Night Owl Cards

  I've mentioned many times that I returned to collecting current cards in 2006. So that makes it 15 years I've been back.   I probably didn't make the wisest choice with the year I chose to come back, it certainly can't compete with the first year I collected cards, which was 1975. But sometimes collecting chooses you, not the other way around, and I couldn't resist those rack packs in Walmart in '06.   I did end up buying quite a bit of 2006 Upper Deck that year, too, but I never saw Allen & Ginter (didn't know to look for it). Same deal with Heritage and Fleer and Turkey Red and anything besides what I was trained to look for way back when: FLAGSHIP.   So, I was stuck with one, super-flawed set upon my return. Foil everywhere, possibly the most foil-tastic (and therefore unreadable) Topps card set ever. It's just not a great design, even though the look of the cards still gives me the warm fuzzies because I was back in the game, baby!    Look at t...

All right, everyone is all apoplectic over Ichiro suddenly becoming a Yankee. I'm just not that upset about it. If you're a Mariner fan, then, yes, I'm sorry. I understand. For you, it's awful. Just horrible, disgraceful, unthinkable, galling, gagging, repulsive, puke-inducing, nasty, crushing, hurtful, agonizing, gross, dehumanizing, shameful, inexcusable and rotten. But if you're not, then, really, things could be worse. How much worse? Well, off the top of my head, I came up with 10 or so players who I would have much more of a problem seeing in a Yankee uniform than Ichiro. Suzuki is practically an icon and very good at what he does. But, let's face it, he's 38, and he's not the player he once was. If the Yankees want to try to capture 2001 in a bottle for a half a year, then, fine, knock yourself out, New York. I hope you fail. But these guys? No, I do not want these guys to appear as Yankees. Or I might have to start watching crick...

I bought two blasters of Allen & Ginter with some birthday money yesterday. You're going to be reading a lot about what I did with my birthday money in the coming weeks, so get used to it. (By the way, Target has 2012 A&G blasters sitting right next to 2011 A&G blasters and the 2011 A&G blasters are STILL FULL PRICE. Shouldn't we be picketing Target for this?) The blasters didn't yield anything special and everyone has seen all of the base cards already. So that automatically makes the minis the most interesting part of the boxes. I thought I'd figure out the best mini out of the two boxes, bracket style -- since eight out of each blaster makes it so convenient. Join me won't you? What else you got to do? BRACKET (BLASTER 1): #1 - Nelson Cruz black border vs. #8 - Geovany Soto regular back Winner: Cruz bb Reason: I can't think of any situation in which a .189-hitting Cub could win. #2 - Reggie Jackson regular back vs. #...