Night Owl Cards

As I suspected, I received 2018 Topps baseball card packs for Valentine's Day. I do so love this time of year. I happened to receive three packs apiece from both my wife and my daughter. So this presents the perfect opportunity to pair the packs up against each other in a battle to the death ... er, a battle to see who loves me more ... er, a battle to see which packs I like the most. Yeah, that last one, let's go with the last one. I think I have the scoring down for this exercise: +1 - for a card I need +1 - for a Dodger I already have (but can go toward the set that I'm not building) +2 - for a notable parallel/insert +3 - for a card I've wanted since I've seen it shown on the blogs +7 - for a short-print +10 - for a Dodger I don't have (this is the only reason I'm opening these after all) - 1 - for a dupe - 1 - for any Astros World Series card - 2 - for those ubiquitous Derek Jeter inserts OK, them's the rules. Let's go. T...

Greetings from the coldest place in the United States. It seems that the weather is making some kind of comment by plunging the temperature to 37 below on Valentine's Day here in my little town. But I'm not offended. I'm a warm-blooded creature with a warm heart, especially when it comes to baseball cards. Baseball cards are worth loving. I've known this since I was a little boy. And the best way for a little boy to show his love for baseball cards is to play with them, handle them, generally abuse them, in the most loving way that he knows. That's why we call obviously mangled baseball cards "well-loved." A card like this was not "neglected." Quite the opposite. It's been loved. Those creases you see there are hugs and squeezes. So I thought I'd show some of the most-loved cards in my collection, the majority of which received a great amount of affection from me. From the very first cards that I ever bought, I knew tha...

Out of all of the gift-giving holidays, I have the most card luck on Valentine's Day. I don't know why I get cards on Valentine's Day more than days like Christmas or my birthday -- maybe it's some sort of "see, THIS is how much I love you, I forced myself to go in the CARD AISLE" thing. But even on this day, the card gifts are sporadic. That is, until today, when both my wife and daughter presented me with what you see above. Those are the best Valentine's Day gifts ever. They must have been drawn in by Yasiel's charisma. Or me babbling about the beauty of this year's cards. Whatever. All I know is I have cards, purchased by my loved ones. My girls know what's up! It only took seven years! So let's see what's in these boxes and wrappers. Rack packs first: OK. I sense a visit to the return desk. My gift is defective. Believe me, if I didn't have trade partners, I'd be right there in line behind the lady ret...