Winning by Association

There was an end of year contest that was held at JayBarkerfan's Junk that was won by the great Night Owl.  JayBarkerFan was giving out prizes for this contest.  I believe he gave out cards to the top 3 winners and the dude that first nominated the eventual winner.

The random dude that picked Night Owl first was me!  I didn't expect to get any cards but, some were sent over to me.  I am glad that many other people think Night Owl is the best blog because I got a healthy stack of Hideo Nomo cards for my collection.  I counted 37 Nomo cards plus one gold coin that was sent to me from Wes.

This package has to be a Platter record for most Nomos' in one bubble mailer.  I usually get sent a variety of Dodgers but, this was just a bundle of my boy, Hideo Nomo.  I picked out a handful of my faves from my winnings.

Of course, all the cards that I picked were from the 90s.  That was when Nomo was at his peak and the decade that I feel baseball card sets were at there peak.  The card sets were at there peak due to volume of sets, variety of look, and sheer creativity.  I didn't know that Topps Gallery was out in 1997.  This set looks high end so, at one point it was probably out of my price range.  I was still digging Fleer products and Collector's Choice in 1997.

Metal Universe was a set that my friends and I were stoked about in the mid-90s.  This set was made to appeal to kids. Old school collectors that worked in hobby shops probably hated it when little kids would come in and ask for this product.  Some older collectors that didn't work in a hobby shop probably despised this set when it came out.

I still think it is cool and unique.  I don't think Topps would take a risk like this and release it in 2012.  Too many traditionalists would be up in arms.  Leaf Metal tried to make a comeback at the end of last year but, the set looked like silver foil.  It wasn't inventive and just bland.

I love the 90s card sets.  There is so much non-sense going on here but, I still love it.  I am a collector that loves a ton of shine, colors and photos to be all on one card.  I also like cards that are simple like Allen and Ginter.  No middle ground for me!

This was super cool of Wes from JayBarkerFan's Junk to throw this coin in.  I have no info on this set.  I didn't want to rip this card from it's packaging to read the back of it.  I am also not sure how I am going to display or catalog this card.  Those are good worries to have because this is oddball and golden cool.

I got all of this plus other cards for somebody else being the best.  Awesome stuff, Wes!  Thanks!  Also, thanks to the greatness of Night Owl for getting some votes.  Thanks to all the people that voted for Night Owl because without your support, I would have never gotten a stack of Nomo cards.