Night Owl Cards

I received exactly four cards from The Lost Collector recently. All four cards were of Dodgers. All four cards were of infielders. All four cards were cards that I needed. Do you know how difficult that is to do? Send me just four cards, of Dodgers, and have each one fill a hole? That's operating on a whole other level. I'll start with 2015 Jimmy Rollins here. Those of you who know my collecting ways might be questioning my above statements already after thinking I must have this card already. And after becoming slightly concerned that you know and care that much about my collection, I would say: "Ha! It's a trick! It's not a 2015 Topps Jimmy Rollins card at all!" It's a 2015 Topps TEAM SET Jimmy Rollins card! This is an important difference in the crazy, padded room world of baseball card collecting in which we team collectors reside. Second card. Another former Philadelphian. This card also resembles a flagship card. Howeve...

Every year since 1977 -- with a few years off in the '90s/'00s -- there is one basic objective to the card collecting season: Complete the Dodgers team set. That has been a goal ever since I was 11 years old. (I collected cards for a couple years before '77, but I don't know if finding all the Dodgers in the set was a conscious thought then). It was the only collecting goal some years. And other years, it was a comfort: "well, at least I've finished the team set." As my collection grew more advanced -- and collecting in general grew more advanced -- there were other goals that sometimes overshadowed the team-set goal. But I still have always felt a sense of satisfaction when that team set is complete. On Sunday, I bought a hanger box of Series 2 Topps. And in that cellophane brick was this Jimmy Rollins card. It was the last card I needed for Dodger completeness. Even though I get a lot of help these days from other bloggers with completing the ...

Today is National Left Handers Day. As a proud lefty, I feel it's my duty to post something leftyish on this day. Two of the last three years, I have. One was well-received. Another , which I might add involved a fair amount of time-consuming research, was not. Today there is no time for research. But there is time for something that I noticed that was interesting -- to me, anyway. Pat from Hot Corner Cards sent me some Dodgers in an effort to coerce a card out of me. This is always an acceptable procedure. As I often do, I separate the cards out of the envelope into ones I need and ones I don't. ("Need" is a subjective word in the hobby and sometimes I "need" cards I have already). The cards I needed were 1974 Topps Billy Buck up there -- a lefty through and through ... ... and this 2015 Archives card of Adrian Gonzalez, also a full-time lefty ... ... and this 2015 Allen and Ginter card of Hyun-Jin Ryu, who is actually showing you tha...

This is one of those "stadium scenes" inserts in this year's Opening Day set. Cards On Cards sent it to me and I'm glad it's mine, because I take what I can get when it comes to the Dodger Stadium experience. The Stadium Scenes set is a bit of a disappointment for me, mostly because most of the 17 cards in the set  don't really show much of the stadium. It's a lot of players signing autographs and mascots. But I just want to see the ballpark. (Please note the rare appearance of foil in an Opening Day set on these cards). This particular photo, while showing the instantly recognizable center field Dodgers sign as you approach the ballpark (it's actually the other side of the scoreboard, I believe), doesn't give me any appreciation for what I think is still one of the most beautiful parks in Major League Baseball. This picture is taken from the parking lot, where you see light poles, an imposing length of fence, and --- weee! -- a Time War...

If you think you've already seen this night card featured on Awesome Night Card, then you are very perceptive ... and probably need a life. The card that was featured then was the 2008 Upper Deck base card. This is the Jimmy Rollins card from '08 Upper Deck First Edition. I am showing this card because, of course, Rollins is now a Los Angeles Dodger. In a convoluted scheme involving the Phillies, Marlins, Padres and Angels, the Dodgers landed a new shortstop (Rollins), second baseman (Howie Kendrick), catcher (Yasmani Grandal) and assorted prospects that they either kept or distributed to other teams. The Dodgers also added some pitchers and a couple of other guys since the 2014 season ended. What I usually like to do during the offseason after my team's made new acquisitions is to see what cards I have of the Dodgers' new guys. Because I'm not a player collector, I don't pay much attention to a player's cards if they're not a Dodger. I accum...

2008. The year that I started this blog. The year in which I was buying modern cards at a semi-ravenous rate. The year in which I still had money. I was a happy owl then. All you have to do is read those early blog posts with all the exclamation points to know that. Sure, I'll never be confused for the bubble-headed bleach blonde who comes on at five, but I was less of a cranker in those days. What 2008 night owl and 2013 night owl have in common though is neither one has a respectable hobby shop. So a hobby pack of these 2008 Trading Card History cards is something new for both of us. Actually, 2013 night owl knows that the cards aren't new -- he also knows he's probably seen a number of these already, might have a few in his collection, and probably can't give away the ones he pulls. But let's not spoil it for 2008 night owl. This was very nicely sent by reader Stewart, who also sent me some Dodgers, which you'll see some other time. Right now I w...