Night Owl Cards

As I've mentioned a few times, I don't go out of my way to collect autographs. I do like them, and I get a thrill when I pull them . And I do have a separate binder for the Dodgers autos. But I consider that binder as that thing I have on standby for when someone who doesn't know a lot about cards wants to be impressed. Autographs are the best way to go. Sadly, your average civilian just doesn't understand how cool a 1976 Topps Mike Hegan is. Recently, fellow supertrader Brett of Cooperstown Exit 3:16 sent me another bout of autographed Dodgers. I believe they're TTMs, but maybe he got them in person, I don't know. The Ron Cey autograph is far and away the highlight, even though I own plenty of Cey autographed cards. In fact, this 1980 Topps item is my 15th different autographed Cey card. And it has caused me to consider something I've considered before: Should I try to get a signed Cey card for each of his Topps Dodgers issues? It wouldn't b...

Collecting cards, as everyone knows, has a lot to do with reconnecting with your childhood. But I never returned to collecting for the purpose of reliving those childhood experiences. I returned because I became interested in cards again. But a byproduct of returning to the hobby and collecting vintage cards was that feeling -- that nostalgia rush -- that I would get when I saw a card for the first time since I was an 11-year-old. Often times I wouldn't even remember that the card existed until it was thrust into my face. Then the "oh wow" nostalgia rush would hit me. I hope everyone knows what I'm talking about. The feeling is almost addicting. It's not better than a couple of other sensations out there -- I think you know what I mean -- but it's got to rank in the top 10. It's the same feeling I got when I thought about Freakies cereal or space food sticks or the TV show "Angie" for the first time in decades (whatever happened to Donna Pe...

When I was a kid, I would collect anything -- bottle caps, seashells, rocks, live frogs (don't ask). So when it came to baseball, I didn't collect just cards, but posters, ticket stubs, postcards and yearbooks. Since I lived so far away from my favorite team and couldn't attend Dodger games in person, I would send away for the annual Dodgers yearbook through the mail. I did that every season, and I have each Dodger yearbook from 1974-85. (But my favorite is the one from 1966 -- when Koufax was king). The 1980 yearbook is my second favorite, because it blended card collecting with my favorite team. It was a neat idea, although I'm sure it wasn't original in the realm of yearbooks. The cards on the front cover are from the 1980 Topps set. My only complaint was that the Dodgers didn't issue their own cards in the yearbook, like some other yearbooks had done. Inside, the yearbook featured pictures of various Dodger cards from over the years. On each player...