Night Owl Cards

  It's that time of year when I update the numbers on how many Dodgers cards I have for each year since I started the blog. I wrote a post on this last year and it revealed a definite divide among collectors. Some really like charting their collection progress. Some leave it to a simple "complete!" and move on. I like charting. I'd feel lost without it, like I didn't really know my collection. Plus, it's one of the more fun aspects of collecting for me -- seeing your progress in numbers.   But this does take some time to do and I have even less time than ever for whatever reason. How did I post twice a day, send out six trade packages a week, make a card aisle run twice a week, all while raising a rugrat? What happened to me?   Fortunately, there is Trading Card Database. They are the Charting Your Collection guys so I make that work for me.   I was through updating my Dodgers-per-year in a matter of a few minutes using TCDB. Here is my progress from the prev...

If I want to be impressed/disturbed by how old the set is that I'm currently "attempting" to complete, all I have to do is look up the songs that were popular the year the set was released. For 1967 Topps, those songs would be "All You Need Is Love," "Respect," and "Groovin'," among many others. It doesn't take much analysis to know those groups and even many of the singers are long gone. "The Summer Of Love" is more than 50 years ago now, and what the heck am I doing trying to complete a set that old? Still "Groovin'" fits with how I'm attempting to collect the set. I don't want to think about the impossible high numbers -- as impossible as high numbers get -- right now. I just want to relax and enjoy the '67 Topps cards that are coming to me. Oh, 1967 Topps: life would be ecstasy, you and me endlessly, groovin'. Surprisingly, people have been sending me '67 Topps recently, and one...

Quick now, name this set. Those of you who grew up during a certain period probably know it right away. I know I would if someone showed this to me. The multi-colored curved borders, the tell-tale yellow near the bottom. ... ... ... Of course, it's 1981 Fleer. You didn't even need to see the giant baseball in the corner to get that one. OK, now, what set is this? Again, some of you who grew up during a certain time know it. But I also know that a large number of you have no idea. ... ... ... It's a stack of 2003 Topps Finest. The shiny, bright colors. The honeycomb design behind every player. 1981 Fleer and 2003 Finest couldn't be more different. One set is 660 cards. It's no-gloss, built on heavy card stock, with a simple design and lots of yellow. The back contains full year-to-year stats but no write-up, and, for crying out loud, a gray border. The other set is a mere 110 cards. It's all about gloss, both front an...

I've mentioned before that sometimes when I receive trade packages featuring Dodgers, I'll get a random card or two of another team that often gets confused with the Dodgers. Often times it's the Royals, since their uniforms look similar to the Dodgers. Less often it's a Blue Jay or a Met, two other teams that feature blue. Within the last week, it's been something different. And I totally blame Upper Deck. Or, maybe Topps. Or maybe Major League Baseball. One of them. Let me illustrate, in my usual roundabout, backward way: BA Benny and his Big Buffet of Cards scooped a few cards off the buffet table, slapped them together with some macaroni salad, and mailed them off. ... OK, there was no macaroni salad. I'm just hungry. Anyway: An emerald/kelly/neon green parallel of Big Brad. One of my last '88 Score needs, only because Young is already in my Dodger binder. Three of the finest from one of the finest years of Finest. 2003 Finest (and 200...