Night Owl Cards

I'm changing my wallet card. I'm assuming I am now disqualified from the wallet card competition, but that doesn't matter to me. When I chose my wallet card, I didn't have much of an interest in featuring it in various locations. Not only can I not compete with Mardi Gras or New York City, but everyone around here has been hibernating for three months. Repeated pictures of cards in front of snowbanks gets pretty monotonous. No, my wallet card was being used to conduct an experiment in how badly a card could deteriorate in a 12 month period. And I chose a Chrome card because Chrome prides itself on being immaculate and beautiful, and I wanted to see one that wasn't those things. Well, I found out that the above image is about as ugly as Chrome gets. It wasn't terribly bright of me not to draw the conclusion that all of the cards that are meant to be in a wallet - driver's license, credit cards, insurance cards, etc., are glossy and laminated for a ...

I don't plan to do an update of my Wallet Card every week, as I know I won't have the time to document that frequently, or want to do it every week. I'm sure people don't want to read it every week. But this was the first week for Wallet Card and everything's exciting and new, so let's take a look at the first week of 2010 Topps Chrome Clayton Kershaw's erosion. I must say this was a wild week for Wallet Card. The weather was freakish. Twenty inches of snow on Tuesday night. Temperatures at minus 25 on Wednesday night. More snow on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Wallet Card learned that just because there's snow or you can't see when you're driving, it's not an excuse to stay inside around here. We're strong and hearty people in exotic northern New York, and Wallet Card is going to have be the same way. On the first day of Chrome Kershaw's stay in my wallet, I took him on my regular walk. I try to go for a walk at least 4 or ...

That's my wallet. Fascinating, huh? It's a good thing we're not blogging about wallets. Our audience would be crickets. And speaking of insects, there really are moths floating around the above wallet. You just can't see them because I'm the one who doesn't have any money. The moths are meant for only me. The wallet is here because I am participating in Wallet Card. This is the new game announced at Baseball Card Breakdown in which you select a specific card, carry it around in your wallet for a whole year, take pictures of the card periodically and post them on your blog. I understand there might be prizes, too, but I'm not in it for the prizes. I just want to do some damage to a card with my ass. This is a variation of the experiment conducted last year by Mark of the Mark's Not Gonna Ephemera Anymore blog. Only he put rubber bands around a stack of cards and carried them around in a shirt pocket for a summer. I thought that was a good ...

(Welcome to the finale of "The Most Defective Sets I Know." Speaking of defects, I was so concerned that Blogger wouldn't advance-publish my posts that I didn't pay attention to the fact that I scheduled two posts to publish within 15 minutes of each other. Tsk, tsk. We stupid humans. And now, here's the No. 1 defect presenting the No. 1 defective set he knows). 1. TMDSIK: 2010 TOPPS CHROME There is only one set in this whole wide world, in this whole history of cards, that actually makes me angry. Yup. It's 2010 Topps Chrome. Good god, this set pisses me off. As you might know, I am not one of those collectors who doesn't see the point of chrome sets. I love chrome sets for what they are, beautiful, unnecessary cardboard baubles of inconsequence. Chrome cards' purpose is to be shiny and beautiful. To sit there and look pretty. That's all. That's all they have to be, because when I look at them, like a pretty girl or an awesome s...

Wednesday was a real bummer of a day. First, there was the horrific news of the Russian hockey team plane crash that has devastated anyone and everyone connected to the NHL. Secondly, there is the almost catastrophic flooding and evacuations going on in many of the areas that I called home when I was growing up. Fortunately, my folks are on high ground. I called them to make sure it was high enough. Finally, just because things were going OK for me , someone decided I would drive over something metallic and sharp in the road on my way to work, and now I get to spend undetermined hours in a tire shop tomorrow. So, I'm looking for something brief and pleasant to take me away. There aren't any new '75 minis around right now, so I turned to Clayton Kershaw, the happiest part of the major league season for me. I recently picked up four cards of Kershaw. Why four? Well, it's all I could afford. But also because it got me to the magic 150-card mark. I now have 150 ...

It's been awhile since I received a Clayton Kershaw card in a trade. I did receive a couple from Project '62 recently that broke a prolonged slump. And I'll post them ... eventually. But other than those two, it's been quiet. On top of that, I've noticed Kershaw's cards going up in price in the online shops. Nothing drastic. But apparently people are finally getting wise to the idea that he's something special. It only took them four years. So, with everyone marching behind the Minotaur, I decided to do a little something and grabbed some Kershaw cards myself. Collectors collect, right? They can't wait by the mailbox all the time. I didn't get anything flashy. I don't have the cash. So that means no autographs, no relics and definitely no patch cards (some of which are gawdawful). But it does mean: COLORED PARALLELS!!!!!!!! My favorite parallel of all-time! Zowie! I love the colored parallel. I hope it stays around forever. First,...

If you're a home owner, then you might know the joy of water in the basement all too well. I am currently dealing with this delightful diversion and have had little time for blog following or writing. But I want to get this post out before the house starts floating down the street. Ron Cey's 63rd birthday was last Tuesday. Since he is my most favorite player of all-time, I had ordered this little beauty to post on the occasion of his special day. Unfortunately, the mail has been exceedingly slow the last few weeks (snow must be kicking the mail carrier's butt), and packages aren't arriving in the mail box at the usual pace. So, the card -- a 2004 Topps Clubhouse Relic -- didn't arrive in time to post on his birthday. But I still want to show it because it's not often that I can find a Cey card that I don't have. Plus, it's a snazzy-if-mysterious item. The background kind of reminds me of those Soundgarden videos from the early '90s. I don...

Two packages arrived in my mailbox on Christmas Eve. Amid the advertisements and bills and general unpleasantness, were two of the best gifts I could have gotten at that particular moment. After racing out to perform a last-minute shopping task, I opened both packages when I returned. There was one card that came out of each package. Here they are side-by-side: Heh. Guess I didn't need to enter that cheapo chrome group break, did I? Oh, well. Even though the Robinson refractor was the reason I entered dayf's break and even though no other Dodgers emerged from it, I still forked over the 6 bucks (package shipped today). That's because dayf took pity on my pathetic card existence and added a few other Dodgers. You're gonna see them, as well as the cards that the other Robinson sender, Joe M., sent to me. Because they are super nifty, and the word "nifty" doesn't get used nearly enough anymore. Presenting the niftiness: Those are ...