Night Owl Cards

  I've been tangling with modern inconveniences for the past month. None of it is overwhelming or a real crisis but also all of it was not even a thought 10 years ago.   To review briefly:   * Misunderstandings related to social media (yes, plural) * Getting yelled at work by readers (related to cutbacks and out of my control) * Covid arriving at home for the first time and during the holidays (we're OK) * Contractors who say they'll do the job and then disappear (it's now an epidemic around here)   It does wear on me and I'm sure others have been dealing with their own life issues at this time. It's one of the reasons why I collect -- it gives me my own space to go where I can shut out the drama of everyday existence. I'm not sure what I'd do if I didn't collect and baseball was in its offseason -- whine about my team's transactions, I guess.   But collecting saves me from that. And sometimes you get happy little card convergences that make life...

  I got my first look at 2021 Topps in person yesterday. It was just one card. I received the above Tony Gonsolin from Jeremy of Topps Cards That Never Were , plus a wish that this would be the first of many 2021s in my collection. Thanks, Jeremy, I think your wish will be granted. Usually when I receive the first cards of the season, I go about dissecting the design, etc. But I did most of that six months ago and there's not a lot new to say (nor any packs to buy). I will mention that this design could have been better if Topps did not add the extra slash bars on the left side. Those are pointless and they also infringe unnecessarily on the photo. I don't think having a shelf where the rookie cup logo can sit is enough of a reason.     It's a very Bowman-esque design with lots of unneeded doodads (why is there a height measurement chart on the left-hand side?). But the only thing I want to write about in detail for this post is the size of the name font: Why the f**k is...

  I just finished two card projects that I conduct at least annually, only this time I did both at the same time, which I don't recommend.   I updated my Dodgers binders, which I do twice a year. I try to coordinate them with card show visits, but you know how card shows went this year.   I also finished adding all the new Dodgers duplicates to my giant box (and many smaller boxes) of Dodgers dupes, a grueling process that is worth it because it usually unearths a card or two that is actually not a duplicate (I found two this time). It feels good to complete both of those hobby tasks, and at the end of the year as well. We're getting to the final few days now, which is a good time to see how many 2020 Dodgers I accumulated this year. I was particularly interested in finding this out because, as you know, it was quite difficult to track down cards this year. Surely that had an impact on how many 2020 Dodgers I landed. I counted them all up and I came to a total of 332. And...