It’s just you and me, Orsulak

One card. One lousy card left to complete my 1986 Topps set. And it’s Joe “bleeping” Orsulak.Can you believe it? The strangest cards end up being the last ones needed to put a bow on a set. Not Puckett, not Mattingly, not Rose. Orsulak.I don’t know wh…

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(The list of appreciation days continues: hairstyle appreciation day - April 30, boss appreciation day - Oct. 16, national meatloaf appreciation day - Oct. 18. I still think we can squeeze a baseball collectors appreciation day in there somewhere. It’s…

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I haven’t bought a repack box in a long, long time, probably since last summer. But I was in a mood to celebrate at Wal-Mart today. Andruw Jones won’t be playing for the Dodgers anymore! What better way to celebrate the Dodgers’ admission that they bl…

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First things first: SamDaMan, where are ya? Want your free cards? As a contest winner, you have the right to them. Please email me your address so I can send you your winnings. You have until Friday. If I don’t hear from you by then, the cards are hea…

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Work is going to be crazy today. Looooong, grueling and crazy. So I have time for just a quick post, and I guess it should be about something that I like about my job.So I’ll mention one of the other major leaguers I’ve talked to in my job, and he’s p…

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When I first saw this Score disc card (I’m not sure which year it is — 1991 or 1992 it looks like), I had an instant flashback to the round cards that were sold with whiffle ball bats during the 1970s. Does anyone remember those? They were white and …

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The MLB Network is on!!! It’s ON!!! You can’t see me now, but I’m typing this while performing my happy dance. I’m ecstatic.This is an absolute fantastic start to 2009. Baseball in the dead of winter! Jimmy Rollins! Harold Reynolds! Al Leiter! Don Lar…

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After the last contest I ran, in which I had to go through a painstaking process to determine the eventual winner, I’m relieved to announce a clear-cut champion of this contest.The winner receives all of the contents (excluding the gum) of the 14 reta…

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Happy New Year! Mr. Sandberg is dressed for the big event, even if he is a bit confused about what year it is.I’m looking forward to 2009. But before I ring in the new, I must ring out the old. So here is a list of a 100 things I’ve learned in 2008, a…

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On this last day of 2008, it’s fitting that I feature someone who had one heck of a 2008. In fact when you combine on-field success with “baseball card” success is there anyone else that had a more gangbusters year than Evan Longoria?In terms of colle…

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I read with interest Cardboard Junkie’s account today of the two different Topps Stadium Club blasters that he had busted and how similar they were. That’s because I bought an SC blaster yesterday, and noticed it was remarkably similar to dayf’s blast…

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I’m not dumb enough to consider “Work Hard, Get Cards” an insert, but think about it for a minute: It’s not part of the base set. It’s randomly inserted in packs; you don’t get one in every pack. That’s the definition of an insert, right?OK, enough fo…

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Here is a post about various items, none of them particularly related except for the fact that they all have to do with baseball cards.First, even though I already responded to Dinged Corners’ New Year’s Baseball Card Questions in the comments, I notic…

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I think this is going to serve as my “cardboard appreciation” post of the week. “Cardboard appreciations” might be my favorite posts to write, but considering this is a list of the “best” of the packs that I bought over the last two months, it’s basic…

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To recap, this is where I review some of the cards that I have bought over the past two months. It’s kind of a retrospective of what the card companies were putting on the retail shelves in 2008. I tried to pick up a pack of as many brands as possible….

