Cards From Night Owl Cards

A little while back Night Owl sent me a bundle of O's. As the blogosphere's greatest Gregs, we trade fairly regularly, and no one has benefited more from my year long stretch of Dodgers hits than he has. Night Owl isn't a big box breaker, so he doesn't have the crazy hits to trade away. That doesn't really matter much to me because what he does have is a lifetime's worth of cards to trade away, and every package is sure to include a couple of awesome cards that weren't previously in my collection. This package was a pretty typical Night Owl offering, and I enjoyed every minute spent thumbing through each card in the pile.

1986 True Value Hardware Eddie Murray

Holy crap this is the coolest Eddie Murray card ever in the history of time! I've never seen a True Value cards before. Before opening Night Owl's package, I didn't even know they made cards. There might not be a logo, but that is more than compensated for by the mutton chopiosity, and afrotude of Eddie.

1993 Upper Deck Randy Milligan

Mooooooooooooose! Milligan was my favorite Oriole for a little while in the early 90's. He took over at first after Eddie left town, and struggled to fill the void. I think almost anyone would ahve struggled to fill that void, so Moose shouldn't take it personally.

Night Owl also sent me a bunch of 1978 Topps cards. I've been thinking about spending most of 2010 building old team sets, and this, combined with a bunch of other cards I've received in trades, is a nice start to the '78 set.

1978 Topps Earl Weaver

1978 Topps Mark Belanger

1978 Topps Ken Singleton

1978 Topps Dave Skaggs

I would regret not making a snide comment about Dave Skaggs. Just look at him! Is there any doubt that his last name is Skaggs? He LOOKS like a Skaggs (no offense to Boz).

Night Owl always manages to include a few sweet older cards of legends that I don't already have. The Brooks below, and the Eddie at the top of this post are prime examples of how clutch Night Owl is. I didn't previously have either card, and they are both going right into the player binder.

1987 Leaf Hall of Fame Greats Brooks Robinson

1975 Topps Rich Coggins

Mr. Coggins looks pretty happy for a guy on his way to the Montreal Expos. Maybe he knew he was going to be a Yankee after a short stay in Montreal?

Closing out this trade post are a couple of Kojis. I'm hoping big things are in store for this guy next season, and hopefully those big things happen for him in the closer role. He's absolutely tailor made to be a closer at this point in his career, and has a similar skill-set to John Smoltz, who we all know was one hell of a closer.

2009 Topps Chrome Koji Uehara refractor

2009 Topps Allen & Ginter's Koji Uehara black framed mini Wow, what a great card!

Thanks for the cards Night Owl! It's always a pleasure to complete a trade with you, and as always, I have a stockpile of Dodger hits for you, and any other Dodger collector. 2009 was the year of Dodger pulls for me, as I think I've managed to pull at least 10 Dodger relics/autos from various box/pack breaks.

Night Owl For The Night Shift

In honor of me working overnights for the next 3 weeks, I've decided to post some cards sent to me by Greg of Night Owl Cards. To be fair, they would have been posted regardless, but somehow it seems more appropriate to be posting them while working the night shift.

Without further ado, here's a sampling of what was sent:

1981 Donruss Eddie Murray. This is probably my favorite card Greg sent over. It's from my birth year (a.k.a the greatest year ever), and the look on Eddie's face is priceless. He almost looks sad. It's tough to be sad with sideburns that incredible.

2009 Upper Deck Series 2 Starquest Nick Markakis. I was admittedly excited to see this card. I've wanted it for a little while now, and was hoping that someone would send it my way eventually. This one is of the "silver common" variety, which only leaves me what, about 37 more colors to collect.
2009 Upper Deck USA Baseball Jake Arrieta. This is my first card of the young O's pitching prospect stud. Thanks Night Owl!

2009 TriStar PROjections Jake Arrieta. This is my second card of the young O's pitching prospect stud. Thanks Night Owl!

2009 TriStar PROjections David Hernandez. Hmm.... I'm sensing a theme here. This is yet another O's pitching prospect. Hernandez was called up this season already, and made a few starts before being sent back down to the minors.

1987 Sportflics Fred Lynn. I always forget he was an Oriole, but not for long. Sportflics will make sure I always remember. Who doesn't love Sportflics? These things were awesome! If someone decided to revive the brand, I'd pre-order 2 boxes immediately.

1994 Leaf Studio Lee Smith. A.L. saves leader in 1994, his only year with the Orioles. I've always loved Leaf Studio, and this is one of their better designs.

