Night Owl Cards

(I am preparing to have my dinner at the office again tonight after yet another prediction of a late afternoon/early evening snowstorm. This is convenient for 9-5 workers, who can close up shop early, but definitely not for me. Let's see if I can get out of the work parking lot late tonight. Time for Cardboard Appreciation. This is the 363rd in a series):   My collecting during the junk wax era was sporadic. I've written many times that I didn't collect between 1986-88 (save for one pack of Topps I bought in '88). I collected Topps like crazy in 1989, then went cold turkey again in 1990. I came back somewhere in 1991 collecting casually and then bought a bunch in '92 and '93.   I can see good and bad points to this. The good: I have no fond memories for mediocre sets like 1990 Donruss or overvalue 1989 Upper Deck. The bad: I missed several players commonly known by junk wax devotees, who were kids at the time and memorized the front and back of every card.   For...

   What would you say collectors who aren't bloggers think of us collecting bloggers, if they think about us at all?   Would they think we're wildly dedicated to the hobby? Probably not. But we are.   Would they think we're wasting our time, writing a bunch of words nobody has time to read anymore? Maybe.   Would they think we're stodgy, focused only on old cardboard (defined as anything before the '90s) and traditional ways of collecting -- buying packs, holding on to base cards. Some would, I think.   But I happen to think that card bloggers have the most varied and interesting collections. Sure, there's a bit of pack rat in all of us collecting bloggers, but those hoarded stacks of cards are so damn fascinating. In this world of specialization -- just take a look at what the grading aspect of the hobby focuses on -- I'm glad my collection is eclectic. It's not as eclectic as some but it's more eclectic than most.   All I need to do is look through...

   Trading cards takes a lot of time. Also, sometimes it takes a lot of work.   Everyone collects differently and sometimes it's difficult to match up with another collector. That happens all the time. No big deal really. Then there are the fellow collectors that drag out trades for too damn long.   I never participated in collectors forums, but I've heard that trades were often like that there. I have no problem trading away nice cards, but I'm not going to send a couple dozen messages back and forth to come to an agreement on an exact accounting of precise compensation. I've dealt with this in the past with a couple bloggers. It's not fun. Trading is supposed to be fun.   That's why I gravitate to super simple trades. My favorite are: "I'll send you some cards whenever and you send some cards whenever." That's how most trades go on the blogs. It's about the only ones I make these days.   It's also why I participate in stuff like Diamo...

  A couple of housekeeping things before I get to the topic tonight. First, I've figured out the issues I've had with commenting on some other blogs as well as, probably, why others sometimes can't comment on mine.   It comes down to Google being extra particular/unhelpful and requiring the Google Chrome browser for some blogs. I don't know why it's just some and not all. But it explains why I can comment on those difficult blogs at work because I use Chrome at work. Should've made that connection earlier.   Also, I'm still building stacks of Dodger cards for those who said they were interested. It's going to take a minute. March has slowed things down as it likes to do (its final kiss-off is really sucky weather this weekend). Hopefully next month I'll be sending packages out.   One of those collectors getting a gift of Dodgers is Jason, a.k.a., Heavy J , who recently took up the challenge of sending me Dodger cards I don't have already. This is...

  I buy cards a lot. That's how most of the cards arrive in my collection. It's the best way to build a card collection, as painful as it can be for the wallet. I buy from dealers at card shows, from various well-known online sites and periodically from individual sellers on Twitter. There are a lot of people selling cards now. A LOT. It's grown, and is still growing. There are folks on Twitter who sell nonstop. I sometimes have to mute them because I can't take the relentless shilling, even if they're not annoying about it. Then I've noticed that people who used to just tweet regular stuff, their tweets started being all about selling stuff, and, well ... you only have so much cash. And patience. I won't turn my Twitter account into that. I won't sell stuff on here either. Not that a blog is an effective -- or even appropriate -- place to sell cards. The blog world, to me, still is where generosity reigns. It's not as apparent as it once was. I mean...

  There's sometimes this attitude that custom cards aren't worth buying.   I'm guilty of feeling this way. Sometimes I'll run a search through ebay and automatically turn my nose up at some of the homemade cards that find their way into the results. Did someone just make that? There's no way anyone's paying for that!   I've been conditioned to buy cards created only by professionals. So I have certain standards. But if you have the custom-card-making skills, sure, I'll think about buying one. There's one custom card maker who's made me think long and hard about this. The Nine Pockets blog is not shy about giving away the custom cards he makes. I've jumped on the opportunities plenty of times. The quality is definitely there, and often the subject matter speaks to me. So I've accumulated a small collection of Gregory's Nine Pockets creations. Terrific work. Each one addresses a particular favorite pop culture moment of mine with a p...