Night Owl Cards

  Usernames are an interesting window into individuals. Often, nobody ever sees your username, except for whatever entity is verifying that you really are you when you transact online (prove, prove, prove you're not a robot). But in our line of entertainment, usernames are quite visible. It's what appears when we comment on a blog or in other social media spaces. Choosing a username is key, I think. But it's pretty obvious other people don't (yeah, you, buttmunch69). I have no idea what some people's usernames mean. Other people, I look at their usernames with quiet admiration. "Yeah, that's a good one." Then there are people who don't even have a user and comment anonymously. To me that's like handing in a blank test paper. Some commenters I know only by their username because they don't have a card blog of their own. Lots of folks comment on my blog who are readers only. I consider that a blessing. One of the best-named of those readers-o...

There are certain topics that circulate through the blogs over and over again. Sometimes the same topic comes in bunches, only to disappear for awhile, and then re-emerge a year or two later when new blogs start up. One of these topics is finding cards of players on teams for which you never knew they played. It pops up repeatedly. Jose Canseco as an Expo is often cited. Al Oliver as a Dodger is another one. There are probably many more that I forget. I decided to finally do a post on this, just to keep my blogger license. You have to write about this topic -- and players with goofy hair -- or "they" will come and find you and tell you can't waste your time rambling about cards anymore. I didn't have a lot of time to dig up cards, so I went directly to my Topps Traded sets, since that's where a lot of these examples occur. I don't have all the Traded sets, or even half of them -- including some pretty common issues, like from the late '80s. So I k...

My card brand of choice in 2007 was Topps Heritage. Even though some of the photographs, based on the 1958 Topps design, alarmed me with their super-close shots ("That's not a good look," my wife said after seeing the Johnny Estrada card), I could really get behind some of them (Aaron Rowand has an awesome card). So when 2008 Heritage came out, I was ready. I really liked the 1959 Topps design and couldn't wait to see modern players featured with that layout. When they hit the streets, I went on a Heritage buying spree. I was devoted. I was faithful. Until ... A new girl moved into the neighborhood. She was very pretty, with a classic beauty. She was athletic and alluring. She looked fabulous. I asked her name. I'm pretty sure she said, "Allen Ginter," which seemed a bit odd. I dismissed it as having heard wrong. Must've meant "Allie Ginter," I thought. Allie was fantastic because not only did she look great, but she was devastatingly smar...