Mail Day from Night Owl Cards

I just recently got my end of a card exchange with Night Owl Cards. I use the word "exchange" instead of "trade," because it wasn't really a trade, in that no details were worked out. I sent him a couple Mookie Betts cards that I pulled from a box of 2024 Allen & Ginter last year, and surprised him with a 1983 Donruss Ryne Sandberg for teh set he is building. When I sent the cards, I included a note with the Sandberg that just asked him to put something cool in the case and send it back.

Well, he certainly did, with a couple extras.

The card that he put in the case was a 1968 Topps All Star of legendary Cubs third baseman Ron Santo. I only have a couple cards of his from his playing days, so I was super xcited to add this to my severely-lacking Santo collection. 

There were alsoa few Cubs from the more modern side of things. The Kerry Wood is from 2002 Topps Finest, and we alsohave a 2025 Topps Heritage Chrome of Pete Crow-Armstrong and a 2024 Topps Chrome RayWave Refractor of Seiya Suzuki. I have been a fan/collector of Wood ever since that 20-strikeout game against the Astros in 1998, so this is one more for the collection, and since I haven't bought a whole lot of new product in the last few years, I really need cards of the other two.

Thanks for the exchange, and I always love a surprise, expecially when it looks like this!

The Weirdest Card I Own

 As far as oddball cards, and a "Sure, why the hell not?" kind of theme, I don't know if it could be any more accurate of a description than for the weirdest card I own, a 2012-13 Pamini Prime Prime Ties card of Chay Genoway.

This was from an era where Panini was trying to make their mark by using EVERY part of a "player worn" jersey, including pieces that quite literally pop off of the cardboard. These, as you could imagine, are 1/1, and feature the shoelace tie at the neck of the jersey. 

I was lucky enough to pull this one from a pack of Prime, only I didn't have the actual card in my hand right away. These cards were one of the rare examples of a non-autographed card being a redemption, since the cards were just too thick to be included in packs. At least with these redemptions, though, you knew they had the cards in-hand and ready to ship.

Genoway had a fantastic college hockey career at the University of North Dakota, just an hour and a half from where I live, as he became the fourth highest scoring defenseman in UND history. He went undrafted, but signed a contract witht he Minnesota Wild upon completion of his college hockey career, and in April 2012 would play his only NHL game, as the Wild took on the Phoenix Coyotes. He would eventually be traded to the Washington Capitals, but became a free agent when his contract expired, and went to play hockey overseas. He is currently with EC Red Bull Salzburg of the Austria-based ICEHL.

A less than remarkable NHL career, sure, but I do love that he has a somewhat local connection. It is pretty ironic, too, that the box containing the 1/1 Prime Ties card of a University of North Dakota Standout found its way to a card shop in Fargo, ND. Still, I'll take my luck where I can get it, and I still have this card proudly displayed as a big part of my collection.