Night Owl Cards

  I've been sitting on a COMC order for two weeks now. With the card show and the postseason and regular life stuff, just haven't been able to do my usual speedy posting. I ordered some cards off COMC on Sept. 14 and they showed up at my house on Sept. 30. Sixteen days! Then, I realized that I still had some cash left over on the COMC, so let's finish that out. I ordered on Sept. 21 and they appeared Oct. 1. Ten days! With that kind of return, if I had a little less self-control, I'd be ordering off there every week! Quite the turnaround from COMC's delivery habits three or four years ago. But I mentioned that in my first COMC order this year. Unlike the first order, this one was not all Dodgers and OPC. It is a little more varied, though you'll see both of those in this one, too. Also, I'll break it up nicely into little categories, for people with no reading patience (that's like everyone).   RANDOM DODGERS   A staple of every night owl order. No expl...

(We are in the midst of home renovations right now. I've been living without a TV for the last few days and finding -- as I suspected -- that I don't need it, which brings me to tonight's Cardboard Appreciation. This is the 229th in a series): The last few nights after coming home from work, I've been watching the 1974 All-Star Game on youtube. As you might suspect, if you are my age, it was fascinating. I switched it on because I wanted to see the players that I've known from the 1975 Topps All-Star cards in action, the players I watched as a kid. But I saw so much more than that, from the players I never saw play live -- like Dick Allen and Hank Aaron here -- to so many elements of that time that I've forgotten or never knew. Here is what I took away from that game, won 7-2 by the National League, by the way: Broadcasters were more respectful and never critical about the players on the field. The broadcasting crew for this game was Curt Gowdy, Joe ...

This all-star card did not make the Top 20 countdown. Can you believe it? My favorite player of all-time. The man who just pulled the railing off from behind him and is now using it as a bat is not in the countdown. The 1978 Cey all-star card did not make it either. Who is doing this thing? And what have they done with night owl? I knew this whole countdown wouldn't make sense. But that is no reason to waste blog material. So on we go. With this latest grouping of all-stars, I couldn't help but notice the powers in baseball during this period. The Reds, the Yankees, the Dodgers, the A's, the Red Sox. Those were the teams in charge. And because of that, they all have their fair share of all-star cards between 1975-81. The team tally for this period looks like this: AL - Red Sox-12, Yankees-10, Royals-9, A's-6, Twins-6, Orioles-4, Angels-3, Rangers-3, Tigers-3, Brewers-2, Indians-1, White Sox-1 NL - Reds-21, Dodgers-18, Phillies-10, Pirates-5, Braves-2, C...

I recently overhauled my diet. A major, sweeping change. It was out of necessity. Doctor's orders. Considering that I am healthy in just about every measurement that the general public uses to judge tip-top shape, I'm still dealing with the emotional resentment that comes with this new direction. But I agree, it's for the best. This means, when I go out to a restaurant -- and this has happened already -- I do not order what other people order. I order something that appears "less fun," or "sad," even. But, really, I'm OK with it. I'll have to get used to other people's reactions to what I'm eating (that's OK, sir, just keep pounding down those cheeseburgers). But that won't be much of an issue either. That's because I'm used to being an oddball. I've always had oddball tastes. Not VASTLY oddball -- as today's alternative and extreme lifestyles have demonstrated -- but out of the mainstream just enough. I...