Night Owl Cards

Look! It's Marlin No. 6! I bought a few Allen & Ginter rack packs yesterday. Didn't get anything great. Went back and bought the last rack pack hanging there. Still didn't get anything great. All it did was alert me to the usual disturbing collation in Topps products and prompt a strange dream a few hours later. I noticed when I opened the rack packs that the cards were slightly bowed. Uh. Oh. I wouldn't say they were full-on Pringles like last year's Chrome, but it was alarming anyway. The cards are in better shape now that they've been out of the pack for awhile, but I like my A&G squashed-bug flat. That night, I had a dream that I put one of those A&G cards inside a penny sleeve and a top loader. The card was Jay Bruce for some unknown reason. When I put the top loader with the card on the floor, it proceeded to flip around the living room, end over end, because the card was so curled. I woke up sweat covered (but only because it was 90 a...

I have a soft spot for players who help the National League win the All-Star Game. You won't catch me saying anything nasty about Gary Carter, George Foster, Ken Griffey (Sr., not Jr.) or Sandy Alomar Jr. That is why even though Marlon Byrd and Brian McCann each play for teams that I am sick to death of -- Byrd for the Cubs and McCann for the Braves -- they get a pass, because they have helped accomplish what must be done to maintain balance in the galaxy -- ensure that the N.L. wins the freaking game. It is also why I give Byrd a pass even though he was the elusive last card in Series 1 of the 2009 Topps set. I can't stay mad when I see a replay of his throw to eliminate David Ortiz at second base last year. Also, that card happens to be a night card (he may also be on a night card in the 2010 set, but it is much too difficult to tell). But, unfortunately, Marlon, it is time to say farewell. Even after that scary as hell beaning . I traded away my Marlon Byrd D...

I redeemed my THIRD Topps Diamond Diecut card on the Diamond Giveaway set today. Earlier today, I was at Walmart, looking for Gypsy Queen. I don't really have much interest in GQ (maybe if it ever lowers itself to appearing in my sparsely populated area, I'll think differently), but I always like to check out the new stuff. Unfortunately, Gypsy Queen is nowhere except for on 47 different blogs, which prompted me to grab another value box and consequently pull the Marlon Byrd diamond diecut. To review, I have pulled a Babe Ruth diamond diecut (traded for a Jackie Robinson diamond diecut) , a Roy Halladay diamond diecut (traded for a bunch of '50s goodness ), and now Marlon here. Is that normal that I should have three of these things already? Aren't they supposed to be relatively rare? I suppose the perception of rarity comes from the fact that the set -- all 152 cards of it -- is available by only unlocking the cards, one by one, through the Diamond Giveaway ...

Thanks to reader Drew, my 2009 Topps Series I set is now officially complete. The Marlon Byrd card is mine, and I can remove the throwback Byrd card that I had as a seat-filler. It's fantastic to see readers out there coming to the rescue of fellow collectors. Because I believe we all know the feeling of thinking we have completed a set only to realize we've missed a card or two. It's happened to me at least a half-dozen times. Probably the most disturbing case, for me, came with the 1984 Topps set. I had purchased the entire set at once, the first time I had ever done that. It was my intention at the time to rid myself of the time-consuming practice of collecting a set. After all, I was a big shot college boy, and I didn't have time for frivolity (chasing girls and drinking beer is definitely not frivolity. It is gravely serious business ). But much, much later, at least a decade later or more, I was cataloging my '84 set and realized I was missing one card. I...

One card. One lousy card left to complete my 2009 Topps Series I set. And it's Marlon "bleeping" Byrd. Can you believe it? I just said in the last post that I had completed the set. That it was clear sailing to Series 2. Then I filled my binder while whistling a happy tune and I reached page number 6, and it hit me. I don't have No. 106. I don't know where Byrd is hiding, but I do suspect this: Someone is protecting old Byrdy because they can't let go of the fact that this is Byrd's finest-looking card. Well, let me tell ya something, card critic, No. 106 of the 2009 Topps set is not Byrd's finest-looking card. THIS is Marlon Byrd's finest looking card. Awesome. So now that that is out of the way, I'm asking ... no, I'm begging: please, PLEASE trade me the 2009 card. A solitary hole in a binder of 330 cards is about as sad a sight as you are ever going to witness. Sadder then watching someone who has worked in the same place for the l...