Night Owl Cards

  Yesterday my vehicle received four brand-new tires. It was long overdue. I hadn't changed them since I bought it four years ago, and it had been hovering over my head for awhile now.   You know how it goes. Tires are expensive -- everything is. And people who aren't made of cash are always pushing it. But I don't like the chaos in my brain of the multitude of unfinished tasks, and when something is accomplished -- even something as mundane as new tires -- I feel that endorphin rush, that rush of "Done!" Finally, something I can cross of The Massive List.   This is something that translates easily to the hobby, especially if you are some sort of completist, as I am. I like finishing sets, large flagship sets in particular, but also team sets, and sometimes a mini insert set, when I need a fix fast.   There is no better feeling in the hobby for me than finishing a set, yelling "Done!" in the privacy of my own home as I slip the final card into the binder...

I've been typecast. My card collection "success" is a reflection of how people see me as a collector. I'm known as "the guy who collects Dodger cards". I'm known as "the vintage guy," and "the set collector guy" and "the oddball guy." "He likes night cards" and "He likes Allen & Ginter," etc. It's true, I like all that stuff. And there are certain cards I collect more enthusiastically and fanatically than others only because I know I will like everything -- every last card of that type. But I can find beauty in any kind of card. Doesn't have to be vintage. Doesn't have to be a Dodger. Doesn't have to be part of set. Oh, it helps. But I can find a card from a junk wax set I wouldn't even dream of attempting to complete that I like. I can find a card released so deep in the 1990s that it would take me a good two weeks to determine the set that it's from ... and lik...

If you are going to send me a Christmas package and you're focusing on cards of specific teams, you can't do any better shopping than to be able to cram that package full of Dodgers and Sabres. Out of all the teams in the world -- and there are many of them, most of which I don't care about one wit -- the Dodgers and Sabres fit me perfectly. They are about the only team-oriented cards that interest me. In short, they are just my size. So it means a lot when a fellow collector tailors a package to my specific interests. Kin of Bean's Ballcard Blog knocked it out of the park/lit the lamp in overtime with a Christmas-themed card package recently. Not only did he keep the cards to Dodgers and Sabres, but it is obvious that he both looked at my partially completed want lists and paid attention to what I write, even the "I have very specific tastes" parts. Gee, Kin, I'm touched. You shouldn't have. That is the kind of gifting that would put depar...