Night Owl Cards

I am seeing 2012 Topps Archives posts everywhere. I suppose, as a lover of everything that features even a hint of vintage cardboard, I should weigh in on the newest card product in, oh, what's it been ... two whole weeks? So, here it comes. My opinion on 2012 Topps Archives. Prepare to be thought-provoked, tickled, angered, bemused, changed in every way. Ready? Here it is: ... ... ... (*sigh*) ... Yeah, really. That's all. I really wanted to be interested in this product when I first heard the news that Archives was coming back. But after seeing it -- on the blogs anyway, who has time to go to a store in the middle of the week? -- I'm not that intrigued. I've come to the conclusion that I'm just not very interested in new cards this year. I still like to buy a pack or two to see what's out there. But I'm not like I was four years ago. The chances of me attempting to complete a set of new product has declined immensely in the last c...

I've been a little out of it the last few days. I'm one of those folks who has to transport the family hours away in order to celebrate Thanksgiving. So blog following has been a tedious and sporadic exercise recently. Posting has been reduced to what was available in the draft folder. Fortunately, I didn't miss much. NBA closes in on a deal. Meh. College football plays some "big" games. Double meh. Cowboys beat the Dolphins. Meh, meh, meh, with a side of pumpkin meh. What I did miss were my fellow bloggers. While I was away, someone said they like my blog best of all. I owe a thank you on this blog for that. Plenty of people churned out blog posts despite the holiday. Thanks to those posts, the boredom of the last few days could not consume my sanity. But there are two folks I'd like to thank specifically. As I was exiting the house for my trip, I saw the mail truck on my street. I had to fight every urge that I had to make up some excuse to remain ...

I know there are a lot of collectors who save baseball card wrappers. For a long time, I couldn't figure out why they did it. It was garbage, wasn't it? I'm not nearly that militant in my thinking now. In fact, ever since this blog began, I have saved a wrapper from every single card product that I have purchased. One for each unique set. I stuff each one in a box as I get them. They help chart my journey through the hobby. Maybe one day I'll show them all here, and show off all the fool card sets that I've chased through the years. I know that Ted of Crinkly Wrappers must have a wrapper collection, or why would he name his blog that? Or more probably, it's named after the piles of wrappers on the ground after opening a case of something. At least they tell me that's what it looks like after someone opens a case. I wouldn't know. Anyway, Ted recently sent me cards from a variety of sets, including one much-appreciated set of the retro variety th...

This probably has been addressed many times already. But I'm a busy guy and I really don't follow my team as closely as I should, so I probably missed it. As you know, the Dodgers are fighting every day to avoid their second last place finish since the franchise moved from Brooklyn (and their third EVER). It appears as if the Padres will finish dead last as is their destiny. But the Dodgers periodically act like they really want to rent out the basement. And that brings up this question: Could the Dodgers become the first team to finish last and feature the league MVP and Cy Young Award winner? Matt Kemp currently is in the top five in the National League in home runs, runs batted in, batting average, stolen bases, slugging percentage and on base-plus-slugging. He's second in homers and second in RBIs. Clayton Kershaw is currently first in the National League in strikeouts and opponents' batting average. He's second in WHIP, third in wins, and sixth in...

My want list says I need nine cards to finish off Series 2 of the 2010 Topps base set. I choose to believe my want list, so I am anxiously awaiting the day that I find those nine cards. People like Ted of Crinkly Wrappers have helped me get to this point by generously unloading their copious amounts of doubles on my doorstep. Ted also sent me the Pesky Pole card from Series 1. (Still looking for Reggie's '77 World Series and Wade Boggs, the Chicken Man, to finish off the excellent Tales of the Game insert set). And he sent the last four cards I needed for the 2K6 insert set in the 2006 Topps set. I didn't think I'd ever get these cards. Half the set didn't come in packs. You had to buy video games to get them. I'm way past my video-game purchasing days, so this seemed like a hopeless case. Fortunately, Ted has or had video-game connections and the complete set is now mine. But these cards weren't the point of the package or of the post. These card...