Night Owl Cards

I knew it would happen. After all that talk of shopping this past weekend and avoiding stores at all cost, I knew I would get the urge to buy some cards. Personally, I blame a couple of online orders for Christmas gifts I placed for other people. That will always set off the desire for a little something for myself. So it was that I found myself driving to the giant Walmart on the edge of town at 11 at night after a Sunday of working on my day off (it's a long story you don't want to read). I figured all of the Black Friday shoppers were safely nestled in their beds by then. But not quite. As I walked toward the store, I noticed a typically smokey car pulled up just beyond the entrance doors with its motor running. This is always annoying to me, but I figured it was Walmart, something like that is practically part of the decor. As I approached the doors, a guy from inside the car yelled out to me, "Hey, sir! Sir!" I glanced over instinctively. He gestured a...

As fantastic of a card as it is, I didn't receive "just" a 1955 Jackie Robinson card from Phungo headquarters . Oh, no, there were other goodies, too. Like this '56 of the month. I've always had a mild interest in the Phillies players of yore. Robin Roberts, Richie Ashburn, Chris Short, Dick Allen, Curt Simmons. I think it's because the Phillies are my Plan B team and basically have been since the very first year I collected cards. But there was a little extra intrigue with Simmons. That's because at a card show around 1980 or so, I landed a 1962 card of Simmons. He was a not a Phillie by that point, but the card was absolutely free. It came out of one of those card gumball machines. Do you remember those? The only time I saw them were at card shows. You deposited your money -- I don't remember how much, it wasn't a lot -- and out popped a vintagey card. On that particular trip to the card gumball machine, my prize was a miscut Simmons ...