Trade with Night Owl

One of my favorite bloggers and I completed a trade last month. As prolific as he is, he still managed to put up a post detailing the trade before me. Really sad. I'm not blogging much these days, but you think I could at least come up with something especially when it's specific cards that some one has sent over.


I had pulled a bunch of Dodgers that he needed as well as some O-Pee-Chee and the deal was done! O-Pee-Chee was on the downturn here in Norman when I got into collecting cards so I never had a chance to buy any packs, so I jumped at the chance when the discount blasters hit Walmart.

Being a set collector can sometimes be tough. I like certain players and teams, but whenever I see a new product or an old product that's new to me and I like it, it makes me want to own every card in that set. So I have a tendency to want to collect everything which isn't good idea. I've been pretty good lately of finding what is truly important for me to collect, but I still have a lot of sets and subsets that I'm working on. I don't think it' a big deal. I mean someday I'll probably finish those sets. But until I do I'm going to slow down and not go out and buy every new product that comes out.

Of course that doesn't apply to the discount blasters though.

Apparently I pulled a bunch of Dodger cards that blogger extraordinaire Night Owl couldn't resist.

Like me, he has a bunch of sets that he's working on and finally I found some cards in my collection that he didn't have. He's like the sultan of Brunei of card collecting.


1980 Topps baseball is a set that I've been neglecting this summer. I've been focusing on other stuff and haven't had a chance to look for any of these cards.

And a fine pair of Dodgers it is.


I really like the signature on Garvey's card. The uniform S and G is my favorite part of the signature on the card.



Stadium Club is also something I've neglected. All this Million Dollar Giveaway stuff and Gridiron Giveaway is pulling my attention to all the new products and away from the vintage that captured my attention this spring.

Not that it needs to be said again, but Stadium Club has really nice photography.



Here is a local guy Nick Blackburn pitching.



...and a former Cornhusker Joba Chamberlain. He made an appearance before last years OU/Nebraska game.


One element that I get excited about while looking at cards is to see what's going on in the background. Scoreboards always interest me, but also seeing big 400mm lenses poking out is cool too. I'm not sure if I'm going to go out and start another weird personal collection of "cards with Cameras in them" but maybe. I'd probably be the only guy doing a collection like that. No competition would make them easier to collect.

And of course the crown jewel of the trade. I had coveted this card when Night Owl pulled it out of his A&G box, but I had nothing to offer in trade at that time.


It goes great in the A&G binder. Really the only hit that I have from this years set that means anything to me. A different photo is used on these mini relic/auto cards than on the base card. I'm still not so into the red borders though. I thought by now it would grow on me, but not so much. Don't think I'm complaining I really like this card.

Thanks for the cards Night Owl!

Topps baseball pickups

I had meant to write a post about my series two blaster about a month ago. Work and other things took precedent. Goodwin Champions anyone? Anyway, I decided I'd post up my pulls as well as some cool cards I pulled from some hobby packs.

Frank Thomas patch card. I like this one a little less than the Tom Seaver card from the series one blaster, but it's still cool. I'm still not sure what to make of these. They're nice from a player or team collector I guess, but I don't know why you would want to finish this insert. That's probably not the point of these anyway.

Nice card. Now that I think about it, this may have made it's way over to at Sharpe Since '92. He's collecting this insert set.

This looks Upper Deckesque to me. Is that a Giants pitcher in the foreground?

Cool Reyes card for the Turkey Red set I'm still chasing.

Cool action shot showing the two players involved in the play and also the ball.

The only WBC card that I actually like. Nice pose and expression.

A couple of career best cards. This is a nice set too. The photography is a little better in the "Legends of the Game" because it sometimes shows the fans in the stadium in an action shot or at least it shows a nice colorful posed shot.

Here is one of those colorful posed shots that I pulled from a hobby pack.


Johnny Mize. The red stripes on his hat really stand out. The out of focus background is nice. You can even make out the telephone lines behind his shoulder.

Here's a career best of Tris Speaker I pulled from a hobby pack.
This is the first time that I noticed that their was text with "home run", "Doubles" and "Triples" in the background. The monochromatic background really makes the player stand out, doesn't it?


A few more Turkeys that I needed.


Ryan Howard full body shot.



A Jermaine Dye card. All of Dye's cards look cool to me except this one. I wish it was tilted up just a little. I think there's a little too much headroom and it bothers me. I like that it's a tightly cropped shot though. So far, I don't have a lot of Turkey Reds with close shots. That may not be the style that they are going for in these cards. So many of them seem to be far away or full body shots.

The base set cards are nice too.

I got the biggest kick out of this one of Daniel Murphy. I had seen this card on Night Owls blog and have coveted it ever since. His was the gold-bordered parallel, which I'm not too fond of, but I really like that it's different take on a game shot. A little too much dead space on the right of the card, but that's cool anyway because it shows the stadium and spectators. Looks like a fairly full stadium that day.

I pulled a bunch of Mets that I needed. Johan is a personal favorite. I love this pose. I might have to do another painting of him. This time I'll have to get it right and portray him as a left handed pitcher.