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I’m still trying to get over the fact that I got socks for Christmas. SOCKS. Not Red Sox. Not White Sox. Socks. Fabric. And not even of the game-used variety (or at least I hope they aren’t).I got socks from two different relatives. I got socks even th…

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A big thank you to everyone who voted for the “best card set” and “worst card set” of 2008. As you can see by the results, there is little question about what people thought was the best and the worst of the past year. At least among people who visit …

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I’ve been known to put off the things I need to do from time to time. I’m a pretty responsible guy, but I have a procrastination streak that strikes whether I’m at home or at work, and in virtually every aspect of my life, from the mundane to the “lif…

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Before you jump to any conclusions, let me just say that the “less fortunate” in this case is none other than me. OK, on with the post:I’m not sure what I expected to receive this Christmas. But I am certain about a few things:1. I made it known that …

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“Silver and gold … Silver and goldEv’ryone wishes for … Silver and goldHow do you measure its worth?Just by the pleasure it gives here on earth. Silver and gold … Silver and gold Means so much more when I see … Silver and gold decorationsOn…

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I’ll make this short and sweet (although “brief and bitter” is probably a more apt description).”Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.” That quote is often attributed to this man: Some say Franklin was the fir…

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December 23rd is a big day for me. Each year it’s the day of “the wrapping and the cursing.” Or the “cursing and the wrapping.” Take your pick.For me, the thing I like least about Christmas is wrapping presents. I’m not a big complainer when it comes …

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(A few more “appreciation days”: Ancestor Appreciation Day (Sept. 27), Birthday Appreciation Day (Feb. 24), Swimming Pool Appreciation Day (July 21). All that and still no Baseball Card Collectors Appreciation Day. On to more cardboard appreciation. Th…

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I’ve already wasted enough time thumbing through the backs of 1974 Topps cards tonight, so I might as well go all the way.The top cartoon is the back of the 1974 Topps John Ellis card, No. 128, which was the correct answer to this week’s “Spot the Sig…

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I was just looking up the current weather conditions in Osaka, Japan. It’s 66 degrees there with scattered clouds. They might get some rain tomorrow. But that sure beats the pants off the foot of snow we have here with more bleepin’ white crap on the …

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Night Owl was nice enough to send along three ‘71 Topps from my needs list with the package I mentioned earlier. This card is a head scratcher as the name is “tom mccraw” but the signature reads “Larry McCraw.”It takes a strong fortitude is give away a…

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ESPN.com and MLB.com are reporting that former major league pitcher Dock Ellis died Friday of a liver ailment at age 63.Ellis had cirrhosis of the liver and had been on a waiting list for a liver transplant for seven months.Ellis was known as a wild m…

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I received this card in a trade a little while back in my quiet quest to complete the 1981 Topps set (it’s not on my want list. Maybe someday I’ll get it on there).I knew nothing about Gordy Pladson when I received this card. In fact, I didn’t even kn…

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Look how sad Chin-lung Hu seems. We forgot about him, didn’t we?In the hullabaloo over Rafael Furcal’s return to the Dodgers’ starting shortstop position we were focused on other things. We were too busy learning about:1. What a term sheet is.2. That …

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If I could’ve found my wife’s camera, there would be a photo here of my copy of “And Then There Were Three …,” the 1978 Genesis rock record (kids: records were round, flat discs made out of vinyl in which songs were record … ah, never mind).But fe…

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It’s time to tackle the epic box that Jeff of I am Joe Collector sent me out of the goodness of his heart. Honestly, he must have shelled out a pretty penny for all that postage, and as many bloggers have noted already, he didn’t leave a return addres…

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It was quite the festive day at the Night Owl household on Wednesday. First, a morning of Christmas shopping for my daughter, and then an evening of concert-going to see that same daughter in her school’s Christmas play/musical (the highlight: all of …

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Since we are two weeks, two hours, and some odd minutes away from 2009, I figured I’d take another moment while I can and recognize the 20th anniversary of the Dodgers’ last World Series title.Upper Deck did a nice job in its inaugural outing of ackno…

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The second set I completed in 2008 isn’t even a 2008 set. It’s a set that is celebrating its 25th anniversary. Yep, on Friday, I received the final 58 cards I needed to wrap up my favorite set of the 1980s, the 1983 Topps set.I received an email from J…

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How often have you watched a game show and thought: “I should try to get on one of those shows. I wonder what you have to do?”If you’re like me, the thought ended there. I’ve never even attempted to find out how to get on a particular game show, let a…

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