Night Owl Cards

A couple of milestones -- one mine, one not -- regarding the total number of cards for a particular player, conspired last night to create this post. Right around the time The Lost Collector announced on his blog that he had reached 1,000 Tino Martinez cards for his collection, I crossed 200 Corey Seager cards when I recorded the above 2020 Topps variation card sent to me by the Starting Nine . Now, there are obvious differences between those two milestones, aside from the difference of 800 cards. First, Martinez's career is over. He played for 16 seasons, primarily during the card glut of the 1990s, and for whatever reason they're still making cards of him. Seager is still playing and this is the beginning of just his sixth season. Second, I am not a player collector. I don't actively seek out Seager cards like AJ does Martinez cards. Seager cards come to me because I collect Dodger cards, but there is no other mission. So, what does that say? Maybe it's ...

If you can create an established blog with a little bit of readership, certain perks come along with that. One is a few trade partners that are somewhat exclusive to your own well-read blog. I have a handful of them that trade with just my blog, basically, and I am quite grateful for that. I consider it a reward for trying to get some content out there. I've noticed that I'm not the only card blog with that perk. There are a few others who enjoy exclusive relationships with traders. I've seen on Dime Boxes that there's this guy named Bob who sends Nick cards from time-to-time. My question when I read these posts is usually, "Hey I like cards and have a blog, too. Where are my cards?" Well, Bob must have heard my thoughts because a week or so ago I received an email from him offering to send me some cards. Bob's also started a card blog, called the best bubble . You can't beat that! Cards from a new trader and a new blog to read! My goodnes...

Last week, while navigating in the haze brought on by my work shift change, I happened to check my email and came across a note from the son of a major league baseball player. It took me awhile to figure out exactly what it was or who it was. I barely know the time most days of the week, but the man sending the email said he had worked the night shift, too, and, oh by the way, what a great write-up you did on my dad! The son of former Red Sox and Giants catcher Russ Gibson had dropped a line to let me know how much he appreciated my 1971 Topps post on his father. "Funny and factual," he said, which I'm happy to say are two key goals of my writing. He said he loved it, in capital letters. Then he told a story. The email was sent shortly after the Yankees-Red Sox brawl. A friend of Gibson's son on Facebook had asked why the Red Sox catcher had not tried to stop Tyler Austin from charging the mound (I often wonder this as I watch the catcher just stand there). ...

As you can imagine, it took me almost no time to dispatch those Giants autographs that I opened on Christmas morning. The average time for me sending out cards in response to cards I've received is verging on between one and two months these days (March is a particular brutal month for this). But I was shipping out those Giants uggos within a week. I found the perfect victim ... er, recipient in Adam . I sent him almost all of the signed cards I received, with the noted exception of the Bobby Thomson. Despite his history against my team, I can't part with it, although I could be convinced. Adam then passed on some of the signatures to mr. haverkamp, and now you know the only two Giants card collectors that I know in the world. Then, both of them, sent me some Dodgers autographed cards in return! Boy, I think this blogging thing is going to turn out all right. I received seven autographed cards of seven different Dodgers. These days, I'm looking for autographe...

First, because people might have missed it because I haven't been in the habit of posting on this blog overnight lately, I am hoarding Steve Garvey cards . I apparently have a thing about fallen heroes. I look at my first year of blogging with the same nostalgic haze usually reserved for bad '70s music and '80s neon. It was a fascinating time full of new cards, new collecting partners and newly discovered blogs. Not only was I finding already established blogs, but new ones seemed to appear every week. The blogging giddiness has disappeared over the years for me and, it appears, for others. Lots of blogs established during 2008 and 2009 aren't around anymore, or are stuck on some distant date in the past, frozen in time. Every once in awhile, though, a blog reappears and I love it when that happens. A few weeks ago, I received an email from someone who was blogging during that first year I was, who had returned to blogging. The blog -- Project Phillies -- ha...