Night Owl Cards

I've come to terms with the fact that I'm never going to redeem a card from the Topps Golden Giveaway site. If I'm going to get one of those fancy things, I'll have to order it up on some other site. I haven't invested a lot of effort for me to realize this. About a dozen codes, that's all. And a bunch of stupid coins in return. In fact, I had forgotten all about the site until one of those redemption cards fell out of a Series 2 pack. That would make two Topps Giveaway sites in a row that had slipped my memory. Remember the Diamond Giveaway? Is that thing still going? Well, a post at Play At The Plate reminded me that, yes, that thing is still going (don't ask me if all its parts are working). And that reminded me that, golly, I still have cards waiting for me on that thing. And, gee golly, I still have cards that I WANT waiting for me on that thing. I decided to order a few of them. Why not? Bring a couple home. Where they'll be safe. Lord kno...

So, it's the day after Christmas and what did I get? That's all you want to know, right? Well, I think you know my situation enough to know that there's no money to blow on hobby boxes or expensive hits. That was especially true this year when we decided to dedicate Christmas fund money to home improvements. That meant a lot less for individual gifts. But the good news is that finally -- what's this, year four that I've been begging my family for cards? -- the majority of my gifts were card related. There was a new card binder, which I've already used to replace the forlorn excuse for one that barely protected my far-from-complete 1982 Topps set. I used to dread looking for cards in that binder because I could barely turn pages, and when I did, it was a 20-minute project to get the thing closed again. There were lots of pages, too. Very useful. There were two rack packs of 2011 Topps Series 2 from my daughter. The first rack pack yielded the Campy 60...

Topps' Christmas gift came with a cost. To receive my final installment of Diamond Giveway cards, I paid $3.98, plus whatever money I spent on packs to yield the redemption cards that led to the cards that I ordered. All told, I paid about $17 for the 15 cards I ordered through the giveaway this year. Again, plus whatever money I spent on packs. Yes, the cards aren't free. But they were some really cool cards, and you can't put a price on the fun of the whole giveaway game. Plus, it's Christmas Eve, and if anyone wants to crank anymore about it on this day, be prepared to be visited by Marley and three other ghosts. So, let's see the final cards I grabbed: I ordered this card because Hale started his career with the Dodgers, and it's a 1979 need off the list in case I ever truly decide to complete the '79 set. This card is in immaculate shape. It puts 99 percent of my other '79s to shame. And my cards in that set are really in pretty de...

When you've been married for a few years, you can make little deals with your significant other at Christmas time. The responsibilities pile up at this time of year and one of the best gifts you can receive is to not have to roam around some women's clothing store trying to pretend you know what you're doing. So this year we agreed to get something big for the home (don't get excited -- if I told you what it was you'd be instantly disappointed), and then just a couple of little things for each other. Easy-to-shop-for things (i.e.: CARDS ). That's the plan anyway. Seems like my brain confuses my wife and myself, because all I've managed to get so far is a couple of little things for me . Namely, cards. Yesterday, I snagged some Update and Lineage with minor success for each. Those blue border Walmart cards aren't too exciting, but I did pull one of Andre Ethier. Then this fell out: "Aw, it's a Diamond Giveaway redemption card," I...

I received what could be my very last order from the Topps Diamond Giveaway site on Friday. I don't plan to buy very much Topps Update, let alone Series 1 or Series 2, so I won't be finding any more code cards. But you never know. Anything can happen. Brewers vs. Cardinals. Rangers vs. Tigers. You know. Anything. But if this is my last Giveaway site order, it's been a great ride. Entertaining. Infuriating. Neat cards for "free," excluding shipping and pack purchasing, of course. I ordered up five cards this time around, which is about the average for me. Here is what arrived: 1977 Dick Ruthven. Not as good as this Ruthven card . It must be about 47 degrees at Candlestick on this day. If it's not Candlestick, I'm sorry. I was thrown off by the jacket. 1977 Jim Kern. Not as good as this Kern card . More jacket weirdness. This is Kern's first solo Topps card. He's a "one of these things is not like the other" entrant on one of th...

