Night Owl Cards

  Blogging in detail can take a lot of time and effort. I've got several observations and pick-ups to discuss and none of them are worth dedicating a whole post to -- so let's drag out the "housekeeping"' label and piece together a bunch of unrelated topics! I do that a lot, though not since 2024.   Up first is this terrific Hideo Nomo Dueling Dugouts insert from 1997 Pinnacle Inside. I've been intrigued by these from afar for a long time and finally received my first one last year (Karim Garcia on "the back" of the Vladimir Guerrero card). It was time to get a full-fledged Dodger one this time.   The kicker to these is you can turn the dial on the side and it shows the player's stats for that year in the center windows. So cool. Here is a look at the other years on this card:   Outstanding. Interestingly Nomo's stats with the Japan Pacific League's Kintetsu Buffaloes are shown for 1994 but 1993 is blank despite Nomo playing for the same ...

  Right now, the Bills are playing a team I don't like, that I think is going to win and end the Bills season. I could be wrong but that's not calming my nerves any several hours before the game. What I need is something to do unrelated to NFL playoffs, so I'm doing this. Writing words has a way of distracting me and calming me down. Getting new cards can be a nice distraction, too. Hell, this whole hobby is a distraction. I just received last week a nice, big package from Base Set Calling . It contained plenty of variety, which as you know can also be distracting -- oooh, look at this, ooooh look at this! It was good for Brian to spread things around because there's bound to be dupes in any single category. For example: These were all duplicates. They are very nice duplicates, which means I am sure there are upgrades here. But I have been quite active in my 1979 Topps football chase the last few months. These, however, were needs and big names, too. They've waited...

  I've run out of descriptors for the boxes Dave sends. Heck, even before you get to the contents, he sends it so it shows up on the porch just before The Storm Of A Generation hits. How? That's what happened last Thursday, before all the weather-fretting and "will we have power" concerns began -- like mere hours before that all began. But after the porch arrival, it was, "well, if the power goes out at least I have his big box of cards from Dave." Simply put, the box was flat-out impressive. Dodgers, yeah, there were Dodgers. Like '90s Dodgers Inserts Dodgers. Also included was that Mookie Betts Archives postcard insert that I instantly desired and then just as instantly received. Dave made sure that the desiring didn't turn into months of pining.     Heritage Dodgers. What's the highlight here? The Bellinger relic? The sparkly blue parallels that I didn't even know was a thing because I have a job and a family? Or how about that Kershaw fro...

    I don't discuss night cards or publish weekly Awesome Night Card posts much anymore. One of the few mini-collections that I have is more of an under-the-radar card habit for me these days. But the night card binder is still going, maybe not as strongly but I still pull it out periodically to see what slots I can fill. It really is pretty when you open it up and look at the gleaming lights beaming from the pages. Recently, Max from the Starting Nine blog sent an assortment of cards catered to my interests and two of them were fantastically constructed night cards from this year's Stadium Club. Look at that Shed Long card above. Joy in prime time right there. Very cool. And I barely know who Shed Long is. So, you know the frankenset drill. I turn over the Shed Long card to see what number it is and see if it can fill a slot, or bump the other card out. Long is card No. 198 in 2020 Stadium Club. But there's someone in the way: Sorry, Shed, you're not going to unseat P...