Night Owl is All About the Shiny

Surprisingly shiny stuff from @nightowlcards includes a batch of Redbird parallels. 

 

When most of us think of Night Owl Cards and baseball cards, the '70s immediately jump to mind. (Specifically 1975 and minis.) Imagine my surprise, then, when a bunch of sparkly new Cardinals fell out of an envelope I received back from the Dodgers enthusiast back in February.

I've never been one to desire to "chase the rainbow" (we should really call this "Skittlesing") because I consider myself a team collector before a player collector. The conundrum is that a team collector like me still feels the need to hoard every version of every card of every player in that certain uniform.

These red ice (or whatever... actually, Cardboard Connection lists these as "red foilboard" for some reason) cards are serial numbered to just 199 copies. I'm not sure if I've ever pulled one personally.

Topps uses that "ice" effect on their base cards and a similar effect on their fancy Chrome Sapphire sets (see below), but the way they name these parallel designs is maddeningly inconsistent. Panini also does a version of this, and a version of the same pattern you see on X-Fractor cards like Jon Lester here (Panini calls these "building blocks" at times.) It makes me wonder if anyone has any original ideas anymore.

Acquiring a Chrome Sapphire card is a fairly rare achievement these days. I'm always appreciative when someone sends me one out of the blue. Otherwise, I seem to end up with a few of the cheapest ones whenever possible, similar to how I've treated Topps Now cards over the years. I really have a hard time bringing myself to spend more than one dollar on any single card.

I don't think I've seen this particular parallel pattern out of Topps before, but it looks like something Panini has used quite a bit on certain Chronicles and Revolution cards. (Go back to Pacific Revolution to see its origins, I think.) I'm not sure if this was pack pulled or one of those factory set parallels that must drive rainbow chasers closer to the brink of card madness.
 

Of course, we also have the familiar Stadium Club parallels to contend with. At least these are usually easy to identify, with mostly a foil color change here (red, in this case) or a chromium finish there. I'm glad we got one last card of Adam Wainwright as a batter, now that pitchers mostly don't bat anymore.

We're finally back to familiar Night Owl ground here with this four-pack of Allen & Ginter minis. My stack of unsorted A&G minis is getting disturbingly big at the moment, which means it's probably time to do some more of that dreaded organizing soon.

Thanks again to Night Owl and everyone else who has sent me some interesting parallels over the years.

Owls and Otters, Birds and Snakes

Trade time with Night Owl Cards. Yeah, we've seen this before.

We're approaching the last dozen or so regular season games of the baseball season, which means that it's time to be shocked about how fast summer flew by. You could be a little bit sad, too, or you could be so excited about football that you're ready to leave the mostly quiet din of leisurely baseball behind. If you're me, however, you're a lot sad about summer fading away and you also realize that you've got piles of things laying about your home that you need to get in their proper places.

So here's another hurried trade post, this time courtesy of frequent flyer Night Owl. Night Owl's Dodgers have all but clinched their division, by the way, with the Cardinals stuck in a three-way death battle to the end where the two losers will probably get a second chance to claw their way into the playoffs. He sent over some Allen & Ginter goodies and some Cardinals goodies because he's good at what he does.

Night Owl is a fan of minis, especially of the 1975 Topps variety. Actually, he's made it clear on plenty of occasions that all other minis are clearly inferior to this little test issue back from the mid-'70s. I'm happy to receive one of his extras, a John Denny rookie that's plastered with some other guys.

The team collector's dilemma: do I add this to my Cardinals binder shelf (I'm just going to call it a shelf from now on), knowing that there's no indication of Beltran's status with St. Louis anywhere on this card. I guess I'll just say yes and pretend I have a rock solid criteria for these things, where international/non-MLB uniform cards of a player that was under contract during the year of issue will belong with that player's MLB team. Sure. Why not?

Finally, here's a goldie version of the Stan Musial Chasing History insert from Series 1. I think it was Series 1? When does Topps Update come out this year? I haven't bought a ton of cards lately.

Trading with Reader Doug

Before we get to this year's Ginter offerings, here's a few blasts from the past.