1991 Kmart Super Stars Mickey Tettleton. I actually missed this guy until Matt Wieters parted the Chesapeake Bay and arrived in town. He had the funkiest batting stance this side of Julio Franco, and used to chew an awful lot of tobacco if memory serves.

1994 Post Cal Ripken Jr. I wonder if Night Owl pulled this from a box of Fruity Pebbles? My gut says no, but my heart screams yes.


Those were among my favorites of the cards Greg sent over, but are by no means all of them. Here's the rest:


Thanks again Night Owl. You know I've already got a stack of Dodgers going for you.

Catching Up On New Additions

Hi my name is beardy, and I am an eBayaholic. I have a problem, have acknowledged it, and am attempting to quit "cold turkey", at least for a while. Most of these are player collection additions, which means you're in for a large dose of Nick Markakis. Deal with it!

First up is a 2007 Topps Turkey Red Cabinet Card #TR-NM. While I love this card, and it's really cool, now I've got to figure out how to store it. There are giant top loaders out there, I've just got to take my lazy behind out and buy one. This card would look awesome with an in-person auto signed in silver Sharpie, and I think that's just what I'll try to do with it at some point. After that, it will be framed, and hung above my imaginary mantle, which rests above my imaginary fireplace.
It's tough to gauge the size of these things via scans, so here it is with a regular sized card, for comparisons sake. Everyone does this to stress the sheer size of these things, so I figured why not.

Next up is the only non-Markakis card you'll see tonight. I picked it up to save on shipping. It was being auctioned off by the same seller as the Markakis cabinet card. I was the only bidder, and won it for a dollar. It's going to Night Owl, who I hope will appreciate it. He has twice sent me cards that I had managed to acquire elsewhere while his were en-route, without my knowledge, so hopefully he'll accept this as a reward for my impatience.

2009 Topps #CBR-MK Matt Kemp "Career Best" Jersey. They gray wool swatch must be from some sort of throwback jersey. I think it's cool.

Speaking of Matt Kemp... next up is my first, and only dual auto. When I won it, I was hoping that it was in fact hard-signed, as it had appeared on the scan. I've been burned by scan appearances before, but not this time. This card is truly awesome, and is the 3rd hard-signed Markakis autograph in the collection. No Night Owl, this one is not for you.
2008 Upper Deck SP Authentic #CD-MK Chirography Dual Signature

2009 Topps Silk Collection Nick Markakis. This is the second Topps flagship silk card of Markakis I own, the first is from 2008, and I'm still not sure how I feel about them. The funkiness in the background is from my scanner bed.

Finally, we have this bad boy: 2008 Topps Triple Threads TTRC-31
Gellman isn't going to like this, but I freakin' love it! While I agree that some Triple Turds cards are just plain ugly, and stupid, this is not one of them. This card makes perfect sense, and is quite nice looking in my opinion. I've said before that I would NEVER purchase a box of this stuff, but for some reason I can't resist picking up cards for my Orioles collection. They come fairly cheaply on eBay, which further proves that this product is an utter failure, from a value standpoint. One thing that does suck about this cards is the disclaimer on the back. "The relics contained on this card are not from any specific game, event, or season". This makes me think that they are probably manufactured, and not authentic by any means. That still doesn't make me love this card any less!

In the next few days you can expect some well overdue trade posts. I've got some O's from Night Owl, and an incredible trade package from reader Mike, who responded to my Ginter post. I sent him 86 cards off of his Ginter want list, and in return got a package full of INCREDIBLE Orioles cards, including several autographs. If anyone else needs any '08 A&G, I've still got a ton of doubles to unload.

Oh, BTW, this is post #100!! Took me a little under 2 months to get there. Not too shabby for a freakin' amateur.

And one last thing: HOW BOUT DEM O'S HON?!?!

Cards from Night Owl

So I'm still alive, and feeling a bit better. The other day I mentioned a bubble mailer stuffed with cards from a fellow blogger, and now you know that blogger is Night Owl. A few months ago I just happened to pull a Matt Kemp auto from a box of Allen & Ginter. Night Owl and I had already made one small trade, so I figured I'd drop him a line and see if he was interested. Boy was he ever, and in return I've gotten a lot of sweet Orioles cards. This is actually the second batch Greg has sent me.

I've chosen some of my favorites to show off, so sit back, relax, and let your mind go as I take you on a journey through The Land of Pleasant Living.


