Night Owl Cards

    (For those entered in the contest to win the 1989 Topps Big set, I'll announce it at the end of the post).   I've been a Dodgers fan since 1974. I know a lot of readers know that but I just want to get it out there for any newcomers who arrive upon this blog in the next year or so and think, "another one, huh?" Longtime fans have their radar turned up for bandwagoners. It's an ugly thing that we rooting veterans do, singling out the rising totals in Patriots or Braves fans over the years as the sign of some sort of mass personality flaw. It's actually none of our business. New fans can root for whoever they want. But I do expect more Dodgers fans to show up now that the team has won the World Series. It's just the nature of things. Do you know how many Jets fans I saw on the playground in the early '70s? Where are they all now? I do expect acquiring Dodgers cards to get tougher from here on out, too. Not that it isn't tough already. Aside from ...

No card era baffles me more than the late 1990s. Brian from Play at the Plate knows this. He knows I collected fewer cards during that time than any other collecting period in my life. And being the supertrader that he is, he recently sent a PWE that contained nothing but cards from between 1996-2000. In other words, he stuffed the envelope with homework. There is no way I will be able to figure out which late 1990s cards I need and which I don't unless I have a few quiet minutes to myself, alone, with a lamp lit above, equipped with my research materials and binders, with a pencil and paper by my side. Now does that sound like homework or what? It's the only way I can do it. Put a card in my hand from the 1980s and I know instantly what it is and whether I own it. Card from the late '90s? I have maybe a 50 percent chance. Can you hand me that giant research volume on the shelf so I can figure it out? I'll get back to you in a few minutes. So, I had a fe...

The other day I saw that Spiegel received a record number of Hideo Nomo cards in one package. It was like 70 cards or something. I don't ever get that many Nomo cards at once. But then I don't have the guy's name in my blog title. Just imagine if there's ever a player named "Night Owl." I'll set the record for having the most cards of that guy. Fortunately, I do know some Mets collectors. And they always seem to have great Nomo cards. I'm not sure why. Possibly because Nomo spent a stray year in New York. That 4.82 ERA got all of New York fired up and there was a run on Nomo cards. Anyway, I was contacted by ... Joe at The Sandlot about a fancy Nomo insert that he pulled, which you see here. Isn't it great? I have to figure out how to store this card with a light shining behind it at all times. I also received these other two cards from Topps Gallery. The first one is Nomo's regular base card from the set -- I think, one never ...