Ripped from the headlines

Perhaps you've heard: newspapers are dying. I'm not sure that I totally believe that. Just like I'm not sure that the card collecting hobby is dying.

People like to predict. And they like to exaggerate. And I'm old enough that I've seen a number of predictions never come to pass. Those of you who went to school in the 1970s, do you remember your teachers telling you that you'd better learn the metric system? I do. We all had to learn our centimeters, and milligrams and deciliters. "You'd better know it!" they said. "Because nobody is going to measure in feet or in gallons anymore!"

Well, it's over 30 years later and I'm still buying a half gallon of milk and measuring my front walkway in feet. I guess you can blame stubborn Americans for that.

There are other examples, but you get the point. People have an idea of what's coming, they just don't know exactly how or at what speed. The print medium, which includes newspapers, books and magazines, may be dying. But newspapers, books and magazines -- if they're smart -- will remain, just in a different medium, in the form of online sites, etc. But it's a highly volatile changeover. A lot of papers are disappearing for many reasons, one of which is, people just don't read on a daily basis the way they once did.

Reading the newspaper was almost an event when I was a kid. I remember sitting on the floor, placing that giant swath of paper in front of me and opening the sports section, so two large pages sat before me. I'd devour the boxscores and read the articles. I distinctly remember learning about free agency -- reading about Andy Messersmith and Dave McNally -- from articles in the newspaper.

I remember reading about the Dodgers trading Jimmy Wynn to the Braves for Dusty Baker. I can even recall where the story was positioned on the page of the newspaper. I also remember reading about Tom Seaver being traded to the Reds. I remember reading the giant headlines declaring Dave Winfield's signing with the Yankees. Later, as a newspaper carrier, I would bundle the papers up before going on my route and read every day about how the players and owners couldn't come to an agreement to play ball during the summer of 1981.

The newspaper -- the physical appearance of the newspaper -- was a fact of life, and you would see the look of a newspaper imitated everywhere. Baseball cards were no exception. My first encounter with this was the 1976 Topps Traded set, which featured the type of "ripped from the headlines" look that you see on the Larvell Blanks card.

It wasn't the first time Topps did this. My favorite example is the 1968 World Series subset in the 1969 Topps set. And there are many other instances, including the much-maligned insert set in 2008 Topps -- which I actually liked quite a bit.

I just like the look of newspapers, and the design of newspapers. My job involves designing the sports section each day. So I know all about the difference between a well-designed newspaper and a poorly designed newspaper. Show me a sports section and I'll tell you what's good about it or what's bad.

When I was a kid, I focused the most on the newspaper aspect of these cards. The backs also took on the look of a newspaper, with the banner, and the date and the headline (although they didn't follow some of the rules of headline writing). For some reason, we totally didn't notice the airbrushed aspect of the cards. I mean look at Helms' cap. He's got groceries in that thing.

I still get a newspaper delivered to my home. I work for one, so it's free. But if I didn't, I'd still subscribe to the newspaper. The internet is a wonderful thing for finding information. And there is so much online that you could never find in a newspaper. And, of course, speed is exceptionally important to people these days, and you certainly shouldn't rely on a newspaper for speed. People shouldn't have to wait around for scores of a ballgame. I did too much of that as a kid.

But I hope more folks begin to realize that not everything on the internet adheres to the journalistic principles that drive most newspapers. Some sites do. And as far as I'm concerned, those sites are newspapers unto themselves. They check facts, they confirm sources, they break news and they write good copy. That's all you need to get reliable information out to the people.

But most newspapers do this already (note I said most, not all). If you go to school for a degree in journalism, you better damn well do all the things that I mentioned three sentences ago, or you're not going to have a newspaper job for very long.

I still like the feel of a newspaper in my hands, and the portability of a newspaper. It's what I'm reading when I wait for my daughter to get out of school. If the printed version of newspapers disappears, I'll miss it, even if I'm still reading a newspaper on my iphone. And I know others will, too.

People say newspapers are old, antiquated and out of date. But I think they serve a significant purpose. And I hope they'll be around in the form of online sites long after the last printing press closes up shop. Because people really do need what newspapers provide. Whether they think they do or not.

Anyway, that's what 1976 Topps does to me -- gets me all fired up about the printed word. Aren't you lucky? You wanted to see cards and you got a speech.

The cards I just showed were sent to me by Eric, who has sent some '76 Topps needs before. Here is a look at some non-traded cards he sent:

Here is the man who freaked me out as a kid, J.R. Richard. The cartoon on the back also mentions newspapers. It says "The New York Press was 1st newspaper to feature RBI's in its box scores."

I enjoyed this card quite a bit as a kid. I was so sick of the Big Red Machine then. And Luzinski beat out two Reds for the RBI title!

Dewey Evans. A very popular player in Boston. I saw him hit a home run at Fenway.

I just like this card because it shows Willie Randolph as a Pirate. When he played all those years for the Yankees, it was odd to see him in anything other than a Yankee uniform. Of course, after the end of his playing career and his managerial/coaching career, he's been with a variety of teams.

A great one to end it. I think the 1976 Topps set the record for sideburn acreage. I thought this might be the last card I'd get to complete the set. So, Eric, it's very cool that you sent this card.

Thanks to Eric, I'm much, much closer to finishing off the set. Just 18 cards left! (EDIT: After going through for upgrading needs, it's 47 cards left. Heh. Collecting vintage is a job that's never done). I think I can handle that at the next card show, although I still need Yount, Schmidt, Winfield and the Aaron record-breaker card. Got to start saving my pennies.