 85 years of trading cards and some of it isn't even cardboard.   Let's see:   Fired-up by my first acquisition of a 1960 Leaf high-number Dodger card in Rip Repulski, I decided to grab another one with this Joe Pignatano. It has a few minor flaws (it was listed as "good," which is usually "good enough" for me), but it still looks great.   That leaves just Stan Williams to complete the team set. Upon landing the Repulski, I received an email informing me that the Williams was available for a reasonable price on sportlots. But I didn't jump on it (I'm rarely financially ready to pounce on opportunities) and it's not there anymore.     Here's a card -- and an owlie greeting card -- that ...