Night Owl Cards

  Most of the time when I show new Dodger card arrivals it's related to cards a fellow collector/trader sent or it's a larger order from sportlots or COMC or another online site.   Rarely do I show single card purchases unless I can turn it into a post. I guess I'm doing that now, but this 2026 Sports Illustrated For Kids Yoshinobu Yamamoto card could be any Dodger card to get this quick post started. (Yes, another quick post, I swear someone made the days only 22 hours now).   This is the first 2026 Dodger in my collection that was not made by Topps. I received it in a unique TCDB trade in which I traded a couple 9-pocket mini pages for it (I hope JR3 has received the pages, I always get nervous when I see no update in the transactions for a few days -- especially since the USPS ate a few random Dodgers I ordered a month ago).   Obviously I don't have a lot of 2026 Dodgers yet but it's a good time to go through another update of how many Dodger cards I have for eac...

  I've been blogging long enough that I know there are certain trade patterns among bloggers. The trade scene isn't as big as it used to be on the blogs, so a lot of this is what I've observed in the past. Some strike up relationships with certain other bloggers with similar tastes. Others just send out cards periodically whenever the mood strikes or there is inventory (I fall in this category). A few others reserve sends for a certain period of time, say once or twice a year, and send cards out en masse to selected folks. When the third event happens, there's usually some clue, either the blogger announces it, or you start to see posts on other blogs about the haul they receive from that certain blogger. During that period, I often hope I'm one of the chosen ones. Sometimes I am, sometimes I'm not.   But most recently, I was selected! Fuji has been shipping out cards to various folks and I finally received some nifty, eclectic cards straight from The Chronicles...

Love is in the air, everywhere I look around Love is in the air, every sight and every sound And I don't know if I'm being foolish Don't know if I'm being wise But it's something that I must believe in And it's there when I look in your eyes Love is in the air, in the whisper of the trees Love is in the air, in the thunder of the seas And I don't know if I'm just dreaming Don't know if I feel safe But it's something that I must believe in And it's there when you call out my name Love is in the air! Love is in the air! Oh, oh, oh, oh Love is in the air, in the rising of the sun Love is in the air, when the day is nearly done And I don't know if you're illusion Don't know if I see truth But you're something that I must believe in And you're there when I reach out for you Love is in the air, everywhere I look around Love is in the air, every sight and every sound And I don't know...

There is one blogger that sort of likes the same things I like when it comes to cards. He's much more of a player-collector and an autograph selector than I am, but we both have the same nose for older, oddball cards. Fuji swooped in and nabbed the 1970s/80s Renata Galasso Glossy Greats just before I was going to say "MINE!" during the recent contest draft on The Collector's card blog. And just before that, he announced that he had completed the 1975-77 Kellogg's 3-D sets in one, fell, swoop, throwing me into a jealous rage (OK, more like a jealous funk). Fuji is now trying to land the 1978, 1979 and 1980 Kellogg's 3-D sets -- three items that I am also targeting -- and I'm sure he will get them all before I do. Fuji landed himself quite a deal at a card show for those 75-77 Kellogg's cards and I'd certainly jump at it if any dealer in my part of the country was that generous, but aside from deals for full sets landing in my lap, I...

Yesterday, Leaf Trading Cards announced the acquisition of the trading card portion of Ace Authentic, which was the sole company producing licensed tennis cards. Leaf said a new product is expected to be out in February or March. I hope this is good news because a major card company (I think Leaf is a major card company, anyway) might be able to give more publicity to the sport in terms of trading cards than has occurred in the past. Mostly what I hope is that a tennis trading card set will be available at a retail outlet somewhere for me to purchase. To me, tennis is the second most interesting sport there is. I know that's hard for the current American sports fan to understand, but back in the late '70s/early '80s, tennis was a rock n' roll sport, the most popular thing going. Bjorn Borg, Johnny Mac, Connors, Chrissy Evert. A legion of recreational sports types were drawn to the tennis courts. In college, I used to play against my uncle. He was a big tenn...