And then theirs this, a card that I really didn't know what to make of when I saw the edge of it. It was really thin like the other cards. The edges look like the "Legends of the Game" insert, but it was shinier. I picked it up and it sort of reminded me of Allen and Ginter or Topps Mayo because of the small card in the window of a bigger card.


It's a stamp card numbered 07/90 which is cool I guess. I didn't know these existed. I haven't seen anybody blogging about these, so it's new to me! I'm still not sure what "St. Vincent and the Grenadines" is referring to, I guess I'll have to look that one up.

I used to collect stamps sort of, so I can sort of get excited about this. It really doesn't grab me much. At least it's of Mickey Mantle. I'm still pretty new at collecting so Mickey cards are still nice for me. I can understand why it would be tedious to pull his cards simply because they're so many of them inserted into cards these days.

The card's thinner than the Ginter cards and I'm wondering if it will peel apart like my Chad Johnson Mayo relic card. Actually it makes me wonder if all of these cards with the plastic covering will someday peel away at the edges.


This reaffirms that buying random hobby packs is better than a blaster as far as inserts go. I'd rather have a few legends of the game or turkey reds than one patch card.

mail day! ( or why I think Night Owl might be The Shadow)

disclaimer: everything you read in this post is true, I might have exaggerated a little at the end, but everything that happened, happened EXACTLY the way I've described it.


I found a few packages waiting for me today in the old mailbox. One was from an ebay purchase and the other was from another blogger that we all know by the name of Night Owl.

First the ebay thing. I recently have gotten in the (bad) habit of checking ebay for an easy, quick way to finish off some sets and inserts that are giving me trouble.

Actually I'd rather trade than buy simply because I'd like to help other people with their collections and of course it's fun to get stuff in the mail. Buying it outright just seems a little too easy sometimes. I guess it's necessary though. I'm trying to collect the entire A&G black border minis and I think ebay is going to account for finishing a majority of that set.

The only problem with trading is that I don't really have enough cards to really help people out that much. I also hate that I don't have enough extra cards to send along with the trade. That still doesn't stop me from pestering people to trade with me though. Sorry in advance everyone!!

Anyway I really wanted this Mickey Mantle card after seeing it on a blog.
It's because of the stadium seating in the background and the upper deck shadows over the spectators gives it a lot of depth.

I know that the blogger was a big Yankees fan and wouldn't part with it anyway, so I thought I'd check out ebay.

I "won" it for a very low price, which is cool. I also bid on a few other items from the same seller hoping to get a bunch of different UD Masterpiece cards. Their was this really nice Sandy Koufax card and a great Jackie Robinson card with Jackie sliding into home. I didn't get those, but I still got a few nice cards.


JFK throwing out the first pitch at the new D.C. Stadium. I like the way he looks, but the background not so much. It's a little too cartoony or something for my tastes. When I first saw it, it looked a little like he's in a board of directors meeting or something. Was he throwing out the first pitch in the stands? Maybe they used to do that, I don't know. It seems like he should have been shown with some out of focus ballplayers in the background with the stadium walls in the background or something. Plus I don't believe that dude holding the hat is even looking at the ball. He staring straight into the sun. Idiot.

Anyway I also purchased this one of Derek Jeter.

This is a nice action shot I guess.

I'm really thinking about getting back into painting and I think the Mantle card might make a good candidate for a slim horizontal style painting. I don't know about any sort of copyright problems, but hopefully it will be okay.

Anyway after the ebay stuff I decided to see what Night Owl had in store for me.

I had asked for a couple of Topps cards to fill out my series one needs and I immediately noticed those packed together with what seemed to be another card inside.


Oh! A really nice Juan Pierre card. I like the framing of Pierre between an anonymous player's legs. First thing that comes to mind is the strip club scene in Beverly Hills Cop.


Of course I noticed the bright yellow card of Duke Snider. It was the top card in another package of three.


There was Pee Wee Reese card on the back. An UD '06 All-Time Legends insert I guess.

Really cool start to the package. Inside was a Jackie Robinson card.

I think it's some sort of Topps Stadium club or something. If you look closely enough, he's looking over his shoulder at us. I know Night Owl likes Jackie Robinson a lot. So do I, that's why it's nice that he was kind enough to send me one of his cards.

Really nice surprises so far in addition to the regular cards.

Another 3 pack of cards. On the front is another Pee Wee. This time a Goudey '08. My first Goudey '08. I still don't know the differences between the red and green backs. Pee Wee looks a lot older in this card than he did in the Upper Deck card.


Inside this sleeve on the back was a Russell Martin card. Very nice.

I was really curious to see what would be in the middle of this "pack".

The same Jackie Robinson card I didn't win on Ebay. That's a funny coincidence. I know that we have some of the same tastes in players and teams, but still. I mean, c'mon. That's a little eerie dontcha' think?

Remember when I mentioned earlier wanting to complete the A&G black border set? Yeah I didn't think so. Most of you are probably sleeping through this. Well, it gets a lot more exciting now. I noticed he had another sleeve with some black border minis and another card underneath.

