Night Owl Cards

By the way, there are a 100 snapshots of me looking just like this in my mom's old photo albums. It's worth the price of admission. I'm going to a card show this weekend, and as usual I am out of my mind, out of control, and out of focus. I hope to be able to settle on some lists before I head out. But as usual, there is little time for that. I have planned enough so that I can bring a little more spending money than the last time. Tax refunds don't hurt either. But I've been toying with doing something that I've never done before -- dedicating the vast majority of my cash and attention toward quarter/50-cent/dollar boxes. I've always sought out cheapie boxes, but have never made them my No. 1 goal. I am interested by what I could find with that strategy. I will, however, do a little searching for some fancier cards. Some won't even be for me. For example, David of Long Fly Ball to Because ... picked an excellent time to send me some cards. I w...

If you follow your favorite team's "official web site," you've probably come across the link that asks you to vote for the team's "All-Time 9." The "All-Time 9" is a team consisting of the best single offensive seasons by position. In other words, they're asking you to select the Dodgers' all-time best offensive season by a third baseman, catcher, etc. The promotion began in September, on 9-9-09, but I have no idea how long it will last. I figured MLB would have wrapped it up by now. Asking fans to name their team's all-time best seasons is innocent fun, but for some reason, it touched my cynical nerve. You may have noticed that I can be a little contrary at times. I sometimes like to do what no one else is doing, or poke holes in what everyone seems to like. I can't help it. It's the fun-loving side of me. One thing that will always get me going is public relations type stuff. I deal with it all the time in my job....

About a week or two ago, I stumbled upon John from the U.K.'s blog, The Pursuit of 80's(ness). I don't know what took me so long. I knew he wrote for A Pack a Day. I just never put it all together. I never realized he was such a fan of 1980 Topps cards. I found that interesting, because as a kid in 1980 I tried to collect an entire set for the first time. Before then, I was just happy with acquiring some cards. But by 1980, I had matured enough to know what GREED was. And I wanted it all, everything Topps had to offer. I came close to getting it all, about 14 cards short. And I didn't pick up those 14 cards until a couple of years ago. But how satisfying it was to complete that set. I thought of all of this when I was looking at The Pursuit of 80's(ness). Then, like magic, a package arrived for me on Friday. It was from John! Without one word of warning, I had received more Dodgers cards! Included in the tidy stack were a few 1980 Dodgers, like Johnny Oates above....