Night Owl Cards

Sometimes when I'm dealing with something with which I'm not very familiar, I'll try to relate it to something that I do know, something from my time. This happens a lot these days because the older you get, the less familiar the world is. You'd think it would be just the opposite: you've been on the earth longer than a lot of people, you should be more familiar with it, right? But, no, Alexa is not in my house; I haven't seen Infinity War (it is something you see, right?); and I have never read a single political tweet, no, not even from that guy. So it was when I received a bunch of cards from Josh D. of Royals and Randoms on Christmas Eve. Inside contained a note saying that they were Dodger cards for Christmas, just in case I didn't get any (good thinking, I didn't). The cards were enclosed in wrapping paper. No, it wasn't Christmas wrap. It had dragonflies on it. I just chalked it up to new Christmas wrapping paper that all the kids were...

In what's become a pattern, I stumbled to the computer late this morning and realized I had a blog. I've always devoted my attention to this blog no matter what was going on him my life, but lately life is throwing activities at me that even I can't combat. Yesterday, life told me to drive five hours through the Adirondack Mountains (I saw my first snow of the season). I couldn't say no. I couldn't say, "I have a blog that hasn't been updated in two days, I know that doesn't seem like a long time, but I have a reputation ." It's been a month of travel and it isn't over yet. So here I am posting for the fifth time this month when once I would have posted 21 times by now (what the hell was with that?). To get back into the rhythm, I grabbed some cards sent to me by Josh of Royals and Randoms that I think have been sitting in a dark corner for weeks waiting for me to DO SOMETHING. I think Josh found my want list before it went kapu...

I mentioned in the last post that I received some cards from Royals and Randoms . The star of the package was this short-print of Clayton Kershaw from last year's flagship set. Josh pulled it out of a repack, which doesn't amaze me too much anymore as I've seen all kinds of cool things come out of repacks over the years. This card is more rare than your average Allen & Ginter/Heritage short-print. It's known as an "SSP" in hobby abbreviation lingo, which stands for "super short-print," although many times I've called it a "stupid short-print." I am conflicted about these like I am about many modern day inventions in the hobby. On one hand the card is indisputably stellar. I've been a fan of card variations since the late 1970s when I first saw Burger King cards. There is nothing that will turn my head quite like a different photo of the same player on the same design. But on the other hand -- the stupid hand -- there is...

Virtually every trade package that I receive in the mail is an adventure. I prefer it that way. Predictability is for envelopes that arrive from ebay and other online sites. What a dull, cardboard world I would live in if I knew exactly what I was getting every time I opened something containing cards. I need that thrill, that sense that I'm getting something that I like, but not knowing exactly what. Trade envelopes are even better than sealed packs from the store because that something doesn't contain Rockies or Marlins or Mariners or those creepy teams I dislike. But they're still always an adventure because chances are that envelope houses something I've never seen before. Just such an envelope arrived last week from Josh of Royals and Randoms. With the exception of the emerald Kenley Jansen that opened the proceedings, everything else was new to me. Emphasis on "new." Emphasis on "adventure." Let's start slowly and then build to ...