Night Owl Cards

  You guys probably know Jay, from the blog Card Hemorrhage . A couple of weeks ago I received an email from him informing me that he was getting out. He said the hobby hadn't stuck for him and he was looking for advice on the best way to sell off his collection. He sent along a list of his inventory, and I did my best to give him a plan of attack. But before he started selling his cards to complete strangers, I swung a deal for one item on his list. I'm now the owner of a complete, and pristine, 1981 Kellogg's 3-D set. This set gives me a run of complete Kellogg's sets from 1976 through 1982 and it's the second one I've "completed" this year (I don't know if buying a whole set in one shot can technically be considered "completing"). It's fired me up enough that I've started looking around again -- a little bit -- at pre-1976 Kellogg's cards. But I don't expect to do a lot there for quite awhile. The '81 Kellogg's ...

  I fully subscribe to the idea that a collector is a "true" collector no matter what they collect. They can collect only Jasson Dominguez cards, they can be working on the final high numbers to finish their 1952 set, they both fall under the same heading for me. But if I'm trading with you, it's another matter. I will have much more success finding cards to send if you have a variety of card interests than if you collect only "Maddux, Griffey, Gwynn." Collecting just three players may keep peace at home but it's not helping me. No, I need a well-rounded collector for a successful trade.   What's a "well-rounded collector"? Someone who likes a lot of card stuff. I suppose that could mean all hoarders are "well-rounded collectors," but you can be a hoarder and collect only Frank Thomas cards, too. No, for me, a well-rounded collector is someone with a lot of interests. I recently received cards from someone who I think of as a well...

  As an adult with a home, bills, family and job, there is nothing quite like the feeling of no commitments.   I'm never totally free of every commitment. There's always a bill or some hovering work thing, but I happen to be in a period in life in which a couple of problems that I have fretted over since adulthood began are no longer an issue. That's a tremendous feeling. It's like a Saturday afternoon in the summer with no responsibilities and the sun shining away.   But I'm a responsible person, who feels responsible, so there is always something I Must Do, even in the hobby.   Usually that hobby commitment is sending return envelopes to those who have sent me cards. I don't get in a yank about that as much as I once did. You should have seen me in 2008: "What? He's sending me cards for nothing? Oh the guilt . MUST RECIPROCATE. MUST RECIPROCATE."   I don't do that anymore. But I do like to be nice and respond when I get a card from someone. S...

(Spring Training games are on my TV! Spring Training games are on my TV! It's time for Cardboard Appreciation. This is the 299th in a series): I obtained this card from Jay at Cardboard Hemorrhage in one of his giveaways recently. The 1994 UD Heroes set is one of the better retro sets from the 1990s, and I'm casually collecting it -- so casually that you may never see a want list. Haddix is a popular figure among non-Hall of Famers because of his Hall of Fame feat. He tossed 12 innings of perfection only to finish with a loss when the perfect game, no-hitter and shutout ended in the 13th during a game against the Milwaukee Braves in 1959. For decades afterward, Haddix joined all of the other no-hit artists even though he never experienced the joy of the vast majority of no-hit hurlers, completing the game with the no-hitter intact and winning the game. MLB placed his achievement on the list of official no-hitters. Then, in 1991, baseball changed the qualifications for what is ...

  I'm afraid some collectors have forgotten the symbiotic relationship that has long been a part of the card collecting world.   While flippers and sellers operate in card collecting purely to get what's "theirs," the card blogging world is still an example of the mutualism that has allowed the hobby to thrive for more than 100 years.   Trading is a well-known card collecting standby, even "civilians" can identify it. The opportunity to gain what you want while also giving someone else what they want is one of the beautiful parts of this hobby.   I especially like it when a trade benefits someone who isn't even aware of the trade.   Take a recent envelope received from The Diamond King .     Three of the four cards benefited my collection. The fourth card is already on its way to another collector to benefit his collection. He doesn't even know it's arriving. That's mutualism at its finest.       Here is a card that I received from Jay a...

  I don't expect many people to be reading blogs today. There are four baseball games taking place between 2 in the afternoon and approximately midnight.   Am I watching them? Of course not, I'm running the usual slave gauntlet of chores, errands and job responsibilities. Fake playoff set-ups involving fake playoff teams (the Padres and Marlins? Come on) are no match for standing in line at the post office only to leave that line because it's not moving at all and the lady at the front is apparently sending something so classified that the postal employee behind the counter has to quiz her about her eye and hair color among other things I AM NEVER ASKED AT THE POST OFFICE. But those of you consuming ball do need something to stare at during the commercials. How many times can you listen to some business re-remind you about "uncertain times"? I've got your back with some baseball card images. Recently, Nick of Dime Boxes and Jay of Card Hemorrhage (I just le...