Night Owl Cards

I've been the recipient of several "out of the blue" card packages lately. It's quite an honor when someone pulls a card and automatically thinks, "the dude over at Night Owl Cards would like this card." That is apparently what happened when Paul of Paul's Random Stuff pulled this black-bordered O-Pee-Chee card of Clayton Kershaw. It arrived in a happy little envelope today. "I thought you might not have this one," the note said. Paul, you thought correctly. Another Kershaw for the collection. This card is awfully similar to one of the Timeline Kershaw cards from last year, and possibly one of the Documentary cards. There is a fine post on Wrigley Wax about this. It's a good reason to stick with collecting just one set per card company, especially when it comes to Upper Deck. Because the company obviously doesn't have enough photos to go around. (But I've also addressed the repetition with Topps and Bowman, too). Speaking of Topps...

I haven't gotten around to tracking down candidates for the "best card of 2009" yet, probably because there are so many cards that I like, and also because singling out the worst cards of '09 is so much gosh durn fun. But the card above is a definite "best card" candidate. I have seen this card on the blogs and everyone has something good to say about it. I kept hoping to pull it, and although I haven't pulled the regular version yet, I did get the gold-bordered one today, so I'm quite pleased about that. (Gold has been overdone on cards for years and should be done away with, but the fact that they made this card more difficult to pull, coupled with it being such a nice photo, makes me happy). This card demonstrates, as close as it can, an "at-the-ballpark" moment. You can visualize having really good seats and watching the exchange between Josh Hamilton and David Murphy while taking in the expanse of The Ballpark at Arlington (I think i...

About a week-and-a-half ago, I featured a card package received from Lake Effect Cards. It was filled with Dodger goodies. Before I even wrote the post, Greg emailed me and told me another package would be coming. This one would be even more tailored to my want lists. And it certainly was. Thanks to Greg, I can ignore a few sets forever. I like that. I'll grab the giant magic marker hanging over the fireplace that I have for such occasions and draw a huge line through four pesky sets. The first one is the Dodger team set from 1992 Stadium Club. Mike Scioscia , Dave Hansen and Lenny Harris were the last three I needed, and I don't need none of them no more. Here is another set that I don't have to waste brainpower on anymore: 1983 Topps . Now, you may have read how I completed this set already . But there were a few cards from the set in desperate need of upgrading. These three were the last of the woefully creased. And as much as Jack Clark cards deserve to ...

I did my darndest to prevent myself from receiving free Clayton Kershaw cards. But in the end, Mario of Wax Heaven could not be stopped. He was going to get those Kershaws to me no matter how many obstacles I put in his way. So, despite forgetting to send postage the first time, it wasn't held against me. This week, Mario sent five wonderful Kershaw cards to me from 2009 sets. The first is the Upper Deck SPx base card from this year. SPx is definitely not for me. X, in all its Upper Deck forms, has got to go. I don't even like the X Games. And I don't like weird position designations going down the left-hand side of my card. But it's Kershaw . It's a Dodger. So it must be mine. Here is the Upper Deck base Kershaw for the year. A nice use of the horizontal photo. I'm still not crazy about the gold bar, but it doesn't bother me as much as when I first saw the cards. Kershaw on the 2009 Bowman. The black border is OK with me. I know it chips and all ...

I know everyone has seen Topps Series 2 by now. But have you seen it out of one of those cereal boxes? I haven't. On the blogs anyway. I found these standing up like toy soldiers at Target today. I naturally picked the Jackie Robinson box. I have no idea who is on the other boxes, because all I saw was Jackie and my mind was made up. Everything about the cereal boxes is the same as Series I. A total of 55 cards, plus one legends chrome refractor . One Turkey Red, one Legends of the Game, one Toppstown . All for $9.99. Off we go: 1. #573- Adam Wainwright, Cardinals 2. #490 - Joba Chamberlain, Yankees 3. #439 - Ryan Spilborghs , Rockies. (Do you think the dude on the cell phone is telling the person on the other end, "Hey, check me out in Series 2?") 4. #397 - Carlos Ruiz, Phillies 5. #353 - Derek Jeter , Yankees (You've all seen it. The guy doesn't need any more face time). 6. #527 - Jason Isringhausen , Cardinals 7. #629 - Lyle Overbay , Blue Jays 8. #...