Night Owl Cards

    This 1975 Hostess card of Brewers pitcher Billy Champion cost me 8 bucks -- a little more than 10 with shipping included.   The card contains a small crease in the corner and the pitcher, although featuring one of the all-time names in the sport, was an average performer in the '70s, otherwise known as "a common." But it's a short-print.   The Champion arrived not too long after the card of his former teammate, Robin Yount. The Yount is a short-print and its his rookie card, too, but it cost only a few bucks more than the Champion, likely because it's got a few issues (though nothing that bothers me in the slightest when it comes to Hostess cards).   I've returned to attempting to finish this set after getting frustrated with it last year. I didn't encounter the kind of price bumps I'm seeing with '75 Hostess when I was completing the 1976 and 1977 Hostess sets (1976 completed at the end of 2021 and 1977 in mid-2024). But I've got around 17...

  When I first started chasing down the 350-or-so cards I needed to finish the 1983 Donruss set, I figured it would take me awhile.   I knew it would take longer than when I decided to finally finish the 1982 Donruss set. With that, I just bought a complete set. It cost me something like 50 bucks. Swift and easy. And with these '80s Donruss sets -- even though they include the players that made me want to complete them in the first place -- they're not appealing enough to get into the whole "joy-of-building" scene that we set-collectors are known to love.   But I knew I couldn't buy the full set of '83 Donruss and be done with it ... well, I could, but I'm not paying that price for a 1983 set. The Boggs-Gwynn-Sandberg rookies were holding up the quest, and I simply decided just to build it the regular way. Maybe I'll be done in 2026, I figured.   But almost two decades into this blog, I'm still underestimating its power and the generosity of collec...

    Although I recently lamented the former card bloggers who have disappeared from the virtual card world -- couldn't tell you what they're doing or even if they're alive -- there are still plenty of former bloggers that I see on other social media sites. That's one of the reasons I have not been solely a blogger since the rise of other social media forms.   While blogging is easily my preferred platform for cards, communicating with old blogging friends in more informal ways, whether Twitter or Blue Sky or wherever, is a bit easier, casual-like and a little more fun (sometimes). It's random card thoughts and and conversations in easy bites. Another plus -- trades spring out of nowhere. You start the day with no intention of exchanging cards and 20 minutes later I'm swapping cards.   Recently I sent a few current Tigers cards to ex-blogger/ex-twitterer Boobie Maine , who now is in the card (and music) conversation on Blue Sky. I know too many Tigers fans lately...

  I've mentioned before that work has been even more of a time-suck than previously. It's infringing on blog posting and I don't think I can go to my bosses and say this is the reason why something's got to change, but something's got to change!   The first three days this week I worked more than the usual eight hours (plus a couple hours on Sunday) and I was prepared to do the same Thursday. I had a story interview arranged before I started my shift and I thought, "welp, I just added more hours that I won't get paid for!"   But it didn't turn out that way. Thanks to some general panicking about the weather, every single sports event in our area was canceled last night. So I ended leaving work at 10:45 p.m! That never happens. Usually I'm there until 12-12:30 and on busier nights (like tonight), I'll close up shop around 1:30 a.m.   So I got to leave work early. That's a red-letter day around here! (I don't have much). But I should...

  Maybe it's the start of the year, but I feel the urge to leave the social media scene more and more. I don't consider blogging part of that. It's separate for me. But I deleted Twitter/X two months ago and I think Facebook will be coming next. I know a lot of folks deleted Facebook a long time ago, I get it. I've stayed because of connections to people who mean something to me in my life. But as some of them leave the app themselves, there's less there for me to see and the recent news that the site is about to enter an even wilder scene than it already has isn't encouraging me to stay (I have never relied on Facebook for news, I have a journalism degree for crying out loud).   I never joined Instagram or TikTok, so if/when Facebook leaves, all that will be left is Bluesky . (There's also Discord, but I'm not on that much).   For now, Bluesky is pretty delightful. Part of me expects it to go to pot eventually like it seems every social site does, but I...

This is the kind of post that's best reserved for a much more succinct manner of social media. In fact, that's where I saw this little nugget of information that I never knew before. I never knew it despite collecting the 1974 Topps set and completing it, despite doing so years and years ago, and despite viewing this Tom Walker card a couple dozen times at least. Willie Mays is on the card, too, you guys. You can spot his "24" as he waits his turn in the cage, as a member of the New York Mets there at Shea Stadium. Fantastic. I learned this from none other than the SplitSeason1981 account over on Blue Sky. He's the former mayor of Cooperstown, and a card collector. I traded with him several years ago. He mentioned the neat Mays fact today and I was dumbfounded. It's amazing what you can learn even after 50 years of hoarding trading cards. That's all I have for you today. It's been a hectic week but I'm glad I picked up at least some cardboard know...

  I deactivated my Twitter account today. Just like that, 12 years, more than 4,000 followers, and who knows how many tweets, gone. Of course it's technically not called "Twitter" anymore and that's pretty much the reason I've left. It actually took almost a year-and-a-half to cut the cord. But when the new owner took over in July of last year and the changes to the site immediately took a turn for the worse, I knew I'd eventually leave. I've been on the relatively new social media app Bluesky for the last 10 months. In the past week, it's seen an influx of collectors from the old site and, for now, Bluesky really seems like Twitter back in 2013, although without much of the crankiness that seemed to come with Twitter even in the good old days.   I know a lot of my regular readers aren't on other social media sites like Twitter or Instagram, etc. So maybe not many here can relate. I admire you folks, really. It sounds nice.   But my involvement in ...