Night Owl Cards

  The operator of the Number 5 Type Collection blog, Matthew, is touring The National in Cleveland as I write this. But before he went there, he happened upon a free box of 1980s cards and asked if anyone could use any. My '80s wants are slim as I've completed nearly everything I'm interested in for that decade, as far as large sets. But one set immediately popped in my mind because I'm so aware of how inadequate it is compared to other '80s sets in my collection. I requested whatever 1983 Donruss cards he could spare, stressing I needed more than 80 percent so no worries about dupes. I soon received 13 cards from the set, a little dinged in a corner on most but I don't think it'll be a concern when building the set. There was a note that accompanied the cards: OK, me, too! That's always the goal: 100 percent needs, 100 percent completion. So let's see if that was accomplished.   Bill Almon NEED? Yes. Donruss factoid you'd never see today: &qu

  I wrote a month or so ago that I've been working on a post on the 1991 Studio set. Based on the information provided by players on the back of that set's cards, could a personality profile be developed for the average Major League Baseball player in 1991?   I went through all 264 cards. For most of the cards, there are four categories listed on the back that allows you to know the player a bit more than the photo on the front: personal (birth date, family, place of residence), career, hobbies & interests and heroes.   I focused on the last two categories because they are the best window into a ballplayer's world in 1991.   I separated those two categories into six separate sub-categories: Hobbies & Interests, Music Interests, Collecting Interests;  Favorite Sports Teams; Heroes and Favorite TV Shows. Then I started tallying. When I was done, I came up with the Average Major League Player in 1991. Based on the most popular answers, this is what that player was lik

  I have a bias when it comes to the month of July. Naturally I am going to like it because it's my birthday month. It is also the month for the All-Star Game, one of my favorite sports events. It's also a month in which baseball is the primary sport in action and every one of those other sports that dominates the calendar loudly -- football, basketball, hockey -- isn't playing. Even my next favorite sports event after anything baseball, Wimbledon, is mostly in July. I'm not done. July is the slowest month of the year at my job. Therefore it is the month in which I take the most vacations. I am always off in July. Always. And July is the height of summer, probably my favorite season, just edging out fall. Finally -- and this just occurred to me about a week ago -- it is the month in which I regularly acquire the most cards. It's been that way for the last three Julys. Thanks to TCDB, I can chart my month-by-month progress and July is the only month from last year fo

 (I managed to find my way to a ballpark today. It's been awhile. I go so infrequently these days that when I do, I'm surprised by the prices on everything. I mean this is minor league baseball, should I be spending $150 to have a good time for a "minor" event? It's just the two of us! Anyway, time for Cardboard Appreciation with an appropriate card. This is the 341st in a series): When I wrote a post 10 days ago about the very nice cards I received from reader Jonathan, I didn't include a set of cards he sent me. It was the 1986 Memphis Chicks set from something called "Time Out Sports". Jonathan said he got it cheaply because the Bo Jackson card that's part of the 26-card set wasn't included. But he sent it along anyway because he thought it had that charm that 1980s minor league sets are known for ... and it does.     A blogger from 2008 could expend quite a few words on a card of someone named Jere Longenecker who the photographer didn&#

  Well, three out of the four posts I've made this week have some sort of mention of 1975 Topps, so why not make it 4-for-5, that always sound better than 3-for-4 in the baseball realm. Once I get through this episode of the countdown, there will be just 100 cards left, which means nothing but greatness ahead. So let's get to it, no fancy intro this time.     120: Ed Kranepool (card 324) Still quite a few Mets cards remaining as they really cleaned up in this set. I remember hearing Ed Kranepool talked about with the same reverence as Tom Seaver from Mets fans when I was a kid in the '70s. 119. Bob Reynolds (card 142) I really liked this card in '75, it looked like Bob Reynolds was pointing at me, and that's all you want as a young fan, for a ballplayer to point you out. 118. Jim Bibby (card 155) Every Rangers card was great in 1975, but this was one of the best. Jim Bibby seemed like he coming through the card, no doubt because he was 6-foot-5. 117. Pat Bourque (ca