Night Owl Delivers

Sometimes you get a package and you just know it's going to be filled with a variety of goodies. I recently received one of those packages from Night Owl. It had regular issues, oddballs, unlicensed, a mini and everything in between. It hit my team collection, my player collections and spanned the years from 1981 to 2010.

Let's start with the oldest card first.

1981 Topps John Ellis. John's final season in the majors was 1981. He played 6 mostly forgettable seasons with the Rangers. He did have one fairly decent season. In 1979, he hit .285 with 12 homers and 61 RBIs in 316 at bats.

This is one of those Nolan Ryan 1991 Pinnacle cards. It even says "Authorized by Nolan Ryan" on the back.

These next three are from a 1991 U.S. Playing Card deck.

That's a nice three of a kind.

I can always count on Night Owl for some Will Clark cards. It must be his natural disdain for the Giants. You'll notice the lack of logos on this one and the Nolan Ryan below. Just so you know Upper Deck, that's how your SUPPOSED to do an unlicensed set. It tends to keep you out of the courtroom.

Now you're combining the best of both worlds for me. This 1998 Bowman Will Clark satisifies the team collection and the player collection. Anybody know what stadium this is?

This 2004 Finest comes from a time when I wasn't collecting. This one will no doubt be snatched up by my son for his Michael Young collection. I do believe this is my first 2004 Finest card.

I'm sure those of you chasing the Bowman Strasburg's are super happy to pull one of these Mitch Moreland cards instead. Ok, maybe not. Still, it's my first 2010 Bowman Chrome Ranger and I like it. Even if I don't know squat about Moreland. Well, I looked some info up. He is listed on the card as playing firstbase, but he has been playing this season at AAA Oklahoma City in right field. He is batting .276 with 6 homers and 47 RBIs in 69 games this season.

My favorite card of the package wasn't even a Ranger. It was this 2009 Goodwin Joe Mauer foil mini. That's my first foil mini from the set. I know Night Owl will tell you a real team collector doesn't collect players from other teams, but I have a certain affinity for catchers. I can't help it.

Thanks Greg, for all the great cards in this package, and for the great blogs you put out.