Night Owl Cards

  I placed what likely will be my final comc order Saturday. I'll write about why I'm feeling that way when the order arrives but I think everyone reading this who has dealt with that site recently knows that it's not what it once was.   I'm going to have to widen my horizons yet again when it comes to purchasing cards. It seems like the reliable old ways -- comc, card shows, retail shelves -- aren't as fool-proof as they once were, and I'm going to need to look for more alternatives.   Fortunately I'm well-connected and my love for the hobby is well-known. Cards can come from any direction as this post will show.   These cards arrived from Alan through the BlueSky giveaway thread. They are TCMA reprints of the 1936 Goudey set (R322). My excitement in getting these -- other than that I love everything TCMA -- is that they're from 1972, which is the first year TCMA began issuing sets. These are the oldest TCMA cards that I own! Heck, they might as well b...

Twenty-five years ago this Saturday, a well-known stand-up comedian debuted a little-known sitcom during the 4th of July holiday week. It would be nearly a year before another episode appeared and probably a good two years before "Seinfeld" took hold with the American public. But I can safely say that I have never seen or probably ever will see a funnier television show. "Seinfeld" is the sitcom of my era. The generation before me had "All in the Family." The generation after me had god knows what -- do they make sitcoms anymore? I remember watching one of the earliest Seinfelds sometime during 1990 in my co-worker's apartment, thinking "what is this?" I believe it was the one where Kramer fills the washing machine with cement. Sometime after that, I was a faithful Thursday night watcher, like the rest of TV viewers. When the show hit syndication, I copied them on to videotape because I knew that a show this historically funny sh...

I have always loved this card. The 2009 Topps set contained quite a few great photos and some cards got overlooked. This is one of them. But it's not good enough to make the "Best Dodger Card Ever Made" countdown. Yeah, remember that ? Four months ago, I announced that I would present a countdown here on the best Dodger cards in my collection. I'd find 100 of the greatest and then get all Casey Kasem on your upside and not stop 'til I got to the top. Then I forgot about it for a few months. Then I remembered it again. And it kept nagging, and nagging, and nagging, and nagging me. Until I said ... ALL RIGHT, I'LL DO IT!!!!!! JUST TOP TALKING, OK???????? Heh. So I went through all 12,000 or so Dodgers in the collection and came up with a list. Then I whittled down the list some more. I'm now down to 108 cards that I like quite a bit. Meaning that I have to trim eight more cards in what is sure to be a tortuous, agonizing exercise.  (...

Kevin, from the always thoughtful and frequently amusing Orioles Card "O" the Day blog, posted a card of Roger McDowell a couple of days ago. There was nothing unusual about the card, except for one thing: there was nothing unusual about the card. Just about every collector knows that McDowell liked to show his goofy side. A lot. And card companies couldn't get enough of McDowell showing his goofy side. Card company employees would wait in the bushes for that moment that McDowell wore an article of clothing inside-out, and then snap away with their disposable camera, or whatever they used back then. Most of McDowell's wackiness on cardboard took place when he was a member of the Dodgers. He was well-established as zany when he was with the Mets and Phillies, but his four-year stint with the Dodgers coincided with card companies' trend in showing the lighter side of ballplayers. So, lucky me, I have a whole bunch of cards of McDowell being a cardboard cut-up...

I don't need any incentive in maintaining this blog. I am my own worst critic, and I wouldn't be happy with myself if I mailed it in all the time. I try to keep posts interesting, at least to me anyway. If others like it, that's wonderful. But if I needed incentive, there are some wonderful collectors out there who provide it. Several collectors have sent me cards simply because they enjoy the blog. I am truly grateful to those who do so and very humbled. And I find myself doing the same thing (although on a smaller cards scale -- my collection isn't as vast as others). It's kind of instinctive. I just seem to want to send cards to bloggers that I like. The only trouble is, there are so many blogs that I like! Anyway, reader Max is one of those who simply enjoys sending cards out to collectors. I've come across Max a few times as he's a frequent commentor on Andy's blogs (reading his latest, the '88 Score Traded blog , is a daily ritual for me)....