Night Owl Cards

After basically taking the year off from collecting in 1990, I was back in 1991. I collected a lot of stuff in 1991 -- because there was a lot to collect. They blew the barn doors off in 1991. Cards and collecting and hobby people in general would never be the same because of '91. There was no going back. The genie was out of the bottle. Everyone had an accountant. We were all going to be stinkin' rich. And the quickest way to retirement -- in 1991 -- was to buy even more cards. The card companies were there for you. There were no less than nine major card sets in 1991, the most ever. I'm not even counting things like Classic and O-Pee-Chee Premiere. Nine sets to collect. NINE! For the first six years of my collecting existence I was collecting one solitary set and sticking my fist in a cereal box for another. That was it. NINE! The '91 card season is probably most notable for the growth in "premium" sets. Leaf in 1990 spawned Stadium Club and Ult...

It's officially Christmas season, I suppose. But I'm not black Friday shopping nor taking advantage of any online black Friday baseball card deals. You have to have money to do those things. So, what am I doing instead? Writing about checklists! Wait! Where ya going? This is important stuff here. If you're a team collector, one of the more annoying facets of 1960s cards are the checklists. Between 1967 and 1969, Topps printed a head shot with its checklist cards. That head shot was a star of the period and there was a different star player on each checklist card. The player is unnamed on the card, which often causes it to slip under the radar for team collectors. Some checklist guides don't even bother to mention the player pictured on  the card. It merely says something like "4th series checklist". So this is what happened with the above 1969 Topps 4th Series checklist, which pictures Don Drysdale. Long after I thought I had completed my 196...

Up until the last day or so, trades had dried right up for me. I've had no time to strike up any deals, and with Listia and a card show and some online arranging going full force, cards were occupying my time in other ways. But the time has come for me to get off my ass and actually be a fully functioning member of the bloggery again. Now that I've scrounged up some money for mailing supplies, a few select people will be getting some cards next week. And then a few more after that. Before you know it, it will be 2009 again and we'll all be clawing our eyes out because of all the trade posts. One person who hasn't stopped sending out cards recently is Spiegel . I got a very cool assortment of cards from him a couple weeks ago and am just now getting finding time to discuss them. So let's see if I still know how this "show your latest cards" thing works. I think you turn it on ... Like this ... Is it working? Ah, here we go ... I shall st...