Night Owl Cards

  Merry Dr. Christmas Jones, everyone!   I am writing this post in advance, mostly because I'm not sure if there is going to be any power on Christmas Eve, which is when I traditionally write this. Also, the Bills are on tomorrow afternoon ... um, if there's power.    The storm has hit, it's a whiteout as I write this late Friday afternoon. We're supposed to get like four feet by the end of Monday. That will be the second four-plus-feet storm of the winter already and I'm ready to move out of this stupid place. It only took me 30-plus years.   But let's not diminish the Christmas spirit! I've come here to show cards from others full of Christmas cheer! They sent these cards early enough that they not only showed up in time for Christmas but they arrived before the travel ban and mailmen started being arrested for walking on the streets (this didn't really happen -- I don't think -- I can't even see out my windows).  One person was so on top of th...

The spending moratorium has ended. Cash is flowing again. It's been a while since I had an August like that. It used to be a regular thing -- every August I knew money would be tight -- but the last few years we had somehow avoided it. Then, thanks mostly to pandemic-related bureaucracy, cash-strapped August made its triumphant return. But enough of that! Trading is back. Online card purchasing is resuming. And, most importantly, I've found monies for approaching card shows and post-office trips!   I'll be gathering together a couple of envelopes for sends this weekend. Meanwhile I have received a series of PWEs. Even with my professional writing talents, I have a difficult time devoting one post toward a PWE. So you're going to see a parade of them. Don't worry, it's a short parade, not one of those with 46 school bands, each one stopping in their tracks to play the The Muppet Show Theme.   I'll even put them in pyramid form for you.   First the latest Time...

I had intended to show off the incredible perfect storm of a mail day that came my way Monday and use many words to describe the wonderful, but the combination of Super Bowl prep, the start of the Olympics and the winter storm is kicking my butt. All I have for you is just one card from that haul. But it's a pretty good one. This arrived from Gavin of Baseball Card Breakdown . It was a thank you for being one of the main commenters on his 1991 Musicards Blog , which just celebrated its one-year anniversary.   It was nothing to comment on his blog. I love that set and have completed it. My appreciation for music is apparently a lot more intense than many of the card bloggers because there should be a lot more people commenting on that blog!   Anyway, Gavin announced he would be sending out something special for the top commenters. I expected something musical in nature, perhaps one of those special customs that he does so well.   But when I opened the elaborate packaging i...

  I'm a bit odd, I know that. But everyone is. I think collecting baseball cards is "leaning in" to your oddness. Might as well accept it and have fun.   My oddness exhibits itself in my collection in many ways, although all of these things make perfect sense to me.   One of the weird things I do has to do with the binders in my collection.   I will always be a binders guy. As a set-collector, it just makes sense. Boxes hide your collection. I like to see the cards displayed, as if in a book. You know how much I love periodicals anyway. Binders are an extension of that. To get a full idea of my binder oddness, I'm going to the one that houses my 1970 Topps cards. Weirdness is on glorious display for that year. Here's a page as evidence: Right away, I'm sure you've spotted my habit of double-bagging. I don't think I need to defend this anymore. I've mentioned my reasons for doing this multiple times (saves money and space). It makes sense to me, eve...

(Greetings on National Ice Cream Sandwich Day. Do yourself a favor, and buy a few ice cream sandwiches for the freezer. Better than going to the ice cream stand and getting in a yelling match over face masks -- yes, that really happened where I live. It's time for Cardboard Appreciation. This is the 294th in a series): Gavin of Baseball Card Breakdown knows how to push my buttons. In a bid to drum up a few trades, he offered a couple of custom cards of rock n' roll Hall of Fame legend Joan Jett. Well, he didn't have to ask me twice! Jett's is part of my teenage history. "I Love Rock n' Roll" first hit radio stations when I was a junior in high school and I went right out and bought the album by her and the Blackhearts. A year later, I bought her follow-up album, which wasn't nearly as popular, but no less rocking. Jett is a lifelong baseball fan and has rooted for the Baltimore Orioles her whole life, which makes her an idea candidate for a...

That is my Mike Trout rookie card. Most days it sits under lock-and-key because I just know there are thieves lurking in the bushes so they can steal it from me. Even when I pull it out for blog occasions like this one, I don't like scanning it outside of its top-loader. I'd do it if I had to -- I don't care about it that much -- but all it will take is one trip to ebay to see how much it is selling for and I suddenly feel like hiring armed guards. My goal is to sell this card someday and I probably would have sold it already, but I've held on to it because I wasn't done with the 2011 Topps Update set yet. No, I haven't completed the 2011 Update set -- no plans to do that -- but there was one card from that set that I wanted above any other one and it took ages for me to get it. The Matt Kemp Toppstown card from that set lounged on my Nebulous 9 list longer than any other card that I've placed on there. But if you look over at the Nebulous 9 now, ...

This is what was waiting for me when I came home today after a week away. As mentioned in the last post, I've been out of town visiting my mom in the hospital and dealing with all the things that happen when ALS enters your life. I came back for a break and I hope that means I can possibly send out at least a couple of drastically delayed card packages, but I'm sure I'll be headed out of town again, delaying hobby things further. So that I don't add to the card-sending guilt I already feel, I'm selecting an envelope off the top of the stack that I know is in response to some cards I recently sent. Gavin of Baseball Card Breakdown is one of the lucky ones to get a package from me in the last two months. Here are the cards that fell out of the envelope: Again, there's no time to figure out whether I actually do need these. They don't look familiar, I know that, but I'll make exact determinations later. A couple of Jackie Robinson...