It's a weekly habit. I log on to the Diamond Giveaway site, and check out the latest offers for the Reggie Jackson diamond diecut. There's usually around 50 or 60, or sometimes more, each time I check. I immediately dismiss about two-thirds of them and promptly press the "decline" button. Then I toy with a few of the other offers -- fully knowing I'm going to decline those, too. Like these, for example: Well, first, this tells me the oldest card offered is from 1990. Secondly, I'd rather not get 16 cards shipped to me. It's going to cost way too much. So, those of you offering me 38 and 47 cards for Reggie, you can forget about that, too. Diecuts of current players for Reggie? No way. I said NO! Well, at least I've heard of Whitey. I love all the no-name vintage guys that are thrown at me in hopes that I'll suddenly develop a crazed look on my face, start babbling "VINTAGE, VINTAGE, VINTAGE," and drool so vigorously o...

This card arrived in my mailbox on the same day that it was announced that Andre Ethier would appear on the National League All-Star roster after all. Double happy day (make that triple happy day. It was also the last day of work before vacation)! This is the third Topps Diamond Diecut that I've obtained and ordered through the Diamond Giveaway promotion site. Of course, all three cards have been Dodgers. I have only one more to go -- the impossible Sandy Koufax -- which begs another question: Why are there only four Dodgers in the set, when there are like seven White Sox and Rangers and 11 Braves? Look, I know the Dodgers have their issues, but don't give me that crap that it's because "the Dodgers are down" lately. Anybody hear of Matt Kemp? I think he's a little better than Chris Sale. Yet Kemp has no Diamond Diecut card. Of course, this is a glass-half-full-glass-half-empty scenario. The fewer of these things I have to chase, the better. And, I...

Did you read about that study from a few weeks back? Something about Facebook users getting a skewed view of how much fun people are having "elsewhere" and becoming depressed about their own mundane, boring lives? It's true that sometimes interaction through the intertubes can give you an altered perception of reality. Take my favorite topic lately, the Diamond Giveaway site. If you did all of your trading through that site, you would think that trading is a cynical exercise, one whose only goal is getting a lot of something for a lot of nothing. I'd say about 97 percent of the trade offers I get on the site are like that. Either that or a lot of people have an awfully inflated idea of what an '87 Mike Schmidt is worth. Meanwhile, I rarely can get any card that I want on the site unless I offer something of obvious greater value for it. That is how I received the Andre Ethier Diamond Diecut card yesterday. I gave up the Tommy Hanson diecut and a couple othe...

Here are a couple of more cards I've been able to land on the Topps Diamond Giveaway site, which is a "rip-off" according to some. I have a hard time considering it a rip-off when I get a 1959 Norm Larker card out of the deal. And, yes, I'm 100 percent sure that I will request the '59 Larker card and Topps will ship me the '59 Larker card. Why? Because that's the way it's happened every time I've requested cards. Every time. I know that hasn't necessarily happened to a handful of others. And I'm sorry. But I'm not ready to switch on the drama. If I don't get one of my cards, then you'll see me howl. But even then, I won't call the whole thing a "rip-off." I acquired the Larker card for my '59 Harvey Haddix card. The phantom person I traded with got the better of the deal. But I don't care about Haddix when you line him up next a Dodger. Especially a '59 Dodger. You know what the Dodgers did in ...

You guys all remember John , don't you? The guy who ran Old School Breaks? He said goodbye to us a year or so ago. But he's still around. He's still collecting, but he's looking to lighten his hobby load, as many of us are doing. John recently sent me a generous stack of cards from his Old School wheelhouse, the late '90s. John was one of the first bloggers to introduce me to the concept of the late '90s being "old school." I remember the first time I heard this, and I thought, "holy crap, I might be too old for these people. The late '90s were just LAST WEEK." But I learned to adjust, adopted some of the lingo, and there are even days when I consider 1997 as positively prehistoric. Speaking of 1997, John sent me this card from that ancient year: Are you seeing what I'm seeing? A card labeled a "Diamond Cut"? A diecut card labeled a "Diamond Cut"? With a shiny, sparkly diamond design at the top of th...