Night Owl Cards

   One thing that has become very clear to me over the last year is that my way of collecting cards -- the way that was the established primary way of collecting for as long as I've been alive -- is being phased out.   There are a variety of reasons -- and forces at work -- for this. I am reminded of one of them every time I attend the monthly card show.   In the past year, the show has moved from primarily sports cards to primarily RPG/TCG cards. I have less than zero interest in these. When I paid my entrance fee at the table, the guy there asked if I wanted to enter the raffle and gestured toward a gift basket filled with TCG stuff -- don't ask me what it was, I couldn't tell you. I gave the guy a flat "no" that sounded like "of course not."   But I'd say more than half of the tables was Pokemon, Magic and whatever else there is in that fantasy realm. Just about the rest was graded football and basketball of mostly modern cards. But I've writt...

I've been doing fairly well adapting to life without baseball games to watch. At the beginning of this pandemic, I was like every fan, trying to get my fix with old games on youtube and the MLB Network. Then those reruns lost their thrill and I settled in for a long, boring summer. But it hasn't been that bad. I haven't moaned about missing baseball much at all. The one time I did miss it, noticeably so, was last Sunday, Father's Day. To me, Father's Day IS watching baseball games on TV. That's about all there is to that day. Pop open a beer and watch the game. Then watch another and another. Beer and baseball viewing go together exceeding well, as you know. And, damn, I was missing that combination dearly one week ago. Beer and baseball combine so well that I once compiled my own All-Beer Team . And here's another illustration of how well beer and baseball go together: There are some baseball players for which you remember them because of the...

(It's past 8 p.m. in my part of the world, and that means your time is up to enter the 400 followers contest. Thanks all who entered. I hope to have a winner determined on the weekend. But I'm afraid the surprise package won't go out until much later. You'll just have to bide your time with my blog posts. Time for Cardboard Appreciation. This is the 202nd in a series): I'm not sure if this happens to you, but as a traditional team and set collector it happens to me a lot. I miss out. Since I limit my collection to Dodgers and to what I consider genuine 500-card-plus SETS -- not piddly little insert wallet-robbers -- there are cards that I just don't see in my collection. Most of the time, it doesn't bother me. So many insert sets, so little time. I can't be bothered. But every once in awhile I see something great, look to see if there's a Dodger in the set so I can grab one, and am disappointed. With Fleer's Club 3000 set, issued in ...

Like it or not, the "sick hit" is the Hollywood moment of our hobby. It's not completing a set or finding that Heritage short-print or discovering a funny little fact on the back. It's this:  "SICK! NO. 1/5 DARVISH AUTO/PATCH GREEN CHROME REFRACTOR DIECUT WITH SPARKLES! BOOOM!" Even someone like me, pretty much entrenched in old card sets now, will click on a post that screams like that to see that card. It's a show-stopper. A thrill. And even a collector who doesn't live for the hit, can appreciate the glory of the moment, and even wish it was them ... a little. The pull of the pull is strong, even if it's not your main mission. My card-buying purpose is to complete sets and find Dodgers. Maybe a little trade bait. If I get a hit -- like the 2008 A&G Kosuke Fukudome gimmicked SP that I pulled in a discount pack in 2009 -- then that's a nice perk and a moment to share. It won't turn me into a Nuthin' But Da HIIIIITZ You...

I don't really enter blog contests anymore. It's not that I don't like winning things. It's just that I don't have the time. I pride myself in trying to read as many card blogs as possible on a daily basis (I have 360 on the blog roll). But it's getting more and more difficult. And the maximum effort that I can guarantee is that I will skim your blog post. I'll get more heavily invested in certain blogs, but on average it's done, done, onto the next one . Especially at this time of year. You should see my daily life. It's a wreck of chaos with me wandering around in a haze as the bombs go off. And you're asking me to take the time out for a contest? Sorry, I'm trying to put out this bonfire with a teaspoon of water. I'll get back to you. So a week or so ago, I was doing my usual blog skimming, trying desperately to keep up, and I happened upon some cavalcade of contests produced by 30-Year-Old Cardboard . Brian, being the generou...

Well, all right! It's the Blood-and-Guts edition! Continuing my look at Baseball Card Magazine for when I had a subscription between 1982-85, I arrive at this delightful release for August of 1984. I was in the midst of junior college, just about to start my second year and cards were kind of a "I do this because I always do this" requirement at the time. This issue didn't produce a lot of excitement in me, which just shows you far gone I was at the time. I mean look at it!!! Bloody death cards! Uncut sheets from the '50s! A minor league card of Cal Ripken Jr.! And promises of free cards of Dale Murphy and Ted Williams! Gracious, I was so weird back in '84. So let's have a look at what I glossed over all those years ago. I'll start out with a couple of ads since there were only about 889 ads in every issue. I like looking at the prices that cards were selling for back in the early-to-mid 1980s. This ad was from Kit Young out of San Dieg...