Night Owl Cards

  It's time for my annual Define the Design post, in which I look to name the newest Topps flagship set and take a go at some past sets, too.   Last year I named the 2024 Topps set quickly then tried to attach labels to some past Donruss sets. Some worked, some didn't and some I'm still trying to name.   The two that escaped naming the last time was 1981 Donruss and 1992 Donruss. Still don't have a name that fits for '81 Donruss, it may be just get "the Donruss debut set" to be done with it. But for 1992 Donruss I think I'm going with a suggestion by Bo on the last post.   Not my favorite set at all, as you know, but the blue streaks come in handy because, as Bo said, they are a reminder of the toothpaste that was popular in the late '70s/early '80s. Specifically for me, that means Aquafresh, which we were all about as youngsters.     Aquafresh was unique at the time because it contained streaks of green-blue, and for us kids it tasted better...

  I've been meaning to follow up on a couple of posts and the longer I've waited, the more follow-ups I've added. I'll write about all of them now, but I'll try to keep it from going on for too long (not that I've cared about that in the past!)   Starting with the card show I went to last weekend, I mentioned on that post that I had acquired the 1967 Topps Carl Yastrzemski card, which allowed me to replicate the 1975 Topps '67 MVPs card that shows the Yaz card and the Orlando Cepeda card side by side.      Like so. But I didn't realize at the time that I had picked up another card at that same show that allowed me to complete another MVP card in that same subset. It's the 1969 MVPs card.   And here they are: I had the Killebrew card already and got the McCovey card last week. Not sure how I missed that. Completing these two MVP card matches made me go through the whole subset run to see what I had finished already. I have all the cards that make up ...

  Last week I bought a blaster of 2024 Topps with the cash that I didn't spend at the card show that I went to at the start of the month.  That doesn't sound like the smartest of moves -- save that cash for something vintage you want! -- but I've been living my card-purchasing life online for the last month-plus and it's getting tired. I needed to buy in person.   I had planned to add some Heritage but it wasn't there. I could have missed it because there were two guys dominating the space talking about their next Magic thingy and I had to squeeze past them. But I was happy with the '24 Topps.     Some of the highlights, there were others that I needed, too. There were also many, many dupes, so I won't be getting any more retail. It's all about Heritage now anyway. (If I was MLB commish, I would reinstate real extra innings first and ban public displays of unnecessary ballplayer yelling next). I did pull my first autograph of the year. This was appropria...

    I forced myself to go to Walmart earlier today because they have the right-size mailing envelopes I need and then they didn't have them and I immediately became annoyed I was there and in a fit of self-loathing for such a stupid decision I walked to the card kiosk thing. The first thing I noticed was 2023 Bowman was out. There were blasters. But I don't buy stuff like that anymore. Outside of Bowman I saw blasters of 2022 Heritage High Numbers and Allen & Ginter and Panini Mosaic. Also fat packs of Optic and Topps team sets for just these teams: Orioles, Nationals, Red Sox, Braves and Cardinals. Come on, find me a Nationals fan here. There was also plenty of 2023 Topps Series 1, but I'm all done buying that. It did remind me though that I need to write a Define The Design post on the set as I try to do every year for flagship. 2023 flagship is fairly easy to name. That graphic treatment at the bottom is totally inspired by today's ballpark video scoreboards. Her...

    Not too long after the first cards of the season are out, I make an attempt to come up with a name for the new set. Sometimes it's easy -- when you see a sea turtle, you see a sea turtle -- and sometimes it's difficult. This year's Topps set is fairly easy. I think a few people came up with a name back when Topps unveiled the design in the summer.   2022 Topps is "the wrench set."    If you don't see it, tilt your head to the side and note that the logo is where the open-end of the wrench is and the position "tear drop" is where the "ring" is on your average wrench.   Now, I never stop at the current set when doing these Define the Design posts. My goal is to name as many as I can . And there are so many sets!   So let's throw a few more set names out there.   Staying with the tool theme, I've got a name for the very weird 1999 Upper Deck set. It's still mystifying that this is what passed for a flagship design in '99. A...