Night Owl Cards

  When you have incoming card packages constantly arriving as a blogger, clutter isn't something confined to the stacks of cards, envelopes, notes, those cut-up pages of three pockets and top-loaders and penny sleeves galore, clogging up space on desks and tables and floors. It's also the clutter that you see in your phone gallery and on the desktop of your computer. I often take pictures of arriving cards for future posts and then they sit and stare at me for weeks, I think the little photo icons are actually stamping their unseen feet impatiently, until I finally write about them. I hate being stared at almost as much as I hate to-do clutter. There is also one whale of a box of incoming cards that has no space to land (it's sitting on the floor trying to avoid being kicked right now). So I've got to make way. Here is where I'll start: I received an envelope -- or was it two, don't recall -- from Torren' Up Cards recently. One of the items was an unopened, ...

There used to be a blog, back in the early days of my card blogging, called "Free Andy LaRoche". It was a blog run by a Dodger fan, so I interacted with him regularly and we even traded at least once. His blog disappeared a long time ago, just like so many have. They've been gone so long that many of the current bloggers have never heard of them. "Treasure Never Buried," "Fielder's Choice," "Hey, That's Mine," "First and Goal," "BA Benny's Baseball Card Buffet". These are all card blogs that stopped running at least six, seven, nine years ago. Do you think, I wonder, that the operators of these blogs go around, in whatever life they now live, declaring "I stopped blogging therefore blogging is dead"? Probably not. I hope not. But I've heard it. Many, many times. From past bloggers and current bloggers. In joking fashion. Sometimes in serious fashion. "Blogging is dead." I just...

I watched the Cubs host the Yankees in Wrigley Field on TV on Saturday. As you know, these two franchises are the North Pole and the South Pole of major league baseball. The Yankees have won more championships than anybody in history. Fans expect titles every year and get obnoxious if they aren't produced. The Yankees' perennial success has spawned generation upon generation of entitled brats. Someone who agrees with me: "Over the years, many of their followers have come to watch them with the smugness and arrogance of holders of large blocks of blue-chip stocks. These fans expect no less than perfection. They coolly accept the late-inning rally, the winning homer, as only their due. They are apt to take defeat with ill grace, and they treat their stars as though they were executives hired to protect their interests. During a slump or a losing streak, these capitalists are quick and shrill with their complaints: "They ought to dam well do better than THIS, co...

I don't have much to say about the 1952 Topps card back, so I thought I'd document a few other things going on here at the night owl nest. First, I don't have the cash to hit Target every day of the week, so I haven't been able to track down many of the Dodgers from the sets that are out there right now. I couldn't even tell you if Bowman is sitting on the shelves right now. (Fighting the urge ... and it's gone). Meanwhile, my ability to pull Dodgers from Gypsy Queen has been hideous. Aside from the Sandy Koufax mini, which I greatly appreciated, I've pulled the Campanella and Furcal base cards. Nothing more. So I'm happy to report that Brian of Play at the Plate sent along a few Dodger GQ extras. Oops, I guess I have the Furcal already. Well, here's two more: There's something about the Jackie Robinson that makes it look as if it's not really him. I still have a few more Dodgers to go, along with all the inserts and parallels. T...

The January card show has been a pain in my ass since 2008. Finally able to attend after being MIA the last two years, I was determined to enjoy it even with very little cash. But then something happened ... I scrounged up some more money. I don't know how I did it. I think I have to forgo lunch and haircuts for the next two months. But I managed to go to the card show with more than 20 bucks in my pocket. It still wasn't as much as I usually bring and the card stack was lower than normal. Plus, I got off to a horribly late start. I arrived at the show two hours before shutdown time. And you know what some dealers do one hour before shutdown time. They fold up their tables. I hate that. Dealers who don't fold up their tables one hour before shutdown time get business from me. But that was one of the few things that I noticed because I was too busy rushing around in a near panic trying to cover as much as I could within the limited window. A few key things that did ...