Night Owl Cards

  ... but I had to. What a time to be on this earth for both times.

I don't know how long stamped buybacks have been around. I have considered them a recent creation as they are so pointless to me that they have to be a modern invention, right? The earliest reference to buybacks that I can find on my blog is from July, 2014, not that I should be a historical source for buybacks. In fact, my disregard for these affronts to cardboard means I'm fully unaware of the fact they probably have been around for much, much longer (I am aware of the longstanding practice of inserting old cards that are newly signed into new product, but that's a different thing and totally understandable). For instance, the card above. Did you know that is a buyback? Did you know it's a buyback from 2003? I didn't notice the stamp at first as it's much less apparent than the buybacks these days. And then I was horrified. WHY ARE WE STAMPING A PERFECTLY GOOD 1961 TOPPS GIL HODGES CARD? It's a good thing I have a copy of this card -- unst...

I do a pretty good job of coming up with thoughtful posts when I don't have a lot of time. But there are times when I have no time and I just don't feel like digging deep. Today was one of those days. I was randomly looking through past posts, looking for some kind of easy inspiration but not really expecting it. I settled on one post from about a year ago in which I showed the above unopened package of 1989 Baseball Talk cards. It has remained unopened in my collection since that time. With no Baseball Talk "record player" and the Kirk Gibson card already in my possession, I had no incentive to open it ... until now. A lot of this will be well-covered material. The cards are larger than your average card, about 3 1/4-by-5 1/2, with a grooved "record" on the back that plays an interview and highlights when inserted into a special player that I believe you had to purchase separately. Each of the four-packs contain three current players and either ...

I've been fairly dismissive about Topps Big in the past. To me, it was a half-baked imitation of truly the greatest Topps set of all-time, the 1956 set. But some of my disinterest in the Big sets comes from simply being unaware of those Big cards for years. I didn't notice them when they came out, and for years they weren't a thought. So, when I saw them for the first time, say 8 or 9 years ago, they seemed cheap, fitting in perfectly with the other junk wax of the time. When creating my Dodger team want lists, the Topps Big lists were ragged and incomplete. And I didn't care. Because it was a weird tribute set that was too Big to fit into regular pages. It took nearly 10 years for me to realize that I didn't even have the 1990 Topps Big set on my want list. And it also took me nearly 10 years (from first realizing what the heck this set was) to complete one of the team sets. Thanks to Bryan of Golden Rainbow Cards , I've finally finished off the 1988...

All right, it's pretty obvious that while I'm dedicating myself to this blog, you're all goofing off -- buying presents, making travel plans, arranging for company, purchasing groceries, going caroling, giving out turkeys, working at soup kitchens. Not many people have time to read this thing at this time of year, but I know that you're all thinking about me. While I type away in a dark corner of my basement, I continue to receive Christmas greetings from you very busy, efficient people. Let's see what Santa has brought to the Night Owl nest, eh? "Merry Christmas and all that Jazz," says jacobmrley from Starting Nine . This is an excellent holiday sign-off. There isn't enough jazz during Christmas. Every year, it's Burl Ives, Bobby Helms and horrible, horrible things sung by Celine Dion, but where are the Christmas jazz specials? I need some quartets and quintets with my winter lager. The jazzy wishes came with some jazzy cards,...