Keep in mind when I saw the minis I was stoked. That's a real nice gesture to send those cards. I still need them too, by the way. I wasn't really expecting people to send those out. They're kind of hard to come by.

Okay this is what was in the sleeve with them.

OH MY GOODNESS!!! Are you kidding me! I couldn't believe it. I'm still looking at it now. Now I'm starting to get a little freaked out.

This is the other card that I didn't get on Ebay. I know what you guys are thinking, those cards can be found relatively easy moron. Just look around. That's actually not the point, it's the fact that he's got super powers or something. Maybe he's Santa Claus. Maybe he's the Shadow. hmm. Yes! Except instead of clouding men's minds HE HAS THE POWER TO READ MEN'S MINDS!

Maybe he has operatives all over the world checking on people's want lists. Or maybe he's just clairavoyant. Hmmm, come to think of it, I remember an owl hanging out in the tree in my front yard. Yeah that's it, he has computerized owls tracking peoples card buying habits.

Just to take a step further, If Night Owl was the character Jerry Thompson in the movie Citizen Kane, there would be no 3 1/2 hour Citizen Kane movie. There would be a 3 1/2 trailer of Citizen Kane. It would go like this:

Newsreel Producer: "find out all you can about Charles Foster Kane. Get to the bottom of "rosebud".

Night Owl: "It's his childhood sleigh named rosebud. Hello! Duh. It's a symbol of something he could never buy, his innocence."

END CREDITS


But seriously though, thanks for the cards. I really, really liked them.

The Masterpieces are nice. I never noticed before that the painting extends beyond the gold frame. You can see it on Sandy Koufax's feet. Especially his right leg. I don't have a lot of these so I don't have much to compare with, but they all look pretty nice.

Thanks again!

Random inserts

About a month and a half ago I had the bright idea of possibly offering baseball cards to potential customers as a bonus to the basic photo package. My theory is that nobody else was really doing them, and maybe I could do it better.

After a few searches on goggle, most of the searches came up with card blogs.
I didn't realize their were so many bloggers out there who were actively blogging about card collecting.

The first few blogs were Night Owl, SCU and Wax Heaven.

All three of those blogs give me insight into the world of collecting and the wide range of what the hobby has to offer.

SCU gives me insight into the world of collecting that I have no experience in; the high end card sets with auto's and relics. It's nice to see what those guys pull, but I'm more of a basic Topps guy. I guess I'm a first worlder, and I'm happy with that.

Night Owl reminds me of the era of cards that I collected as a kid. He has a wealth of info on the older cards as well as the new ones.

Wax Heaven is nice for the new product updates and of course the contests that I have no chance of winning.

I quickly turned that mild interest in card design to checking on the blogs almost every night.

Obviously just reading about the cards wasn't enough, I had to go out and buy the product to make my own judgement on what the cards look and felt like.

I was so curious about what each pack of cards had to offer that I bought a bunch of different packs hoping to find something worthwhile.

I basically pulled a bunch of crap with a few highlights thrown in.

I'm not even sure what set this came from. I'm pretty sure I've read a blog where someone was making fun of it, I just can't remember where.

I really liked the '06 Highlights and Updates mainly because of the cartoons on the back.

and of course the random inserts.

I bought a ton of these cards hoping to get more inserts like these Mickey Mantle Home Run cards.


From the looks of the 5 or 6 cards I have that the Kansas City A's were the recipient of a lot of Mantle's home runs in that era. I kind of like the backs more than the front.



Even so, I would rather have the MM Home Run inserts instead of this crap:



If anybody out there wants these, let me know. I have 4 or 5 of these Bonds cards needing a home.

I wish I would have known about these Rookie Debut inserts earlier though. These are much nice looking cards.



I think they went a little overboard with the vignetting filter, but anyway it's nice to me.

I have no idea about the checklist on these old packs so I never no what they are or when they'll show up.


I like this Chad Johnson card. I was damaged on the lower right corner though. The front was a little separated from the
back of the card. I have a feeling that since it's an '08 card Topps isn't going to replace it though.

This Juan Encarnacion card includes a game worn relic from some MLB game, just not sure which game or who wore it.


I really like that it has a wrinkle in the fabric. It must be really "game worn" then. It's a really thick card, too big to fit in a toploader.



A cool pickup was this Frank Gifford card. It's from the 2006 football Heritage line. I guess the bottom of the card is "miscut" in an attempt to seem more vintage?

A got a few "big heads" from '07 Goudey. I was trying so hard to get some these.

I like the Ichiro, but it looks like I might have to go the Ebay route to get some Met big heads.

This is not an insert, but still one of the best cards I've seen in a while is this one though.


I think Mike Sweeney has become my favorite MLB player after looking at this card. This would be the best take on a "game face" expression on a card that I've seen. Hilarious. I like that someone could be so un-self conscious to do this for their card. I also don't mind the horrible "shadow" on the wall behind him.

All in all it was fun learning experience to buy random packs. Being a new collector I'm really addicted to the Walmart and Target repacks. They provide a nice diversion while I try to finish up the 2009 A&G.