Night Owl Cards

  Before I get to the main theme of the post, I wanted to poll the card bloggers -- at least the ones who use Blogger -- and ask, in the last two weeks or so, what time does your post show up on blog rolls and Blogger's reading list after you post it?   I'm asking because it's been very frustrating for me, hitting publish -- both here and the 1993 Upper Deck blog -- and then not seeing that post pop up on blog rolls/reading list for hours, sometimes a day ... or more.   A couple of examples.   My last post on Saturday, " Going to the Files ," didn't show up on either of those two Blogger notification systems for hours. I published it around 5 p.m., early for me. But it didn't show up until the next day after I got up in the morning -- then there it was, saying I published it 12 hours prior.   On Sunday, I made a post to the 1993 Upper Deck blog. I published it around 2 in the afternoon. At 8:30 p.m., my blog roll, which includes both of my blogs, said thes...

It's nothing short of bizarre how ESPN has started dictating the prices that people can charge for commonly available cardboard. Recently, people flipped out over the ESPN "Last Dance" documentary, which mercifully just ended Sunday. I don't have any problem with Michael Jordan or the documentary, in fact I will always be on the MJ side of any Jordan-LeBron debate. But I have zero interest in the NBA and watching Last Dance referenced all over my timeline the last few weeks is not how I want to enjoy my quarantine time. That's my problem though. What sellers have been charging for Jordan rookie cards (and other Jordan cards, I guess, I have no idea what those are) since the documentary came out could be your problem. If you're not a regular follower of the card market, that is. In other words, if you're thinking now is a good time to buy a Michael Jordan rookie, maybe hold off on that urge a few months or so, or probably a little longer than tha...

I am getting near the end of my filing of 2019 cards. All that's left is a little bit of Topps Update, Archives (still looking to get the last of those '75s, you know) and the Topps Holiday cards. While I continue to desperately search for a shoebox or other storage device to stash those 2019 cards, a few post ideas have popped into my head. One is a common thought that just about every collector who still buys packs has lamented a time or two: "Geez, I certainly pull a lot of this guy!" I've written a post about that, like 10 years ago, and then I updated it three years later. In each case, I compiled a top 10 and the lists weren't very scientific. I just went with my gut feeling of who I seemed to pull a lot and also who most annoyed me when I pulled their cards. But this time I decided to calculate the numbers and I'm not going with a strict top 10 either. I'm not buried in 2019 cards of these players. I am a casual collector when it...

Ever since Mike Trout has come into the majors, I've had no problem pulling his cards. I've tried to complete only one Topps flagship set since Trout's 2011 arrival -- the 2015 set -- yet even while just sampling flagship every other year, I've pulled Trout's base card almost every year. I also seem to pull his inserts a lot, probably not saying much since he's likely in every single insert Topps makes, but still they seem to come out of my packs abnormally so. But this year, I have not pulled his flagship card. I don't even know what it looks like. OK, I just looked it up. I now know what it looks like. Anyway, I'm mentioning Trout cards because he's the AL MVP (again) and after my NL award winners post , I've decided to take a commenter up on his offer and go through the American League teams as far as which team has totaled the most MVP awards. And then I'll list the Cy Young and Rookie of the Year tallies as well. My enthusia...

That is my Mike Trout rookie card. Most days it sits under lock-and-key because I just know there are thieves lurking in the bushes so they can steal it from me. Even when I pull it out for blog occasions like this one, I don't like scanning it outside of its top-loader. I'd do it if I had to -- I don't care about it that much -- but all it will take is one trip to ebay to see how much it is selling for and I suddenly feel like hiring armed guards. My goal is to sell this card someday and I probably would have sold it already, but I've held on to it because I wasn't done with the 2011 Topps Update set yet. No, I haven't completed the 2011 Update set -- no plans to do that -- but there was one card from that set that I wanted above any other one and it took ages for me to get it. The Matt Kemp Toppstown card from that set lounged on my Nebulous 9 list longer than any other card that I've placed on there. But if you look over at the Nebulous 9 now, ...

Yesterday apparently was the day for everyone who ordered a full-price Topps Now card last season to receive a bonus 2018 Topps Now card as thanks for being such a loyal card-collecting sucker ... er, customer. I'm sure there are those who have ordered Topps Now cards off Topps' website who don't feel like suckers, some of whom are probably now offended. I don't mean to infer. It's your collection, buy what you want, right? That's a healthy way of dealing with things. Me? I feel like a sucker, just a little. I bought one Topps Now card from the Topps site, meaning I spent $9.99 for a modern card. At the time, it felt appropriate (it was a card of third-string catcher Kyle Farmer beating the Giants in dramatic fashion when the Dodgers were on top of the world). But even then I was thinking, "this is probably stupid." Probably should've waited a little bit for it to show up on ebay for $6.99. But since I bought that one card, I got this free...

Yup, I've got another online-only set for you today. But at least I wasn't the one who bought the cards this time. This delightful Corey Seager 1975-style mini, issued last year, arrived from R.C . He's the one who sent the '75 mini Kershaw previously . That one came from a 10-card set that accompanied the 2015 Topps mini set. I'm not sure if Seager here was packaged the same way. I have a hunch that it was though, because Seager came with six buddies! Good gosh, I sure do love those bright '75 colors. The color schemes are fairly accurate here, except for the Harper, which is way off. There was no such color combination in 1975 Topps. Also, the red-orange combo, featured on the Machado, should have blue team letters, not red. You may have noticed that adds up to only seven cards. That's because R.C. paid attention to my directive and took the three Cubs out of there! OK, well, actually, he's a Cubs fan and wanted Arrieta, Bryant and s...