Night Owl Cards

 (I was in the middle of writing this post yesterday, beginning with how March is trying to kill me again, when a fire truck came down the street and knocked out our internet by pulling down the cable wire in front of our home that had been hanging low due to a giant tree limb that fell on it during a windstorm last weekend that I didn't get time to tend to because I had to have my vehicle windshield replaced due to an unrelated mishap and because of a doctor's visit that became a whole week-long thing because I'm old and because it's the busiest damn work week of the entire year as well. So, um, no post yesterday. But I'M STILL ALIVE, you piece of shit month ... but still 15 days to go . It's time for Cardboard Appreciation. This is the 335th in a series): I finally acquired this card from 2023 Stadium Club. I've seen it displayed several times since Stadium Club's release almost two months ago. It's one of those cards that's cool and I've t...

I don't do breakfast. I usually rouse myself out of my tree hole around 11 a.m. (although it's been a lot earlier lately for a variety of inconvenient reasons). By the time I'm ready for food, everyone else is at lunch. And because I consider lunch food infinitely more desirable than breakfast food, I simply slide into lunch with everyone else. Breakfast rarely exists in my world. This, no doubt, is heartbreaking news to whoever came up with the slogan, "breakfast is the most important meal of the day." They have no shot at shoving burnt toast and scalding coffee down my throat. The Eggo and Jimmy Dean people are powerless over me. I sound pretty smug about that, but I admit, this would be a tragedy if people were still putting baseball cards in and on cereal boxes. I'd have to eat cereal for lunch, I guess. Which would be quite the sacrifice because, boy, do I ever love sandwiches. Breakfast being the most important meal of the day would only mak...

When I was a kid, I drew a line on the breakfast table between the cereals that were edible and the cereals that clearly were not. On the side of "fun to eat" was Cap'n Crunch, the Monster Trio (Count Chocula, Frankenberry and Boo Berry), Corn Pops, Sugar Smacks (dig 'em), Magically Delicious Lucky Charms, Coo-Coo For Cocoa Puffs, and Fruity and Cocoa Pebbles. On the side of "that's not food" were dreaded concoctions like Product 19, Rice Krispies, Corn Flakes and Wheaties. Wheaties was the worst. I refused to eat it. My brother, though, was a cereal nut. He'd eat just about every brand. He'd willingly get up at 7 a.m. (this is when he was a teenager, mind you) and also willingly pour a big bowl of Product 19. It was sad. He'd also eat Wheaties. And claim to like it. I figured it had to be because of the athletes. Bruce Jenner was on the Wheaties box at that time and it was a huge deal. General Mills had worked long and hard ...

No, I did not receive my redeemed cards in the mail. But I did put in an order to have some of them shipped. I'm waiting to see how long it takes for the carrier pigeon to show up. What the title refers to is the very card you see here. It is the famed #5 card from the 1971 Topps set. It's Thurman Munson tagging out an Oakland A's player, back in the prehistoric days of the head-first slide. In my bid to complete the 1971 Topps set, I thought this would be one of the very last cards that I would obtain. But thanks to the Million Card Giveaway site, it is merely the 78th last card. You may remember that someone offered me the Munson card for some Giveaway codes, and I promptly  freaked . Well, the owner of the Munson card, Steve, was able to calm me down eventually, and after a little discussion, I saw what he was trying to do. The Munson card -- which goes for a tidy sum in minty fresh condition -- had no real value to him. But the codes might be able to produc...

I'm not the first one to say this, but I can't believe how excited people are getting over unredeemed codes in the Topps' Million Card Giveaway. I know what you're saying: Night owl, I thought you loved the Giveaway. I do. I love it dearly. But I am collecting the entire set. The Giveaway is just a fantastic side effect. But I don't understand why anyone would pay a bunch of cash on ebay solely for some codes when the chances of you landing a 1988 Mike Loynd or 1984 Steve Lubratich are extremely good. Sure, you could wait until the way-back machine returns to the '50s cards, but code-hoarders don't strike me as the patient type. The other day I received an email from somone looking to hammer out a deal and send me a 1971 Thurman Munson card. And I don't mean the "Yo Mama" card pictured here. I mean, the actual 1971 card, one of the big cards I need to complete the '71 set. The person was willing to trade it to me for nothing more ...

I am almost certain that the Yankees are going to win the World Series. I've been certain for quite awhile. During this postseason, I have always rooted for the other team, and felt real disgust when they didn't succeed, or -- like the Angels -- make dumb mistake after dumb mistake. But I always knew that the Yankees would prevail. I'm not the greatest evaluator of talent, but I can see what the Yankees have and how they are playing. I don't think the Phillies have a real shot of winning the Series. It could go six games. But I don't see a seven-game series or a Phillies win. Don't get me wrong, I would LOVE a Phillies win and I would love to be wrong, but my gut says it ain't gonna happen. Given that, what I'm saying here shouldn't annoy any Yankees fans, too much. Your team is going to win the World Series, so who cares about what some blogger thinks? It's well-established that I do not like the Yankees. I come from a family of Yankee...

Most collectors can pick out the "cameo" appearances of players on baseball cards. Cameos occur when a player appears on a card that's not his own. The early '70s was a great time for cameos, because the photographers shooting the action back then seemed to have no qualms about featuring multiple players in the frame. So what if the player is half obscured by a batter and an umpire? It was good enough for 1973 Topps! But I think the king of cameos during the 1970s had to be Thurman Munson. Given that he had a career tragically cut short, he appeared on his fair share of baseball cards that did not feature his name. Reggie Jackson may have never seen a camera he didn't like, but Munson appeared to like the limelight, too, if you go by the cards. ... Here is Munson flat out in the dirt, showing the ump the ball, apparently after tagging Vada Pinson. ... ... And here's Munson shaking his backstop for the camera as he waits for the throw to tag out a ducking Terr...