1992 Baseball Enquirer Fun Stuff. It's pretty obvious this is supposed to be an homage to Billy Ripken and his famous 1989 Fleer card. The original might possibly be the hobby's first "gimmick" card, and will be featured in a future Wish List Cards post, since I've wanted one for about 18 years now. Poor Billy is still living in his brother's shadow, and these days he's the "brains" behind Ripken Baseball, while Cal is the face of the organization.



1979 Topps Rick Dempsey. One of the sweetest moustaches in O's history, and a fine catcher to boot. These days Dempster is an analyst, and co-hosts the Orioles pre & post game shows on MASN. His nephew, Gregg Zaun is serving as the Orioles placeholder at catcher until #1 prospect Matt Wieters finally gets his call-up.



1997 Pinnacle Rafael Palmeiro. Speaking of sweet moustaches... I was so naive in my youth I actual thought Raffy was Italian, like me. I mean he's named after a ninja turtle, who were named after Italian Renaissance artists for god's sake! And Palmeiro, well that sounds pretty close to Palermo, right? Not only is Raffy not an Italian, he's a juicer and a cheater to boot! What a shame really, he was pretty easy to like in his heyday.



1974 Topps Rich Coggins. I have never heard of Rich Coggins. I chose this card to be featured for 2 reasons, #1 that is an awesome O's hat. I really wish they'd stuck with the "cartoon bird". The second reason is teh bat he is holding! It looks like it's from 1874 not 1974. Did players really still use bats with no knob on the bottom in the 70's? Maybe it was Coggin's trademark? He did hit .319 in '73, so the bat must have been working out for him.



Next up we have 2 cards from 1983 Fleer. This was a championship season for the Orioles, and thanks to Night Owl I now have 19 of the O's from this set. I'll definitely turn some attention towards finishing this team set in the future. Anyway, first up we have Terry Crowley who has made quite a life for himself in Baltimore, serving as the Orioles hitting coach, and doing so with great success. What he has managed to do with Markakis and Jones is nothing short of incredible. Jones would swing at anything a season ago, but has shown much more discipline this season, and an average over .300 to show for it. We've also got Al Bumbry up there, and this is the only card of the Bumbry-bee on my collection. It's always cool to have a card of a former rookie of the year, and Bumbry took home that honor in 1973. According to wikipedia, he is also one of only 3 batters that Goose Gossage had admitted to intentionally beaning.



1993 Upper Deck Harold Reynolds. I always forget that Reynolds was an Oriole, and that's probably because it as only for a season. This has to be one of my favorite Upper Deck releases of all time, and was one of the last sets I collected as a kid. Reynolds is a fine analyst (arguably), and after being mysteriously jettisoned from ESPN found himself a gig on the MLB Network. I'm glad for that, cause I like Harold and think he has a good voice.



1990 Fleer Jim Traber. I've probably got as many of Big Jim's cards as I do Adam Jones'. He seems to be in every repack box I open, and included in every lot of random cards I receive in trade. He's probably most popular for pulling a "Mr. Baseball" in Japan, and charging the mound twice in one game. The second time, he fell down on his way to the pitcher, and was kicked in the face. If you haven't seen it, I guarantee it's on youtube.



2007 Topps Chrome Xfractor John Knott. This guy looked to be a top prospect for the Orioles at one point. Now he's a free agent, and out of a job. But hey, this card is shiny and refractory, so I can't complain.



2001 Pacific Christmas Ornament Cal Ripken. This might have been my favorite card Night Owl sent over. I've seen these things featured on several blogs in the past year or 2, and always wanted to own one. I can't think of a better one for my collection than the Iron Man himself. It's still weird for me to look at one of Cal's cards and see 3B listed as his position.



These are 4 Markakii that are new to me. I was pretty psyched to get these, and enjoy seeing my player collection grow. I'll keep the blurb short on these, since I kill my readers with Markakis on a daily basis. and will probably do so again later today.



We'll end things with some more '83 Orioles Magic. This package of cards was pretty '83 themed, and this could be the best of the bunch. I really don't like manu-patches, especially these stupid ones from 2009 Topps, but it's a freakin World Series patch!

Night Owl, thanks a lot for these cards, and the rest that didn't make this post. As always, it's been a pleasure doing business with you.

Motherscratcher happens to have a box of 2006 Turkey Red that is ready to be busted. He has suggested that we do some sort of Zoolander-esque pack rip-off to see who's box reigns supreme. Now, I am a man of the people, and will purchase whichever box gets the most votes, however, this "rip-off" would be entertaining, and if you want to see it, I recommend voting for Turkey Red in the poll. I know Motherscratcher can't turn left, so this one's already in the bag.