Night Owl Cards

A little over a year ago, I wrote about the early 1960s Post and Jello cards and their similarities and how I still don't have a single Jello card in my possession. While Post cards ran between 1961-63 and I believe were available pretty much everywhere, Jello cards appeared only from 1962-63 and their availability was restricted mostly to the Midwest. So, it took someone from the Midwest to finally get me my first Jello card. Tom from Waiting 'Til Next Year recently announced that he had discovered a bunch of 1961 and 1962 Post cards at his card shop and dug out several in hopes of helping people complete their Post sets. You see, Tom lives in Illinois, which I am now convinced is the center of the card collecting universe. There seems to be a card shop or card show or flea market on every block. As a trade off, nobody cares whether there's a place for you to go to the bathroom at the Cubs game, but that's a trade I'd make in a second. Just let me work on...

This card arrived in my mailbox on the same day that it was announced that Andre Ethier would appear on the National League All-Star roster after all. Double happy day (make that triple happy day. It was also the last day of work before vacation)! This is the third Topps Diamond Diecut that I've obtained and ordered through the Diamond Giveaway promotion site. Of course, all three cards have been Dodgers. I have only one more to go -- the impossible Sandy Koufax -- which begs another question: Why are there only four Dodgers in the set, when there are like seven White Sox and Rangers and 11 Braves? Look, I know the Dodgers have their issues, but don't give me that crap that it's because "the Dodgers are down" lately. Anybody hear of Matt Kemp? I think he's a little better than Chris Sale. Yet Kemp has no Diamond Diecut card. Of course, this is a glass-half-full-glass-half-empty scenario. The fewer of these things I have to chase, the better. And, I...

Here are a couple of more cards I've been able to land on the Topps Diamond Giveaway site, which is a "rip-off" according to some. I have a hard time considering it a rip-off when I get a 1959 Norm Larker card out of the deal. And, yes, I'm 100 percent sure that I will request the '59 Larker card and Topps will ship me the '59 Larker card. Why? Because that's the way it's happened every time I've requested cards. Every time. I know that hasn't necessarily happened to a handful of others. And I'm sorry. But I'm not ready to switch on the drama. If I don't get one of my cards, then you'll see me howl. But even then, I won't call the whole thing a "rip-off." I acquired the Larker card for my '59 Harvey Haddix card. The phantom person I traded with got the better of the deal. But I don't care about Haddix when you line him up next a Dodger. Especially a '59 Dodger. You know what the Dodgers did in ...

The thing about the Topps "monopoly era" is that the card backs from that time all contained the same components. There were vital stats. There were game stats. There was a write-up. There was a cartoon. Between 1952 and 1977 that was the formula for almost every year. That was fine by me. That's what I grew up with, and I liked it. That's why the card backs from this era are ranked higher than some more modern sets. But in terms of ranking the backs of cards, it's difficult to differentiate between them all. Most of it comes down to personal preference -- do I like the color on the back, do I like the style of cartoon, is the back readable, etc? So there is not a lot of difference between a card back from, say, 1966 and a card back from 1970. There's no innovation to consider, just personal likes and dislikes. The 1961 Topps set is not one of my favorites. My complete disinterest in 2010 Heritage confirms my opinion on that. But I think the card back...

I could not be more excited for tomorrow's anticipated arrival of 2009 Topps Heritage. But I'm also aware that once you've entered the blogger world, you find out that there is always someone out there who is more fired up about something than you are. I had planned to provide a bit of a retrospective on the 1960 Topps set, which is the "inspiration" for 2009 Heritage. But, as usual, someone beat me to it. I don't have half the knowledge about old cards -- or even half the old cards -- as dayf does, so it's best that someone else handle that. So, what I'm going to do is focus on the few 1960 Dodgers cards that I have and relay what I like and dislike about the set. Because chances are that is going to be what I like and dislike about 2009 Heritage (with an extra dollop of irritation aimed at the short-printing). Oh, and this doubles as a "Define the Design" post as well. No prize with this one, as it's too easy. The 1960 Topps set will b...