Night Owl Cards

Several of the Rite Aid chain drug stores in the area are closing, including the two right in town. Walgreens bought Rite Aid a few months ago and it was only a matter of time before the local Rite Aids would be shutting down. This is not good news. I grew up buying baseball cards at the drug store. Some of the major card-buying moments and acquisitions from the first 20 years of my collecting career came from drug stores. I can see the insides of those various stores right now, where the card boxes were positioned, everything. When it comes to traditional card purchasing, you will never be able to convince me that big-box stores are the better way to go. So, Rite Aid has carried that nostalgia for me, even though they haven't been an impressive source for cards over the years. A number of years ago, I snagged from Rite Aid some Chrome cards . That may have been the highlight. Much more recently, Rite Aid's been OK for repacks. Upon hearing the news of Rite Aid's c...

I recently picked up this card, which was very key because I believe I now have at least one card of every major league baseball player that I have interviewed. And I wasn't going to do one of these BWG posts if I didn't have the player's card. A lot of people probably haven't heard of or don't remember Alan Benes. He's the younger brother of Andy Benes, the former Padres pitcher, who is featured in the large mug shot on the card. Both Alan and Andy pitched together with the Cardinals in the late 1990s, and that's when I talked to Alan, up in Montreal. Alan was well-spoken, as a lot of pitchers are, and was happy to sit down at his locker and talk to me. But what I want to write about here, concerning Alan, is a brief comment on "prospecting." I am not a prospector at all. I've said that before. I have no interest in "who might be a star." And I've already mentioned how much I despise "speculation." I believe it may be ...