Night Owl Cards

(Greetings on March 15, otherwise known as the Ides of March, Oscar Day, Selection Sunday and World Baseball Classic semifinals day. It's also Everything You Think Is Wrong Day, set aside for folks to ponder that maybe they're not right all the time -- probably the most valuable thing to do out of this whole day. Time for Cardboard Appreciation. This is the 367th in a series):   Take a gander at this card. Not much to look at, huh? Maybe you'll find his story more interesting. Maybe not.   This is a card of Alonso Tellez (misspelled on the card). At the time this card was issued, Tellez was in the middle of his two seasons with the San Antonio Dodgers, the Double A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Tellez played in 118 games for San Antonio in 1986 and 119 games in 1987. He batted .263 over those two years and recorded 48 doubles.   He also played in two games for the Triple A Albuquerque Dukes in 1986 and played in 104 games for the Double A Jacksonville Expos in 198...

   What would you say collectors who aren't bloggers think of us collecting bloggers, if they think about us at all?   Would they think we're wildly dedicated to the hobby? Probably not. But we are.   Would they think we're wasting our time, writing a bunch of words nobody has time to read anymore? Maybe.   Would they think we're stodgy, focused only on old cardboard (defined as anything before the '90s) and traditional ways of collecting -- buying packs, holding on to base cards. Some would, I think.   But I happen to think that card bloggers have the most varied and interesting collections. Sure, there's a bit of pack rat in all of us collecting bloggers, but those hoarded stacks of cards are so damn fascinating. In this world of specialization -- just take a look at what the grading aspect of the hobby focuses on -- I'm glad my collection is eclectic. It's not as eclectic as some but it's more eclectic than most.   All I need to do is look through...

  (The 1989 Score offers are arriving fast-and-furious after my most recent post. I should be down to just a few wants in a week or two! The blog's still got it. Time for Cardboard Appreciation. This is the 361st in a series):   I plucked this Cluck from my COMC order, which arrived early last week. You'll soon see the rest of what's probably my final order from that place, but I wanted to feature this card separate since it's kind of the black sheep of my order, not fitting neatly with any of the other cards.   I didn't pick it up only for the wonderful Toros uniforms of the era (and there are even gaudier examples ) or just because of the marvelous name on the front. Nor did I add it because coach cards are a relative rarity.   I grabbed this card for all of those reasons and one other -- I interviewed Bob Cluck once. He is a "Brush With Greatness" subject who I have never mentioned.   I wonder how many other coaches who I have interviewed have cards tha...

(I think Topps/Fanatics has succeeded in curbing my craving for current product. Between the months and months that pass before a new set is released and nothing showing up on shelves regardless, I'm losing my interest for anything that isn't flagship or Heritage. Topps Holiday? Don't care. A&G hasn't shown up yet? Don't care. Thanks, Topps. I'm cured! Time for Cardboard Appreciation. This is the 358th in a series):   I came across this card on social media the other day. It was one of those 1980s cards that I had never seen before, showing a player I had never heard of until that moment. This still can happen with mid-1980s cards when I was apart from the hobby.   Still, it's enough of a rarity that I was stunned. Dave Shipanoff? Who? How had I never heard of him? The first thing I did was look him up on baseball-reference.   I discovered he played for the Phillies just one year in the back half of the 1985 season. He appeared in relief in 26 games, sav...

 (I managed to find my way to a ballpark today. It's been awhile. I go so infrequently these days that when I do, I'm surprised by the prices on everything. I mean this is minor league baseball, should I be spending $150 to have a good time for a "minor" event? It's just the two of us! Anyway, time for Cardboard Appreciation with an appropriate card. This is the 341st in a series): When I wrote a post 10 days ago about the very nice cards I received from reader Jonathan, I didn't include a set of cards he sent me. It was the 1986 Memphis Chicks set from something called "Time Out Sports". Jonathan said he got it cheaply because the Bo Jackson card that's part of the 26-card set wasn't included. But he sent it along anyway because he thought it had that charm that 1980s minor league sets are known for ... and it does.     A blogger from 2008 could expend quite a few words on a card of someone named Jere Longenecker who the photographer didn...

    As a veteran blogger, I know that post titles will decide how many views you get. Sometimes it's a catchy phrase or something that sounds controversial or confrontational in nature. Maybe it's a word that sets off the bots, like the other day when I accidentally wrote "Cardboard Appreciation" instead of "C.A." and created a frenzy of clicks (Bots love the word "cardboard"). My last post about the glorious vintage I got to wander through didn't get the views but did get the comments. That's how you know you're getting the right people to your post. Just put "assessment" in your post title and find out who isn't scared easily. With that in mind, I changed today's post title from "minor league Sunday" to "a minor achievement," just to grab a few who might automatically ignore someone writing about minor league cards, which I'm about to right now (although maybe you got the hint by the card ima...

  I received some cards in the mail today that will require their own individual posts. But before I do that, I must clear the way for them with some earlier acquisitions that my feeble brain is unable to figure out how to make them their own readable posts. So, massive regurgitation of not-so-recent arrivals it is!!! Let's start with the marvelous Roy Campanella Shakey's Pizza card above and some sends from Rod of Padrographs . Rod recently held a small team group break in order to downsize his collection and I signed up for the Dodgers. All of the above cards (one is not a baseball player, I am aware) are either cards I didn't have or can repurpose in some fashion.   I don't associate Ernie Lombardi with the Dodgers at all -- 100 percent Reds. But the Dodgers are listed on the back of the 1980 Cramer card, with the other teams he played for, and Lombardi did begin his career with Brooklyn in 1931. He's also listed with the Dodgers in the set on TCDB, I'm not s...

     USPS-delivered packages to my home have been sporadic in the last week or two as has been the case through most of the country.   Even though various package-tracking tools listed my packages as arriving by certain dates last week, I received no mail on Wednesday and no mail again on Saturday. A foot-plus of snow did land on the abode Saturday so that may have something to do with it, but that's a rather swift drop from that neither-snow-rain-nor-gloom-of-night promise I've been hearing all my life.   Obviously, postal deliverers have legitimate reasons for being late this season, this year. But it does get frustrating when an anniversary gift you ordered a full month before Christmas arrives three days after Christmas.   However, I wasn't too upset because today, I got mail!!!   I was thrilled. The mailbox was stuffed, because obviously my packages had been living in whatever abandoned weigh station was their home since before Christmas day. Car...