Night Owl Cards

I just got back from a quick jaunt to my folks' house to continue with the never-ending clearing out process. What a project. When I returned and walked through the door this afternoon, the mail from the last two days was sitting on the computer desk. It contained two pieces of junk mail and five -- five! -- envelopes containing cards. Five! For a moment I was transported to 2010 when that kind of card bounty was a semi-regular occurrence. To what did I owe the cardboard pleasure? Back in those days, I was so buried in cards from others that sometimes I had to feature more than one card package in the same post. I haven't done that for a long time. But I'm doing it here now. Because my brain is a bit fried from a long drive. This will be quick though. I'm showing only three of them and two of the envelopes contained just one card and the other contained two. Each, however, is quite interesting in its own right. OK: The first card arrived from Peter...

A couple of years ago, I wrote a post titled "Let's Complete a Team Set Today" . It was a happy little tale about how I completed the 1996 Fleer Team Wax Dodgers set, as confusing as Fleer made it that year. But that was mere peanuts compared with what we're going to do today. I have a list on my sidebar called "The Nebulous 9". I like to put the final card needed from a particular team set on that Nebulous 9 list, because there is nothing more satisfying than completing a set. You may have noticed that the list is now down to three cards. That's because I won a contest at Bob Walk The Plank and he decided to wipe out my needs on the Nebulous 9. Because of his decision, he completed six team sets for me. SIX. Let's take a look at them now: 2015 Topps Archives Dodgers . Completed. Technically, there's still that stupid short print Jackie Robinson card. But I'm not paying $25-$50 (that's what it's going for these da...

After so many years of writing this blog, I think people have a pretty good idea of what I'm interested in when it comes to cardboard. But what do I like right now? What am I obsessed with right now? What's in my head right now? (OK, that last question may get a scary answer). For that, you'd have to take a look at my latest COMC order. Plenty of people send me cards that I like. But only a COMC blog post guarantees that you'll see cards that I really, really, really like at this exact moment in time. Isn't that exciting? Well, it is to me. These are cards that I received with some remaining Christmas money, because I always get cards for Christmas whether someone buys them for me or not. Let's see what was in my head at the exact moment I pressed SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIP!!!!!!!!!!!!! Grabbing pesky inserts from sets that bug me. That means you, Archives. I still need regular old base Dodgers from 2015 Archives, as well as that stupid SP base ca...

That is a statement that you would have never heard me say 10 years ago or even five years ago. I mean, come on! Yesterday's designs are fantastic! They're waaaaaaaaay better than today's designs! But that's how much of a hot mess Topps Archives is. It's changed my entire card view. I was at the local Target yesterday, scrambling for a Father's Day gift (I hope others in my family are doing the same), and I turned up both Archives and Topps Series 2 rack packs on the shelves (there were loosies of Series 2, too). This was an excellent opportunity to see which package I would enjoy more, given that I had seen neither except on the blogs. Of course, I knew full well which one I would like better. You don't pick up a thin pack of Archives -- 18 cards for $4.99 -- and a fat pack of Series 2 -- 36 cards for $5.99 -- and not feel the resentment growing already. Before opening the Archives pack, I checked out the odds: The "Base Card Short Pr...