Night Owl Cards

One of the big drawbacks of living almost 3,000 miles away from the best team in the world is you miss out on a lot of things the team is doing. I have never been to a game in Dodger Stadium, and I don't see a point in the future when that might happen.  I don't get to participate in any of the various activities that the Dodgers put on in the area (although it sounds like the recent fanfest fiasco was best avoided). And I don't get to go down to the local strangely named, West Coast-only grocery store chain and obtain an autograph from Ken Landreaux or Tommy Davis or whoever is willing to sit in a chair and sign for strangers for three hours. This is especially excruciating for me since, near as I can tell, my favorite player of all-time -- Ron Cey -- is at just about every Dodger event there is. But, by far, the worst part of living on the other end of the country from the Dodgers, is not being able to find team-issued or other locally-produced Dodger sets. This ...

I received a very nice package in the mail about a week ago from Mariner1 of Emerald City Diamond Gems . He helped with a few Dodger/set needs, which you'll see later. But also in the package was this: That's nine 1981 Topps Terry Forster cards. Actually, I think I missed one. There were 10 in the package. As a veteran bippee, I looked around for the confirmation note. The "ha, ha, you got bipped, sucker" note. I didn't find one. So, I'm confused. Was this a bipping or not? Don't leaving me hanging. I have received packages in the past in which there were more than 6 or 7 of the same card without an accompanying note, but that was before the whole bipping epidemic. Now that bipping his officially passe, I'm wondering if Mariner1 executed a stealth bipping. Maybe he didn't leave a note so he could bip with impunity. Very clever. If that was the intent. I suspect not. Or maybe I do. I'm still a little skittish you know. But a...

Some of you may have gathered by this post that I don't exactly care for 1986 Topps. I'm sorry for any misunderstanding. I actually quite enjoy '86 Topps. If I didn't like it, I wouldn't be collecting it. But, like I said, part of my reason for collecting it is it's kind of a misfit among the other fine Topps offerings of the 1980s. Blurry photos, odd poses, etc. Anyway, Matt of Heartbreaking Cards either read my post or saw my huge '86 Topps want list and got the gist of what I was saying: I collect these babies. Then, he did something wonderful: he asked if I wanted a whole mess of 1986 Topps that he had purchased long ago and had barely touched. And he said he'd send them to me without hope for anything in return. Wow, Matt, merry Christmas to you, too. The 338 cards off my want list (take a look at the '86 want list now. It's gone on a diet) arrived when I was out of town. I'm kind of going out of order in terms of when the card packages...