Reader Doug exchanged a trade offer earlier this summer and, as is my usual M.O., I took entirely way too long to supply my end of the goods. Fortunately, that's finally behind us and I can show off my take without too much embarrassment.

Behold: The Modern Douchebag. This was an all-Ginter catch for me, and I received a number of inserts including a few of those fun Ascent of Man that got all of the fatcats at FOX News all in a huff.

Speaking of huff (?), here's beach volleyball studlady Kerri Walsh Jennings. Along with Walsh, there was a healthy stack of other 2007 Ginter singles that helped finally get me to a point where I need fewer base cards than I actually own. Not too shabby for a set that I've never bought any sort of box of.

I'm just gonna say it: these art cards are ugly. For the most part, I am a fan of Dick Perez's work with the classic Diamond Kings cards and even (some of) the Turkey Red cards that he did. The design here is just not doing these any favors. If I recall, the 2006 set is plagued with similar looking inserts. On the flipside, the newer Ginter sets are so overloaded with inserts now that I kind of miss the days that there were very few of these sorts of things to chase.

Token Cardinal Alert! Token Cardinal Alert! Thanks again to Doug for the trade!

All the Minis

Jeff from 2x3 Heroes has a little "Take My Minis" section of his blog, devoted to a bunch of extra Allen & Ginter minis that he acquired. Well, leave it to someone with a blog called 2x3 Heroes to discard all of these 1 15/32 x 2 11/16 (seriously, that's a size) cards. A&G master sets are difficult to put together because of all of the various minis, both of the insert and parallel variety, so the extra help was definitely appreciated. I may even have to go back when I have more trade bait to pick out some more.

Aside from the elusive D.B. Cooper, all of the minis I snagged were from the 2010 set, including the seafaring explorers. If Columbus thinks he saw a seacreature as big as depicted on this card, I guess I can forgive him for thinking he'd found some "Indies".

I didn't have many of the World's Wordsmiths cards, so it was nice to pick up this trio.

So many Lords! I'm just missing 3 of these guys.

The dinosaur cards are some of my favorites that have ever made it into the Allen & Ginter line. I still need 5 out of this 25 card set.

Finally, here's a dozen of the National Animals set. With 50 cards to collect, this one is a beast (literally! ha!) but I am getting there. Check out my Allen & Ginter want lists if you have any non-baseball Ginter cards you'd like to get rid of.

A Parliament of Cards

Everyone knows about flocks of seagulls and gaggles of geese, but did you know what you call a pack of owls? A parliament, that's what. I don't really know what any of that has to do with this post, but I wanted to  hoot about a package I got from Night Owl Cards last month.

The internet's biggest Ron Cey fan sent me some much needed Allen & Ginter inserts, which I will never stop needing for some reason. There are actually mini inserts in some of these sets that I haven't even laid eyes upon yet, which sucks. Fortunately, with Night Owl's help, I am much closer to completing the Floating Fortresses insert bunch from 2011 - only four cards left!

I also snagged an elusive Topps Heritage short print, in the form of two-time former Cardinal Aaron Miles. Miles is one of the more infuriating players in the league in that he appeared to impersonate a competent baseball player for awhile in St. Louis but has been pretty miserable in other uniforms.

I vaguely remember hearing in the offseason that Brandon Dickson, a guy who made a few spot appearances in 2011 and 2012, was removed from the 40-man roster. It turns out that he's playing in Japan now. Huh.

This is my first and so far only Panini Cooperstown card. I just can't muster up much enthusiasm for the unlicensed stuff, but it will go in my binder regardless. There was a lively discussion over at Community Gum going on related to baseball card licenses. I've got to say that I'm surprised that as many people buy non-logo cards as they apparently do. When I was young, everyone thought cards with airbrushed logos were hilariously dumb. Of course, you mostly saw those things on the sides of boxes of macaroni and cheese, so who knows?

Here's a sweet way to end the post, with an orangey orange Matt Holliday refractor. It'll be interesting to see if Holliday's double-high-five compatriot has anything left in the tank for this season when he heads to Texas. Everyone thought he was done after 2010, but he proved that notion wrong for sure.

