Night Owl Cards

  It's almost nothing to own cards of retired players, so-called "legends cards," these days. Thanks to the MLB-Topps agreement, legends are included in virtually every current set. They're ubiquitous in inserts and in sets like Archives and Allen & Ginter. You can find cards of them for a quarter, which just doesn't seem right.   Maybe that's because I knew a different time. As a youngster collecting cards, my focus was solely on the players of the day. This was the 1970s and 1980s, and virtually all sets available, year after year, offered nothing but current players.   Cards of legends were mostly confined to past releases. Want a card of Willie Mays? Find someone dumb enough to trade you a card from the 1960s, because that's the only way you were going to get him.   Eventually I became aware of card issues from TCMA and Galasso and Laughlin. These were all oddball sets, not available at your store down the road, but they contained retired players. ...

  I admittedly have a tough time updating my want lists these days. Early on, my want list was just for myself. Written in a notebook or later on a spreadsheet, I was the only one who saw them. It didn't matter if they were updated, though I certainly got a thrill over crossing out a previous need in ballpoint pen. But if I skipped the process occasionally, it didn't matter. Then I started a blog and people noticed and they started sending me cards and I added a want list to my own blog that was Very Important. People from far away consulted it and tried to keep it as up to date as possible. If I didn't, folks would send me dupes -- not their fault -- but I already had plenty of those. Then TCDB came along, which was a much more efficient way to create and maintain want lists. I created one over there and now it is more accurate than the want lists on my blog. But I've kept the want lists on my blog because I think people still check them sometimes and also it's a l...

  Wow, if there's an early theme for 2024 for me, it might be that I don't have the time to be blogging here any longer. That's a pretty jarring realization because my blog rep is built partly on my unspoken guarantee: "I'll blog when no one else can." But it's been one thing out of my control after another this year. For example, did you know that USA Today yesterday named the city in which I live the most ideal spot to view the eclipse next week?" Good gosh, what now? You wouldn't think something like that would take time away from blogging, but with the expected influx of people, I've got to run around and get errands done in advance. So other responsibilities have been piling up, including cards -- good cards from good people.  Let's get to it. I'll start first with some great retro stuff from Bru of Remember the Astrodome . He wailed on my Swell wants, specifically the 1991 set, which I like the most. That's a whole bunch of o...

  There is a full cart over at sportlots that is just waiting for me to have time and money. Veteran readers know that this is not a great period for spending cash on cards for me, but the wallet loosens by mid-March.   One of the first things I will do when that time comes is click that ship button. The majority of my sportlots order is set needs and in a couple cases will finish off sets I've been chasing the last few years. Happy, happy, joy, joy!   I've mentioned before that set collecting makes the most sense to me, even in this age of Topps playing head games with the few set collectors who remain. While other kinds of collecting feels a little disjointed or scattered, collecting a set comes with a goal: finish the set. There is a defined end. And I've gotta have goals.   This brings me the most peace in collecting and even if that sportlots order feels like it's stagnating, I'm still working on those sets. Not too long ago I finished a TCDB trade with Mokola...

  Look at that card. Isn't that fantastic? That's what a football card should look like. Why shouldn't I have that card? No one can tell me I can't have that card. So I have it. Because I'm weak.   I've told myself over and over not to think about tackling another vintage football set, not until I finish the 1979 Topps set. Certainly I shouldn't try the '76 Topps set with a known expensive card that will surely be at the end of my completion rainbow.   But '70s cards are a weakness. They speak to me like no other cards. This is why I will never get to collecting old tobacco card Dodgers or Goudey Dodgers or whatever 100-year-old card because they do not have the magic that '70s cards do. Also, I'm weak.    More football sets I shouldn't be chasing. 1983? I shouldn't be even thinking about this until '70s stuff is out of the way. THERE MUST BE ORDER. But I can't resist. All of these were available at the baseballcardstore.ca an...