Night Owl Cards

I'm not dumb enough to consider "Work Hard, Get Cards" an insert, but think about it for a minute: It's not part of the base set. It's randomly inserted in packs; you don't get one in every pack. That's the definition of an insert, right? OK, enough foolishness. This is where I count down the inserts/subset cards I got in the various packs I purchased since November. Fourteen separate packs yielded what I'm about to show, and it's a pretty depressing lot. I like the last card, and that's about it. What follows pretty much sums up what you got in retail packs in 2008. Or at least what I got. These cards and the rest, listed along the sidebar, go to the winner of the contest. You can get the rules and enter here . Off we go: 11. Mickey Mantle, Home Run History, No. 430, Topps Chrome. This is a waste of valuable chrome. Get these out of the chrome set. 10. Dennis Kucinich, presidential campaign subset, Topps Series I. You see correctly; I ranke...

I think this is going to serve as my "cardboard appreciation" post of the week. "Cardboard appreciations" might be my favorite posts to write, but considering this is a list of the "best" of the packs that I bought over the last two months, it's basically several "cardboard appreciations" all rolled into one. And it cuts down on some work for me! Sweet! Remember that I'll be giving away the cards featured here in this post and all of the ones listed along the sidebar under "Win these packs!" For the rules on how to enter, just go here , and enter your guesses. This, by the way, is just one of the card contests going on right now. "Spot the Sig ," over at Phungo is still going strong. Dan from Saints of the Cheap Seats is giving away autos and relics for merely answering a trivia question. And Wax Heaven is keeping us all in suspense with an upcoming contest . So, anyway, here is what I liked about the packs I bought f...

A big thank you to everyone who voted for the "best card set" and "worst card set" of 2008. As you can see by the results, there is little question about what people thought was the best and the worst of the past year. At least among people who visit this blog anyway. Topps Allen & Ginter was the best card set by such a wide margin that not only did it win "best set" by 13 votes over its closest competitor, but it was the only set listed that was not voted the "worst set" of 2008. I have to say I agree. If you're collecting and you hate Allen & Ginter, I really have no idea what your collecting motives are. Upper Deck X was picked as the "worst set" of 2008, also by a wide margin, 14 votes more than the "next worst," Upper Deck Spectrum (Upper Deck has a number of pointless brands out there. Personally, I'd throw Artifacts in there, too, and SP Authentic). I noted that not as many people voted in the "wor...