Night Owl Cards

(Greetings on National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day. There are no chocolate chip cookies in the house, nor do I see one for me on the horizon today -- certainly not buying the package in the downstairs vending machine at work. I shall distract myself with Cardboard Appreciation. This is the 355th in a series):   Continuing my recent trend toward devoting Cardboard Appreciation to oddball sets , here's another item -- that I didn't know existed until last week.   I mentioned a few posts ago that I was asked to assess a collection that was given to a church thrift shop. The collection was once owned by a boy who is now 25 and includes mostly cards from the early 2000s to the mid 2010s.   I also mentioned that the co-worker who asked me to look it over gave me permission to pick out some cards for my own collection. I added a handful -- no more than 15. A lot of it was familiar stuff that I either already own, don't like much or don't collect (football and basketball mostly)....

I decided to read up on the next Topps set to hit card aisles this season. It's the annual Archives issue and it's scheduled to be released a week from today. I've mentioned everything that distresses me about Archives so many times that I feel like I'm parodying myself. Even though it seems like this product is targeted toward me, I don't think I'm meant for this product. It's just too irksome. I should walk away and let it go. But just one more thing. I naturally wanted to see which past designs were going to be featured in the base set this year (I probably knew this information once before but my brain is full and facts and memories leak out all the time). Like the previous two years, Topps is featuring only three past designs after featuring four the first three years of the Archives reboot. Here are the three designs for 2017: 1960, 1982, 1992. Two of those designs are all right. One is definitely not. And the one that is not is freaking...

I'm sure a few of you retail hounds have noticed that blasters of 2008 Upper Deck Timeline have reappeared in Walmart. It's been three years since UD put out this set and I'm still tempted to buy packs or blasters every time I see it. I'm wondering if in three years time when I see marked down blasters of 2011 product, if I'll be even half as intrigued. I really like the Timeline set. I've said that many times. I'm also half-heartedly collecting the whole thing, which is the proper way to collect this set. If you try to collect it wholeheartedly, you'll blow through the ceiling fuming over how you've pulled another Chase Utley base card for the 52nd time. And then you'll have to call the fire department and be all embarrassed. I bought one discounted blaster a few weeks ago, and the only thing keeping me from buying another one (besides the "no money" excuse) is the fact that 2011 Heritage is still amusing me. Fortunately, ot...

So, today I traveled again to the big box epicenter in my town in my continuing quest to find Heritage retail packs. I found nothing. Neither store had any 2009 blasters either, of any variety -- darkened, grayed-backed, regular or extra crispy. So I walked away with the only thing that I haven't seen on any blog yet -- yes, two pax of '09 Topps Attax. Stop laughing. I get the distinct impression that some people don't consider Topps Attax collectible cards. That it's just a silly kids' game. Well, first of all, I don't know any kids who play cards. Most of the people I knew who played cards are no longer with us. I have a hard time believing, even with the online connection, that it's a big kids draw. But aside from that, they're pretty much like any other cards. Picture of the player and the team name. Yeah, the card back is direct from your grandmother's gin rummy deck, but I like the simplicity. And how often these days do you see a Topps wrapper...