Night Owl Cards

  I mentioned when I completed the 1988 Donruss set that it marked the first time I had completed four major sets from a given year.   I don't see that happening for me ever again. After the '80s, it's difficult for me to find multiple sets I was interested in enough to try to complete them. For example, I've completed 1993 Upper Deck, I wouldn't bother throwing money at any other '93 set outside of a token Topps complete-set buy. (I'd take a gift of a complete '93 Stadium Club or Pinnacle set but I'm not buying them).   So '88 is a milestone, a one-of-a-kind collecting feat. I like that it's '88. That's the year the Dodgers won the World Series; it's the year I graduated from college; it's the first full year of my wife and I going out. It's basically the last great year before adulthood stomped everything to hell.   To mark the feat, I thought I'd take 10 notable players from this time and compare their cards from th...

  This is another post inspired by a Twitter prompt. I guess I can never delete Twitter from my phone -- as I've often threatened to do -- because it's pretty clear that half my blog ideas come from there now. I don't know what that says about me. But anyway, the Twitter account Wax Pack Gods shot out a general question the other day, one of those things that always gets a response: what's your favorite Fleer design from the 1980s?   I could have sworn I ranked those sets ages ago on the blog, but the best I could come up with is this (probably should update that one). So I guess I haven't done it before. And I sure don't feel like doing it now. The short version is 1984 Fleer is my favorite of those '80s Fleer designs. It was back in 2010, it is now, it's always been -- except between 1981 and 1983, of course. But there is another '80s Fleer set that's been creeping upward over the years, particularly the last few, probably because I'm col...

  I have no problem with how anyone in the hobby wants to collect. Their preferences are their own and I'm glad they're happy. If the way they collect is different from mine, there's a good chance I won't understand it. But still, their way is their way and mine is mine and we can co-exist peacefully, each collecting in our own corner. Except in one instance. There is this one type of collecting that interferes with how I collect. In fact, our two kinds of collecting often butts heads. I'm referring to player collecting, a popular style of collecting for the last 30-to-35 years but something that I am on record as not understanding and I admit I've called it names in the past. But it's probably just the frustration of being a set collector coming out. Set collecting was king when I was a kid in the '70s and remained that way all through my first stage of collecting into the mid-1980s. We '70s set-collectors rarely encountered other collectors hoardin...

My email is on the blink in terms of sending photos, so I am writing and posting this from my phone, photos and all, for the first time. Let's see how this goes (I've heard wonderful things 🙄). The other day I received an envelope from Rod of Padrographs with a single card in it. Also inside, a one word note that said, "Enjoy!"   OK, I will! A Tony Gwynn rookie doesn't arrive every day. But I was confused.   I've recently made noise about acquiring a Tony Gwynn card from 1983, but it wasn't the Donruss card. I have maybe 40 non-Dodger 1983 Donruss cards in my collection and, sure, I think about trying to complete it someday. But I've never had a want list up for '83 Donruss in the history of this blog and it's probably going to be a good while before one ever shows up ... or I even consider completing it seriously. (Gotta do 1982 Donruss first anyway).   The one I really wanted is the 1983 Fleer Gwynn card. That's the one that...

Since I've become one of those people who never has any cash on them because actual money is -- ewwwww, dirty, get it away from me, ewwwwwww -- I had to perform one of those epic transactions that only makes sense in the world of debit cards. I needed a couple of dollars for a bake sale going on at work. So I drove to the ATM, snagged a 20 because the ATM laughs at you if you ask for anything less than that, then went to the drug store to whittle that 20 down to bake-sale size numbers. I picked up a couple necessities and then looked at the very modest card selection at Rite-Aid. They're hanging from a small display in front of the miles and miles of gum and candy at the checkout counter. I spied some dust-covered 2014 Topps packs and rack packs, and a couple football items. Next to those was what I needed: the always welcome repack rack pack. I will always love these things. They never disappoint. I'll never stop buying them. I walked out of the drug store and ...

OK, ever since 2012 I've made a lot of noise about never attempting to complete another modern set again. This is still my general feeling and I am reminded that it's a good feeling when I read things like how Opening Day has variations again . But then how do I explain -- mr. smarty pants -- me trying to complete 2013 Allen and Ginter? Huh? Huh? Huuuuuuuuuuuuuh???? Well, you got me there. The only thing I can say is -- and this is a rationalization -- is that there are certain sets that rise above. They rise above all the nonsense that hovers around card sets these days. Short-prints, variations, online exclusives, etc. Sure, those "rise above" sets may include some of the very things that caused me to put on the breaks and go in reverse about 30 years, but I don't notice them as much because the set is too awesome. I suppose this is the way to still get me to collect a modern set. Don't make it crap. Make it interesting enough that I don't...