Night Owl Cards

I was sorting through some cards yesterday while not torturing myself by watching the Patriots-Jaguars game, when it suddenly occurred to me that there were no manager cards in 2017 Topps Heritage. I'm not sure why it took me almost an entire year to notice this. I don't recall reading mention of it (OK, here's a reference to it from almost a year ago), but it's definitely worth noting because Heritage's "thing," if you will, is representing that year's chosen past set as faithfully as it can. Last year's set to mimic was 1968 Topps and 1968 most definitely contained manager cards. There you go. So what gives? Why did manager cards suddenly disappear? Up until last year Topps had no problem featuring managers in Heritage. The 1960s are the golden decade for manager cards and Heritage had stayed true to that decade each and every year: 2009 Heritage -- 1960 Topps 2010 Heritage -- 1961 Topps 2011 Heritage -- 1962 Top...

I don't know why I just wrote that. I'm not telling you to do that. I think that when I'm done writing this someone will think that I am implying that. But I'm not. Talking to humans is good. Getting fresh air is good. Getting lost in traffic is good. Spending too much for parking is good. Standing next to sweaty, unshaven people named Frank is good. ... Oh, gosh, there I go implying. So, anyway, The National has come and gone again and I didn't go anywhere again. But I do have new cards. How do I do that? I stay inside and don't interact with people, silly. OK, seriously, I get new cards every year at the same time people are journeying to The National because my birthday happens to be a couple of weeks before The National. People give me cash for my birthday, I order cards for my birthday, I wait for the cards to arrive, and they usually show up right after The National wraps up. It's very convenient. And when I think about hotel room costs an...

I received two packs of 2017 Heritage from my daughter for Father's Day. I kind of dropped a hint that we don't need no stinkin' flagship in the house no more and she wisely selected Heritage. The packs were underwhelming. Let's face it, Heritage isn't going to be interesting again until 2020. If I was collecting the set though, they would have been pretty good packs. I pulled just four doubles. But what I noticed the most from these two packs is how many players are no longer with the teams shown. Out of the 18 cards in the two packs, eight players aren't playing for the team Heritage said they were playing for three months ago. It's a tricky situation selecting teams for players, and I get the feeling it's getting trickier all the time. Somebody needs to measure the rate of transactions over the years and see exactly how much it's increased. Here are the players out of those packs that aren't playing for the team shown: Jhonny...

I finally used that Target coupon for $3 off on a Heritage blaster Sunday. I had no intention of buying cards that day. But I went to the funeral home to say goodbye to my work friend, the fellow Dodgers fan. While I was there, I was talking to one of his granddaughters and mentioned how we were both Dodger fans and held many discussions about the team. She nodded in recognition and then brought up her grandfather's fondness for baseball cards. I had totally forgotten about that. Back when I wasn't collecting cards, my friend mentioned he had some old Dodger cards he was looking to sell. These were good cards, Dodgers from the '50s, '60s, etc., and probably would've cost a tidy sum. But I didn't have any interest in cards then and said he should find someone else. The dumb things we do, eh? But thanks to his granddaughter's mention, I found new appreciation in my friend's collection and enthusiasm for cards. What I wouldn't have done now to ...