Night Owl Cards

  It's time for another birthday post.   It's a milestone one this time. The kind that you don't even want to say out loud because it can't possibly be right and if someone hears you, they're going to throw a blanket over you and haul you off to the elderly farm.   I shall distract myself with dinner out, gifts, cake, ice cream and this post.   I have posted almost every birthday since starting this blog and have tried to tie the occasion to cards or baseball. But I'm all out of stuff. In fact, I thought about not posting this time. But I can at least update a couple of past birthday posts with more information.   For instance, three years ago I posted about active players in the majors who share my birthday , focusing on a then-new discovery, Jarred Kelenic.   Kelenic is still going, on a new team since last time, and still over a year younger than my daughter.😬     I also happen to have recent cards of three other active players who are ce...

 (Hey, we got some snow! Last night wasn't the first of the season but it was the first of any significance. It's probably around 7-8 inches of fluffiness, which usually gets a shoulder-shrug around here. I guess it's officially winter on Jan. 7. But, let's return to summer stuff. It's time for Cardboard Appreciation. This is the 331st in a series): I may not be much for making goals at New Year's time, but I like to recognize milestones at this time of year. This 1952 Bowman Billy Loes card marks a pair of notables. It is both the last card I purchased in 2023 and the first card to arrive in my collection in 2024. I could certainly pick worse cards for each honor. This is one of the high numbers in the set. I have no knowledge of how difficult it is to grab '52 Bowman high numbers, there are just two Dodgers in the high numbers (cards 217-and-above) and I've got both now. The giant price guide in my possession indicates that HNs are worth double regular...

As you know, I live in a city that is considered by many of its inhabitants as an outpost bereft of the diversions that many city dwellers take for granted. It's kind of ironic because the county in which I live is the fastest growing county in the state and has been for several years. While every other county in New York state is dying, mine just keeps on expanding. Yet, everyone complains that you can't find anything here. Although I'm quite satisfied with where I live, I do agree with my neighbors in one area and that is when it comes to buying cards. I've said it over and over, but there is no acceptable card shop, new product is often delayed at least a week in comparison to other areas, and card shows require clearing of the calendar and a full tank of gas. I definitely do not live in a mystical magical card land. But from my point of view, mystical magical card lands DO exist. I can pinpoint four areas in particular: 1. The Southeast, North Carolin...

I think we can all admit that we've screwed up at a card show. There was the time when we brought home a semi-high-priced need only to realize it was a duplicate. From eureka to shame in a matter of hours. There was the time when we walked out of the building, into our car, up the highway, and 20 minutes later realized we didn't look for the card we specifically set out to find. Facepalms all the way home. Or there was the time when we saw a card we wanted, left it because we wanted to check out another table, and then came back only to find it gone. If the dealer blew on you, he could've knocked you over. I know all these well. But the one blunder that I always remember and probably will never forget is one I've mentioned in passing on a few blog posts over the years. It was my opportunity to get that 1954 Bowman Billy Loes card that you see there (well, not THAT exact card -- it's in far too nice a shape for my budget). Isn't it beautiful? That ...

(We are creeping up on the chance to enter another card into the Cardboard Appreciation Hall of Fame. It's been awhile, eh? Five or six more C.A.'s and I will begin another vote-off tournament to decide the third inductee into the Hall. But until then, it's regular, old Cardboard Appreciation. This is the 179th in a series): I received this card in yet another Twitter Trade the other day. It is a glorious 1953 Topps card of Billy Loes, that appears to have been gnawed all the way around by a ravenous hamster. The edges don't bother me in the least because it's a '53 Topps, it's a Boy of Summer, and it's one of the more unusual 1953 cards if you ask me. It's unusual because the vast majority of the painted pictures in the '53 set are your average head-and-shoulders shots. In fact, 260 of the 274 cards in the set feature heads, shoulders and not much else. How do I know that? Well, I did my research , silly. There are exactly 14 card...

As you know, I have been somewhat obsessed with determining the oldest night card ever made. I have a feeling that someone is going to spring some wacky tobaccy night card from 1904 on me that I have no chance of getting. But while I'm still having fun with this, I'll press on. The above card arrived in the mail today. It's a 1953 Bowman Color card of the St. Louis Browns' Don Lenhardt. The much-traveled Lenhardt was an outfielder and corner infielder for the Browns, Orioles, Red Sox and Tigers between 1950-54. This card is from his second tour with the Brownies, and he just may have the honor of being on the oldest night card ever made ... for now. I'm not 100 percent sure that it's a full-fledged night card. It could be dusk, and I'm usually hesitant to add "dusk cards" to my collection. But that blazing bank of lights in the upper left automatically makes me place it under the "night card" category without reservation. So ther...

I am conflicted about death. Oh, don't get me wrong. I think it's generally a negative. I'm not inviting it over to the house for crackers and tea or taking a bus tour to funeral homes. It's just that when death happens in baseball, opportunity follows. Last month, Billy Loes died. He's a former Brooklyn Dodger, who pitched during the team's 1950s heyday. I had read about him in several books over the years, but just about everything I had learned had evaporated from my memory. The only thing that remained was that he was a Dodger, he pitched in the '50s, and he was kind of goofy. But upon Loes' death, I had the chance to rediscover him. And what I found out was that Loes wasn't necessarily goofy. He was honest. Loes said what was on his mind, and I always appreciate that. When Loes was asked about being a 20-game winner, he said he didn't want to be one: "because then I'd be expected to do it every year." That quote...