Night Owl Cards

    This 1975 Hostess card of Brewers pitcher Billy Champion cost me 8 bucks -- a little more than 10 with shipping included.   The card contains a small crease in the corner and the pitcher, although featuring one of the all-time names in the sport, was an average performer in the '70s, otherwise known as "a common." But it's a short-print.   The Champion arrived not too long after the card of his former teammate, Robin Yount. The Yount is a short-print and its his rookie card, too, but it cost only a few bucks more than the Champion, likely because it's got a few issues (though nothing that bothers me in the slightest when it comes to Hostess cards).   I've returned to attempting to finish this set after getting frustrated with it last year. I didn't encounter the kind of price bumps I'm seeing with '75 Hostess when I was completing the 1976 and 1977 Hostess sets (1976 completed at the end of 2021 and 1977 in mid-2024). But I've got around 17...

  I picked up this card on Friday. Ryne Sandberg passed away Monday.   I was not a kid when Sandberg was starring for the Cubs. I was a senior in high school when his rookie card showed up, and I'm pretty sure I didn't know who he was when I pulled it. That was the last year of dedicated card collecting for me for the next six years. That's a lot of Sandberg cards I didn't see.   I'm also not a Cubs fan, and it feels odd writing a tribute. So I'm going to wander through topics while discussing Sandberg cards, too.   The Sandberg diecut card came from a collection I am assessing for a co-worker. She helps run a thrift shop through her church. The cards are the former collection of her neighbor. The collector's mom made the cards, and everything else in their garage, available to the shop.   It's apparent that the kid collected somewhere around 2005-15. There are also cards going back to 2001 (and some football cards from the late '80s but that was bef...

  I like to think of myself as judicious, shrewd, prudent, and all those other synonyms for smart and rational collecting behavior. But I have my moments. Sometimes I can't help myself when someone is offering cards for 10 cents apiece. I mentioned my most recent baseballcardstore.ca purchase a few posts ago and showed off some 1986 Fleer. '86 Fleer is right on the cusp of the era when every card should be a penny ... or less. I have no problem spending 10 cents or a quarter for cards from '86. But cards from '87 all the way through '92? You're going to have to convince me. So how do I explain this? That's a stack of 1987 Fleer from the dime box store. There are 120 cards there for a dime each. That's really overpaying. I can go online right now and buy a complete '87 Fleer set for 10 bucks. So what is wrong with me? Why would I blow extra money on '87 Fleer? Well, I don't really have any good reasons. I do admit I'm not that thrifty wit...