Night Owl Cards

For awhile there, I was a bit miffed over the reaction to Tuesday's post. I'm aware that there aren't as many set collectors as there once was and especially on the blogs it seems to be a very rare breed -- much rarer than it once was. But I expected more than one person to be at least a little amazed by the different path to putting a set in order by card number, especially since all I ever heard from set collectors prior was there's just that one way to skin a cat. I should know by now that there is no guarantee when it comes to blog comments. But I think this is the new normal. Everything on the blogs is down these days: comments, views, number of posts by other bloggers, trades, cards arriving in the mail from other bloggers, just general enthusiasm for the card blogging life, down, down, down, down. The interesting thing is that I've noticed the latest downturn (there have been several over the last eight years or so) within the last year. If you go ...

The Dodgers have been flexing their farm system prowess the last couple of years and seem to be ramping it up most recently, calling up instant successes like Alex Verdugo, Matt Beaty, Will Smith and Gavin Lux, which followed other very recent rookie success stories like Walker Buehler, Cody Bellinger, Corey Seager and Joc Pederson. There is nothing I like more about my favorite sports team than their ability to churn out talent. Not only does it help lead to a consistent winner, but it's my go-to argument against fans of other teams who whine about the Dodgers' big-market ways. Granted, you need money to sign and scout players and develop them, but that's just part of being a fully functioning franchise. If you can't create your own quality farm system, then, well, you deserve to be the Tigers or Padres or whatever incompetent, every year. Don't accuse my team of doing something wrong or unfair. To me, the ability to produce your own superstars indicates the...

I received another round of 2019 Archives '75s and Allen & Ginter minis recently -- this time from Johnny's Trading Spot . These seem like the popular elements of my collection at the moment. I'm about halfway through in chasing down the Archives '75s, so I don't feel like I can make an overall judgment about what's in that portion of the set. But you know I'm super curious about the color combinations, so I'm going to make an evaluation anyway. Those are the ones Johnny sent. RIP Christian Yelich's knee, and I see along with Posada, Topps is still forcing in marginal Yankee "legends" like Matsui. This is why retro sets like this will never be truly legitimate. The checklists are based on what legends Topps can land/feel will draw the most collectors. Anyway, none of these color combos eliminated any of the remaining color combos from 1975 Topps that I haven't been able to cross off in 2019 Archives. Again, the combos ...

Today marks the first weekend in what will be a series of long, grinding weekends that is the school sports season, which lasts all the way into June. It's almost demoralizing to think of it in those terms. So I try to take it "one week at a time," to paraphrase that super tired expression that athletes still insist on repeating. Plus, as you get older, it's not as deflating because time speeds by and before you know it, it's summer again! Still, I gravitate towards easy comforts during these first few September Fridays to help me get through. Favorite snacks and drinks by my keyboard help. Familiar music all day before heading into work helps, too. And cards -- as you all well know -- can be a comfort, too. Familiar designs work best. I know that Archives doesn't get the designs just  right and that's enough to set off some anxiety in some collectors. I've done my part in picking apart the design differences, but overall I find that when s...