Night Owl Cards

  Rod of Padrographs is sending out cards again and I received one of the envelopes last week. A nice surprise.   The package contained a mix of then and now and I couldn't help but see the passage of time in the card contents, what/who was supposedly a big deal then and what/who is supposedly a big deal now.   Take this pack of 1991 Stadium Club that was part of the send. This was the first Stadium Club set and something I totally missed out on in 1991 (Most of my focus was on Topps flagship, Score and here-and-there purchases of Fleer and Upper Deck). My introduction to Stadium Club took place the following year.   But I certainly heard about the brand at the time. "Premium" sets were a big deal. The cards were "upscale" for the time. And Stadium Club hit it home on the wrapper by mentioning that Kodak was involved and displaying the Kodak label. For anyone who grew up in the mid-20th century, Kodak was synonymous with film and photography. My very first chea...

    We're in February now and you know what that means -- the first new cards of the season.   I think Topps is still issuing 2025 sets but the first for real-for real 2026 set is scheduled for release a week from Wednesday -- Series 1 of flagship drops on Feb. 11.   Every year since connecting with the collecting community on social media I've had to fight the urge to find the first cards of the season as early as possible. When blogs were THE THING it was a race to find those cards and I'd lament never getting the jump on spotting them first. When Twitter was THE THING I'd marvel at how collectors would display the first cards of the season even before the release date. HOW? And I'd try desperately to get to Target or Walmart to find my own. Sometimes it would take 5 or 6 tries to spot the new cards.   In more recent years I've paced myself, ignored the "fomo" feeling and calmly collecting the current sets at my own rate. Each year for the last three...

   The last three weeks I've averaged three posts a week, which is an all-time production low on Night Owl Cards.   I'm OK with it, which is not something I could say for the majority of the time I've been running this blog. But it's not like I have a choice. So I've accepted it, with the hope that I'll return to at least 5 posts a week, but not expecting that to happen.   Some of the old "requirements" of this blog remain in place though, clinging to the "old ways." One of those is "blog about every card package you have received from others." But when you cut down on blogging time, the cards pile up.   Another requirement is "keep the card room relatively orderly." My card room isn't immaculate, I don't think anybody's should be. But I've got the neatness gene and I can't handle cards piling on top of cards, potentially falling on the floor, so the cat will think it's a new play thing and bop them...