Night Owl Cards

  I didn't realize when I started this blog, how interesting things would get.   From my posts being shared on major media outlets, to baseball scouts scolding me in the comments, to folks sending cards I'd never hope to own just because, to landing a national magazine gig, to people refusing to read my blog and announcing why, to former major leaguers commenting on the blog, it's been a wild adventure that I never expected when I first started typing: "Welcome! This is the first official post ..."   The same goes for collecting modern baseball cards, which I jumped into with greater enthusiasm the same year I started a blog. I had no idea what was waiting for me.   2008 was a year I thought I could still complete large sets like I did when I was a youngster. There were more of them in '08, of course, but, heck, I could do that, too. I'm older, have more money, have more resources, I'll do it.   There were four in particular that I liked that year: All...

I'm considered a rational, level-headed sort both here and in everyday life. That's good to know, because there are many times when I don't feel rational or level-headed. In fact, I've been known to "go off" periodically. If I see something I don't like or something gets me frustrated, I won't hold back. While that's probably healthy, it can cause trouble, and it did a couple of days ago. I was reading a post late at night from Cardboard Junkie in which he spelled out his mission statement on collecting Heritage. I enjoyed the posts and could relate to them because I have a love-hate thing going on with Heritage. But when I read the first post, I began to feel aggravation with Heritage and Topps and what they had done to this poor set-collector who loved the brand so much but couldn't collect it in the traditional way because of the stupid tinkering that Topps does with the set. Although his post wasn't bashing Heritage for this, it...

I seem to have this habit of periodically annoying dayf at Cardboard Junkie. I don't mean to do it, but before you know it, I've said something, and there, I've done it. He starts insulting one of my favorite sets, and I say one of his favorite sets can burn for all eternity, and it's ... well, it's weird. Because except for the Braves, and the ponies, and the fact that I swear sometimes his blog is in a foreign language, I am quite interested in what he puts out there. I don't want to set him off, what if he leaves forever for Twitter? That would be terrible. But then I go and do something, like, well, like this ... A little while I go, I landed some Yankee cards that could only be found as a special promotion that went along with a new book release. I thought those four cards might be able to get me something nice that I wanted, and I told people to make me an offer. I got two offers. Two. Apparently, Yankees collectors aren't as rabid as I...

I go to a card show about three times a year that is billed as the biggest card show in the state. I don't know if that's true, but the show has plenty of cards for my taste. I can find almost everything that I'm looking for -- vintage, current cards, oddballs, junk wax, mojogenic hits, you name it. Of course, I'm far from the pickiest collector, so that show will always have something I want. But there is one thing that I have never seen at this show: 1975 Topps minis. I'm sure there are plenty of other types of cards that never show up at this show, too. But I'm not looking for those cards. I am looking for '75 minis. And I always come up empty. I suppose if I actually inquired about whether anyone has any, I might ended up looking at some. But I always get distracted by something from '71 or '56 or something shiny. So imagine my surprise when I received three separate packages in the mail in the last two or three weeks, each of which conta...

I received this card in the mail on Monday. It came from hiflew who runs Cards From the Quarry . It's the 349th card that I have obtained in the 350-card 2011 Allen & Ginter set. Ever since I declared my frustration with the set, that I have had a more difficult time completing the set than in past years and that I didn't know whether I would try to complete it for a fifth straight year when 2012 A&G came out, I have received what can only be described as an outpouring of assistance in helping me finish off the 2011 set. Most of the credit can go to Brian at Play at the Plate . In one quickly sent package, he knocked off 17 of my needs from the set. There's the first group of them. I have a new scanner and there are infinite things that I don't know about it, including how to get nine cards on a scanner bed. So you're going to have to live with things like borders being cut off. There's the other group. Whoops ... that card on the b...