Night Owl Cards

  My first sportlots order of the year has been sitting on my rolltop desk waiting for me to brag about it.   It's not bragging material, really. There were a lot of upgrades that I don't need to show, but I sure did enjoy getting that 1977 Topps Joel Youngblood to replace the creased one in the set binder that I didn't even know was creased until a rare day of sunshine came through the card room (who knows how many creased cards are hiding in the Northeastern darkness of my home).   Some stuff has been put away already and others have been sitting in a stack waiting until the one last pokey sportlots seller finally snapped out his stupor and shipped the last card (this always happens).    I've determined what my 10 favorite arrivals are -- but there are more than 10 cards. Per usual, these are interesting mostly to me and could very well bore you to tears.      10. Gavin Lux, 2020 Topps Chrome   The last card needed for the team set. Can you...

  I finally received a sportlots order today. It's my second order of the year from the site and this time I went with the box shipment to save myself some money.   I was questioning myself for doing it while waiting because gosh does it take awhile. It was only a month, it turns out, but it certainly seemed longer. I know I've been through this before (and written about it) but the saving sometimes don't seem worth it during the wait.   I usually reserve sportlots orders for plugging a few team set needs or set needs in general, but not for super-vintage cards in most cases. Sportlots isn't great for knowing what the cards look like when you buy them (it seems to have cut back even more on the pictures in fact). So stuff like Kellogg's cards is out.   I don't know how much these arrivals will interest people but who cares? This blog thing is here for showing my cards, nobody else needs to like them but me.   Here we go, I mean, why all the 2021 Stadium Club Ch...

  My first sportlots order of the year is finally here. There always seems to be one straggler card I'm waiting for two weeks after everything else is in. But content is content, it doesn't matter when it appears on here.   Ol' Walt was the late arrival -- almost got to the point where I sent a "I think the mail lost my card" messsage. But instead I get to declare that this card finished the Dodgers team set for the TCMA The 1960s II set from 1981!   This kind of card is about all that I ordered this time around -- stuff that either finished or got me closer to finishing team sets or set sets. The whole order turned out to be smaller than my usual sportlots order. I guess I was trying to save a little cash. The total seems slight, but it still packs a punch with me!     More TCMA stuff, but I'm nowhere near completing these team sets. I'm making a dedicated effort to finish the 1978 TCMA 1941 Dodgers set, which the Kirby Higby card is from at left. Hoping ...

  It's been a fairly stressful week, between traveling, a delayed doctor's appointment, the loss of a beloved player from my youth, and now the most taxing World Series matchup I could possibly conjure up as a fan. The weekend will help a little (stupid sports teams still have to play on the weekend, tho) and so will the collection. I just happen to be wrapping up a super-simple sportlots order with the final cards trickling in. I like simple orders. Big-ticket and super-cool arrivals are always fun but they contain a certain amount of worry what with prices paid and condition concerns. Simple orders are just simple cards, they don't cost much but still they fill holes and are always wanted.   Some of those cards were upgrades and they've already been filed away with a smile. A 1983 Topps Ron LeFlore, a 1986 Fleer Bobby Castillo, items that should have always been pristine but weren't, and I was horrified. But now the monster is back in the closet.   Others were reg...

  I don't know about you but among the many voices in my head are the ones that say "have you finished this set yet?" "Don't forget to complete that team set!" "Wow, it's a long time since you did anything with that set!" So many voices and out-and-out badgering about card tasks. So the first Sportlots order of the year was about quieting a bunch of those voices -- or at least cutting down on the volume -- by completing as many sets as I could as cheaply as I could. You already read about me finishing the 1986 Traded set . I posted that back on May 27, and there's still one card straggler from that Sportlots order that hasn't arrived. It's always interesting how some cards show up within days and others seem to have a long conversation with themselves over whether they really want to live in my house. When that card arrives, it will complete a team set, too. But let's see the stuff that's actually here. Look it, you guys, 19...