The Last Great Pull in 2012 (of 2011)

Welcome to 2013! Does it feel any different? No? I didn't think so. It's time to get back to the grind, and nothing says grind better than trying to complete a set released more than a year and a half ago. I found an $11.99 blaster of 2011 Allen & Ginter at Target last week and thought I'd share a little "hit" that I pulled with you all.

But first, here's the rest of the cards from the box that I actually needed.

Here's a pack of dogs from Africa, all looking very serious even if their ears say otherwise. I only have 10 of the Animals in Peril minis, which makes it more of a "haves" list instead of a want list.

The back of the card tells me that this lady won some televised dancing competition on more than one occasion. Good for her.

Gauss was a math guy. The math tells me that there are too many of these inserts for me to collect, but I'm still going to give it a try.

Luke Hochevar was one of the short printed cards that I needed. There are still 5 left for me to chase. I actually need more non-SPs (11) than SPs.

I wonder how noted gun nut Luke Scott feels about the current debate on gun control. Just kidding. I don't wonder at all!

Jimmy Rollins hit 23 HRs last year, but reached base at a paltry .316 clip last season as he enters his age 34 season.

If Rudy had existed as a player in the YouTube era, I have a feeling he would have been given a feel-good 30 second piece on SportsCenter and maybe hit the local talk show circuit. Things were more cerebral in his day, and a big movie came out of his story.

I always forget about these clover cornered parallels until I randomly run across one in a pack or a trade package somewhere. I think in hindsight, it would have been more fun if these were used as the base design.

I'm never drafting this guy again. NEVER AGAIN. I think he struck out more than 700 times last season.

And finally, here's that great pull - a hand-numbered Bazooka Back mini of Jason Bay. Bay had some very good seasons in almost total obscurity for some lousy Pittsburgh teams before his one randomly great season in Boston. He was a former Portland Beaver, but probably best known in this household as the dodged bullet when the Cardinals ultimately signed Matt Holliday to a huge deal following the 2009 season. I must say, it's fun to get hand-numbered cards, but everyone knows some crusty intern was handed a 10 cent blue Papermate pen and told to get to work on all of these cards. They're probably not so special when you really think about it.

Check the 2011 Ginter want list on the sidebar. It's been updated along with all of the extras that I've pulled that are available for trade. Happy New Year!

'Tis the Season (For a Trade Post)

Happy holidays! I hope you're all watching the Holiday Bowl right now. No? Okay, well, settle in for some light reading instead. Jeff from 2 x 3 Heroes is giving away some cards to celebrate the season and he also recently sent me a nice box of cards as part of a big swap.

The retail exclusive Heritage cards have been hard to come by, for me at least, so it was nice to see several in this trade. I am trying not to get the sense of dread I usually get about completing every Heritage set, but here it is almost 2013 and I have so many more cards to go for this one.

This one is headed for my Cardinals binders instead of my (yet to be assembled) 2012 Heritage binder.

Oh, look at those fluffy little clouds.

Between Heritage and Archives, this was the year of the floating head revival. I wonder if we'll see more floating heads in 2013. I don't know how I feel about this. Apparently, neither does Dustin.

Also included in the box were plenty of Ginter goodies, like Marie Curie here.

It's an oft-injured short print. No, make that a short print of an oft-injured player.

I wonder where this treaty would fall in the All-Time Treaty Power Rankings. Perhaps some website somewhere has a slideshow I could refer to.

Oh, and there were Cardinal goodies in the box as well. Were there ever! A bunch of minis were to be had, and I picked my favorite one: this Chris Carpenter from the Ginter revival debut set in 2006.

The Topps base Matt Holliday card was one of my favorite cards of 2012, so it was exciting to get the Opening Day blue parallel version. Serial numbered with the good foil stuff.

I am not sure what happened to the rest of this card, but I swear it's really there. K-Mac is a man without a team right now after he spent most of 2012 on the DL.

Most McGwire Cardinals cards look hilariously dated. Not dated in a good way, like '50s Topps cards.

Finally, there were a couple of cards for the Jim Edmonds collection thrown in, including this 1995 Leaf thing.

And there was also this Metal thing. So metal.

Merry Christmas! It was quite a year for this blog (and trade posts).