Night Owl Cards

  A pretty crappy month-plus-one-more-week turned around for me in the last couple days, fortunately.   This is all relative, of course, with the state of things lately, but it was nice to be bubbly for a day. To briefly recap, in the last couple of days I learned that my retirement is not a pipe dream, my daughter who was laid off by AI last month landed a job with a salary significantly larger than her last position, and someone at work agreed to write a story instead of me writing it on top of my too many job responsibilities. Happy dance!   In there somewhere -- Friday, I think -- I received three card packages in the mail. This never happens like it used to on the blogs. Where once I could get three mailings from other bloggers around 4-5 times a week, if I want that kind of incoming now, I have to buy the things myself.   So that was nice. And probably the nicest surprise came from Kenny of Torren' Up Cards , who sent me a single pack all the way from his place...

  Another monthly card show has come and gone.   I was surprised it was that time again. I had scrambled the dates and thought it wasn't for another two weeks and didn't realize it was today until yesterday! I had planned on not doing anything today, but I guess I'll get out of bed for a show!   It's a real life of leisure around here, knowing that there's a show to go to every month. I took my time getting there this time. I didn't have a lot of money (it was supposed to be in two weeks!) and there were other things to do.   I showed up with about two hours left in the show, just enough time to visit two of my regular tables, and see what they had.    A couple of 1969 Topps needs crossed off the list. I had been eyeing the Lee May card online for a couple of weeks but gave up after it was swiped from my ebay cart. Good thing though, because I could buy it for less here! It's an off-center beauty, just like '69 Topps should be.   The Gary Wagner is one...

  Today is the fifth anniversary of the Dodgers' trade with the Red Sox in which the Dodgers gained Mookie Betts for a bag of beans.   It's not a coincidence that at around the same time, Betts has moved into the top 10 in terms of the number of cards in my collection. Two World Series wins with one of MLB's flagship teams and being a hell of a bowler will do that. He's now at No. 10, according to TCDB, with 373 cards, knocking Adrian Beltre to 11th.   It seems that Betts arrived in the top 10 extremely quick. Sure, it took five years, but there are plenty of other players in my collection who are favorites, who I've been collecting for a long time, and are nowhere near the top 10.   But if you are a star during this era of collecting baseball cards, you are going to make up ground fast. Companies now issue way too many cards of the top five percent of ball players. It makes it much easier to reach the top than it ever has been. Just for my own funzies, I thought I...

  Maybe it's the start of the year, but I feel the urge to leave the social media scene more and more. I don't consider blogging part of that. It's separate for me. But I deleted Twitter/X two months ago and I think Facebook will be coming next. I know a lot of folks deleted Facebook a long time ago, I get it. I've stayed because of connections to people who mean something to me in my life. But as some of them leave the app themselves, there's less there for me to see and the recent news that the site is about to enter an even wilder scene than it already has isn't encouraging me to stay (I have never relied on Facebook for news, I have a journalism degree for crying out loud).   I never joined Instagram or TikTok, so if/when Facebook leaves, all that will be left is Bluesky . (There's also Discord, but I'm not on that much).   For now, Bluesky is pretty delightful. Part of me expects it to go to pot eventually like it seems every social site does, but I...

  Just a short post today. I seem to be in a period where the ideas aren't coming as quickly and also time is limited.   I finally -- FINALLY -- received this Topps Now card of Walker Buehler's reaction to recording the final out in the 2024 World Series. I ordered it almost immediately after the World Series ended and it didn't show up until yesterday. So about a month-and-a-half. I shouldn't have been impatient because it was a preorder deal, which I didn't notice right away (too much partying). But even then, shipment was marked for Dec. 2 and that didn't happen.  In general, it seems to be taking awhile to produce a card set of the Dodgers' World Series title. The 15-card Topps Now commemorative set has just hit the online sites and after taking a brief stroll through ebay to gauge pricing -- well, this card of Walker Buehler will do nicely for now. Spending $150 for 15 pretty ugly cards is wild. This card isn't part of the commemorative set, it'...

  We're getting our first snow of the season today. The good news is November is almost over before we saw snow, which is pretty unusual. The bad news is it's lake-effect snow, on the holiday, and why couldn't it have snowed on Nov. 15th when no one was visiting anything? But we'll get over it, we always do. It's nice to be inside with no responsibilities and cards to pass the time. Today I've been sorting the bunches of cards I received from Johnny's Trading Spot a couple of weeks ago. That always demands some open time in my schedule so I can squint at the copyrights on the back for the cards I don't know. He's always unearthing something I've never heard of. The box arrival was actually signaled a few days earlier with a thank you note and three cards for playing one of Johnny's guessing games recently. I was mystified by the envelope because I didn't remember participating, but it turns out I had, just poorly and wanted to forget abo...

    Just a short post, really just noting a milestone that I can't believe I missed.   The Dodgers won the World Series last week and I was really excited. I have been a fan for a long time and I have experienced all the heartaches and disappointments. I can recite the years: 1977, 1978, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1992, 1995, 2006, 2008, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022, there are probably others.   I also know the really fun ones: 1981, 1988, 2020, 2024.   I know all these, some intimately, because as of this very year, I have been a fan for 50 years. How I didn't realize that on January 1, I don't have a clue. This also means that I have been a fan of the Dodgers for 50 years. And on the 50th year -- to commemorate my achievement as a fan -- the Dodgers won me a World Series title.   Cool.   There are not a lot of things that I have been devoted to for 50 years. I can't even say I have been collecting baseball cards for 50 years, because although I acquired my fi...

  Just one more World Series-related post to finish off the week. I can tell by the views that people no interested in my Series discussions, but I wouldn't be a fan if I didn't write about my team when it gets to the championship and wins. What am I supposed to do, discuss Topps Update? That's what the offseason is for.   I don't know when the next time the Dodgers will reach the World Series will be (and judging by some fans' typical reactions, I may not want to write about them if they win again next year), so I'm taking advantage.   This post will tie up some loose ends and thoughts about the Series.   First off, I need to mention "the blob" and "the king of the hill" on this post. Long-time readers will know that "the blob" is the player that makes the last out in the World Series. It comes from when I was a kid and me and my brother would determine "the blob" each year. I most-recently updated the World Series blobs ...