Night Owl Cards

Here is a topic that I don't care about at all, but it involves making a list -- or rather, updating a list -- so it automatically makes it interesting to me. Topps' Twitter site has begun stirring about the 2018 flagship set, showing a couple of very uninspiring images, in advance of the release date, which I believe is January 31st. Before the first cards hit shelves, Topps will announce who will appear on card No. 1. The honoree will be the player who received the most votes in Topps' annual exercise, which has been going on for the last three years. I've never voted in this because I don't care. I'd actually rather have Topps pick their own card No. 1 without having the masses get their runny noses all over the thing. But, either way, we're probably going to get Aaron Judge as the No. 1 card. I'd be stunned if anyone else is there. I hope the Judge card will look better than the 2017 No. 1 card. In recent years, the first card has looked f...

It's a good thing for Heritage that it is released around the time that I do the majority of my birthday shopping for the year. The 1960s Heritage designs do not appeal to me, but I can't resist grabbing some shiny new Heritage when I'm out buying other things that I find much, much, much more boring. It's also a good thing for Heritage that it's almost through with the '60s designs, because more of my shopping has migrated online and I see a day when I may never appear in a big box store again! So, yesterday, I grabbed a hanger box of 2017 Heritage whilst doing my birthday chores. The '68 design is not attractive to me, I have no intention of collecting the set, but here we are with a 35-card box of Heritage to show. While I am not launching a quest to complete the '17 Heritage set, there is still a lot of launching involved in this set. As an example, the first two cards I pulled: #265 - Michael Taylor, Nationals #339 - Alex Gor...

I apologize if I'm writing about my confusion over and over again, but sometimes it takes a couple of posts for me to get it. Yesterday, I was digging up some cards for a handful of card packages that went out this afternoon. Most of it was set-collecting stuff, so I was whipping through the backs of cards staring at number after number, barely looking at the fronts. It's time-consuming, but I don't mind at all. As I shuffled through some 2015 Topps doubles down in the basement, I came up with a few needs for others and I brought them upstairs and put them on the desk. It was only then that I realized a particular card that I had in the tiny stack. OMG, it's the young king of the World Champions! The third base talent who (*gasp*) smiled as he prepared to record the final out of the World Series! This is Kris Bryant's base card from 2015 Topps, Series 2. I was a little surprised the person whose want list I was looking at didn't have the card alr...

As you may have heard, I am a set collector from way back. I love completing sets. Big, honking sets of 700-plus cards with no short-prints is preferred. But the set-collecting pull is strong, and I'll settle for what they're putting out these days, as long as it doesn't look like crap. Late last week I opened a package that contained the last card I needed to complete the 2015 Stadium Club set. It was the Kris Bryant card that I ranted about a few posts ago. Now, normally, this would be the best news of the day. A set is complete! All that effort and time, all that cash and cataloging, all that sorting and admiring. Completion! On your average day this would prompt me to craft a post all about 2016 Stadium Club, or list my favorite Stadium Club cards of all-time, or my favorite club sandwiches of all-time. But something bigger happened on that day. Something bigger and cardier. The package arrived from Cardboard Icons . Ben's a blogger from way back, former ...

One of my missions with the latest COMC shipment was trying to finally ... finally ... finally, for the love of Hiram Bocachica, finish off my main 2015 collecting goals. One of those main goals was completing the Set of the Year, 2015 Stadium Club. I was seven cards away from reaching my goal before I received the shipment. I was able to find six of the cards that I needed. The Yu Darvish card was one of them. Here are the others: After receiving the cards, I then went through the stack of Stadium Club cards I owned to confirm that I needed just one card more to complete the set. Because you know how much a set collector's math can be off when it comes down to finishing a set. And I confirmed it. I still need just the one card to complete the set. This is the one card I need. Isn't that funny? Imagine that. The last card I need is the Kris Bryant rookie card. Wacky, right? What a coincidence! Except it's not a coincidence. I could have a...