Night Owl Cards

I suppose everyone is watching the game right now. I know that's what I'm doing. So there's no point in me going through the effort of trying to disguise my pack break or trade post with some sort of convoluted, semi-clever theme. For the few who don't want to watch the game, I'll treat you with a super basic pack break, followed by a super basic trade package. It's all I can manage, because right now I'm intently sending bad mojo vibes toward that guy wearing pajama pants on the mound. And that's a lot of work. First, the pack break. It's a pack sent to me by Jeremy of No One's Going to Read This Blog . He also sent some cards, which you'll see later someday. One pack of 2008 Topps Chrome, hobby edition: #58-Melky Cabrera: A guy I never hear about now that he is not a Yankee. Funny how that happens, huh? #102 - Kenji Johjima: Now that Johjima has left major league ball, I think we deserve a refund for all the Johjima cards w...

I recently celebrated the second annual "Nachos Grande Sends Night Owl a Ginter Kershaw Auto" day. I didn't even know it was an annual event until Chris at Nachos Grande alerted me. And then out came the balloons and streamers and noise makers. Because I got an A&G Kershaw autograph for the second straight year, and I didn't have to pay a dime for it! Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! There are certain bloggers who pull more Dodgers hits than anyone. I think I've pulled three Dodger hits in my life. But beardy and Chris probably pull that many in a weekend. Fortunately, they are nice enough to trade them to me. (As for any of you other bloggers who pull Dodger hits frequently and don't trade them to me, well, you sir, are rude, rude people). I've made two trades with Chris in the last few weeks, and besides the A&G Kershaw card, here is the best of what he's sent my way: Two great black-bordered minis. I have dupes of the Ethier one now. I g...

This card here is evidence of what can be achieved when you place a bizarrely named want list up on the sidebar of your blog. The Nebulous 9 has been a great success so far. In just a few short weeks since starting it, I have received seven cards off the list. In true "nebulous 9" fashion, some of the cards weren't on the list, but they were cards that I mentioned I wanted in the original post . As cards have come in, I've updated the list, and as I originally suspected the list hasn't been nine cards all the time. Sometimes it was 7 or 8 or even 10. But it's back to 9 now. The Paul Runge card came from gcrl , who sent me a couple of other cards from that list. He's got a few double-play turn cards lying around. This is an upgrade over my tattered Runge card that was a misfit in my 1986 Topps binder. Now, my Runge can play nicely with the other kids. The 2009 Allen & Ginter Russell Martin card came from Joe L. I am in the middle of documenting hi...

As a writer of sports headlines, I am forever looking for a synonym for the word "surprise." Sports is all about drama, and there is nothing more dramatic than a victory by a team that wasn't supposed to win. So those games are going to get the big headlines. But you can't use the word "surprise" over and over again. "Miracle Mets Surprise Orioles," "U.S. Olympic Team Surprises Russians," "Douglas Surprises Tyson." That's boring. So, I am forever looking for synonyms. These are the words I turn to when "surprise" won't do: upset upend startle shock stun blindside ambush astonish astound jolt fool boggle bowl over overthrow You headline writers, feel free to use some of these. Or bail me out and give me some more synonyms. The reason I bring this up is that Joe sent me a surprise package of cards recently. Totally out of the blue. And I was trying to come up with a title for this post. The only thing I had was...

One thing that's great about being a baseball card collector these days is that the card companies are more than prepared to squeeze every last cent out of you. Let me explain. Not so long ago, card companies would ackowledge something called a "collecting season." The season would run approximately from the end of January to the end of September. There was no such thing as multiple sets or the staggering of release dates. Collectors were required to get their cards during that designated season or be doomed to three months of cardless hell. Because from October through most of January there were no baseball cards on store shelves. Everyone understood this. Sure there might be a few pristine (re: untouched) packs of football or basketball cards, but who wanted those? It was like three months of Lent. You went 12 weeks without baseball cards, but it was your penance for those nine months of cardboard avarice. It was sacrifice. It was good for you. Or at least that...

Do you remember those "Dan and Dave" Reebok commercials about U.S. Olympic decathletes Dan O'Brien and Dave Johnson? Those TV ads were everywhere. You couldn't avoid them. I think they might've even killed the Olympics. I mean, the Olympic Games don't seem to be as well-liked here in the U.S. as they once were. In 1984, I couldn't get enough of the Games. I watched every single day, every last hour. But now, if you ask someone under 30 about the Olympics, chances are you're going to get this for an answer: "I hate the Olympics." I suppose there are lots of reasons for the downturn. I know the reason for me is baseball getting the boot from the Games. I am not pleased about that. Anyway, the reason I bring up "Dan and Dave" is I received two card packages in the mail this afternoon from Dan in Baltimore and David in Brooklyn. They provided lots of goodies to go through, and as usual, I must offer up the highlights. I'll start wi...