Night Owl Cards

    As a team collector, I don't really do a great job of acquiring the separate team sets that Topps puts out each year. It's a little difficult to stay focused because the team sets often feature mostly the same cards that are in flagship -- out of around 20 cards, maybe three are different. But mostly it's me forgetting, because I do want the team set each year. Jim, from cards as I see them, does a much better job of remembering and each year he has a post in which he compares the Dodgers in Topps flagship to the Dodgers in the team set. He wrote one this year a couple of weeks ago and I made a mental note to add the team set to my collection. I even took the next step of finding it online and adding it to my cart. Over the following days I'd note that it was still in there and think about cashing out but I still hadn't. Good thing because a week ago a box showed up on my porch unannounced. It contained: The 2024 Dodgers team set AND the 2022 Dodgers team set. ...

  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...

I had a free day to do what I pleased Monday, something that has been a rarity these last three months. I thought it would be a good idea to catch up on organizing and packaging some long-delayed card envelopes. I found the next five collectors on my backlog list and settled into the rhythm of stacking the cards on the dining room table, searching through the collection and gathering the mailing supplies. For a little bit, it felt right to be doing this again. I made it through one plain, white envelope. That was it. Today, I put all the cards that I had meant to package back on the desk where they have been waiting for weeks. Turns out, I'm just not ready yet. I like the idea of getting those card packages prepared, but my physical enthusiasm for the process hasn't returned yet. Although I feel like I'm OK after my parents' passings, this is another reminder that I'm not ready to get back on that horse. But I'm still making mental notes of what cer...