Night Owl Cards

(Hello on World Penguin Day. This is the perfect excuse to post a Ron Cey card. But I'm not gonna do that. Because I gotta be me. It's time for Cardboard Appreciation. This is the 255th in a series): All of the Eric Thames autographed cards are gone. Or they're priced way out of your range. All of the parallels from 2011 and 2012, too. Eric Thames is HOT! right now. All of the ebay listings say so. Brewers Power Hitter! Red Hot! On Fire! MVP?? Rare! All of the exclamation points! And question marks, and asterisks, and dollar signs!!!!!!! You can buy 30 of the same Eric Thames card for 65 dollars (but why would you?). After Thames hit two more home runs last night to extend his major league lead to 10, I got caught up in the hype -- in my usual reserved way. I decided to see if I had any Eric Thames cards. I did. This 2011 minor league card of Thames, as a Toronto Blue Jays prospect, is the notable one. Many people are discovering that the Brewers' Tha...

A good Labor Day to you all. This is the first Labor Day that I have had off in more than 20 years. Don't look at me that way. It's called Labor Day. You're supposed to labor , right? At least that's what my boss always told me. I'm not going to try to tie my post in with the holiday. I had something all planned and then I got sidetracked looking up hard rock bands from the early '80s. Anyone remember Zebra? They were a tremendous band from the early MTV days. Tell Me What You Want. Who's Behind the Door. Bears. Awesome. Let's spend a few moments remembering the days when people knew how to rock and then a brief second of mourning over what music has become today. ... ... OK. Somewhat along those lines, I thought I'd examine my childhood preferences again. It's what I do best. As you know, as a kid, I preferred the hairy ballplayers. They were everywhere in the 1970s. Long hair, mustaches and beards in abundance. Frank Tanana. Dock Elli...

Topps has this product called Pro Debut. Perhaps you've heard about it. This is the second year it's been issued. It's yet another attempt to get us collectors addicted to the "who's next" aspect of collecting that has maintained a death grip on this hobby for the last 20-plus years. I know it's technically a "minor league set." But I'm not buying that when the only place you can find it is in a hobby shop where mojo hunters outnumber collectors like me by at least 3:1. At least at the hobby shop that I know. I don't ever envision a time when I would walk into my hobby shop and order up a few packs of Pro Debut. I might as well walk into the fanciest restaurant I know and demand some Pabst Blue Ribbon. Fortunately, I will never need to do that, because Kris of Cards in the Attic sends me my own version of Pro Debut each year. Usually it's just the set of Triple A Dodgers. He provided that again this year. But he also sent me...