Night Owl Cards

  I don't know about you but among the many voices in my head are the ones that say "have you finished this set yet?" "Don't forget to complete that team set!" "Wow, it's a long time since you did anything with that set!" So many voices and out-and-out badgering about card tasks. So the first Sportlots order of the year was about quieting a bunch of those voices -- or at least cutting down on the volume -- by completing as many sets as I could as cheaply as I could. You already read about me finishing the 1986 Traded set . I posted that back on May 27, and there's still one card straggler from that Sportlots order that hasn't arrived. It's always interesting how some cards show up within days and others seem to have a long conversation with themselves over whether they really want to live in my house. When that card arrives, it will complete a team set, too. But let's see the stuff that's actually here. Look it, you guys, 19...

  I hope you know that I'm never going to stop writing about '70s and '80s cards on here. To me, that's the greatest era for cards and the most appealing cards. It's the most appealing time period, too, for ... well, just about everything. Then we hit the '90s and pretended everything was the same but knew it wasn't and now we're in the 21st century and nobody knows what a radio is anymore. The beauty of cards is I can collect the same period over and over without anyone getting on me for living in the past (well, some people still might, but that would be rude of them).   I once worried that I was running out of cards to collect from this time but I now know that's absolutely not true and won't be for as long as I'm dragging myself around.   One of the best sources for '70s and '80s cards continues to be Dime Box Nick , which is a bit strange as I'm pretty sure he never set foot in either decade. He certainly understands the glor...

I can't keep up, guys. Spring fever must have hit collectors around the country because envelopes containing cards have been flying all over the home nest the last couple of weeks. The card desk ran out of space for incoming envelopes for the first time in a long time, so I tried to scan a bunch of the recent goodies to clear some room -- which is a bit tricky right now because my scanner is at close to floor level and some recent minor surgery has made it difficult to reach upward or downward -- but the envelopes only kept coming to the door! There are at least two more that I need to get to and then two more packages hit my mail box today. Good gosh, I need a staycation to handle all of this. I'm going to make a little space for myself right now by showing off some of the generous items here. I want to start with an envelope from Fuji because a whole bunch of bloggers have posted recently about their envelopes from him and I know you were beginning to think I di...

The glory days of Kellogg's 3-D cards took place from 1970-83. That was when Kellogg's was issuing a new set each year, usually available off the side or the back of a cereal box and often with a single card from that set swimming in cereal inside the box. My period of collecting Kellogg's 3-D cards is much shorter than that. The first 3-D cards I remember seeing are from 1974, but I don't recall fishing any out of a box of Frosted Flakes until 1977. The peak years for me and Kellogg's cards was 1977-80 -- that was when my brothers and I ordered an entire set off of the box and then divided the cards among ourselves. I hold great affection for Kellogg's cards from that 77-80 era. I also am enamored with the 3-D cards from 1974-76. And I hold much respect for the early Kellogg's cards from 1970-73, even the 2-D set from '73. That leaves 1981-83, a period when I left Kellogg's cards behind (no doubt the arrival of Donruss and Fleer had somethi...

Yesterday, the 2017 Topps Update checklist made the online scene and it's pretty much a disaster. Topps Update hasn't resembled the old Traded set that I loved so dearly in the 1980s for a long time. But the 2017 checklist seems exceedingly lousy. For Dodgers, I am blessed with five All-Star cards -- in other words, players I already have from Series 1 or Series 2. Then there are three other Dodgers represented: Franklin Gutierrez, who barely played because of medical issues; Brett Eibner, a prospect who barely played but he's in Update because ROOKIE CARD, and, of course, Cody Bellinger. Then there's Cody Bellinger and Cody Bellinger and Cody Bellinger. Four Cody Bellinger's in the set. Nobody needs this. Cody Bellinger's mom doesn't need this. Meanwhile there is no card of Chris Taylor, one of the most valuable Dodgers of this entire year. He's not in Series 1 or 2 because who knew Chris Taylor would do anything? But since the start of the ...