Night Owl Cards

In 1992, Topps began to wake up to the changing trading card world around them. After a few years of continuing to issue the same cardboard product that it had always produced -- just because it was TOPPS and Topps didn't NEED to change -- it realized it needed to change. Upper Deck was attracting a whole new kind of collector, and it was receiving all kinds of praise for the look of its cards. Even Fleer, Donruss and Score were attempting to keep up with the changing collecting habits. And Topps was left alone in the corner, sniveling all over it's gray cardboard stock. So in 1992, Topps changed. A little. The most drastic change was the disappearance of the gray card stock. Topps went with a brighter, cleaner white cardboard. The other change was on the back. Topps went with pictures on the back for the first time since 1971. The pictures weren't of players, like other card companies had done, and they weren't sharp and candid, like Upper Deck's....

(Today is National Trail Mix day. Really. It's actually appropriate because we are camping today. And by "we" I mean, not "me" but "people that I am close to." I need my air-conditioned comfort. It's Cardboard Appreciation time. This is the 79th in a series): With all the talk about Stephen Strasburg and Tommy John last week, I started thinking about my Tommy John cards. Yes, it's taken me a week to get to this. I'm always behind. I prefer it that way. How are those capless 206 cards coming? John is an interesting player in my collection. First, he is on the first card that I ever owned . Second, he was a Dodger from my childhood who was a bit of a mystery man. When I first followed the team, he was off recovering from revolutionary surgery and not part of the team. Third, he left the Dodgers after 1978 to become a member of the hated enemy. And I still think it's funny that he didn't win a title with them, yet his old ...

I have such a difficult time expressing my feelings when it comes to the operations of my favorite team. I'm not a general manager, and given my experience with fantasy baseball, I'm fairly certain if the opportunity arose to run a team, that I would fail miserably. In fact, while the inner workings of a major league team fascinate some people, I find it a bit sleep-inducing. I also live 3,000 miles away from my team, so the daily drumbeat of "how did the Dodgers do?" and "can you believe the Dodgers did this?" is completely lacking in my life (I know there are websites and fan forums. But it's just not the same as daily discussions in person). I feel out of touch. Still. I am a Dodger fan, which means I should say whatever I have to say about the departure of Manny Ramirez. So, here it is: I'll miss Manny. Ramirez was the best hitter the Dodgers have had on their team in a long, long time. You can cite all his absences, a number of which we...

In my feeble attempt to catch up on trade posts, I thought I'd show some cards that I got from the operator of For Card's Sake . He shares his name with a former Dodgers player (I wonder if he knows this?). But I'm not here to reveal people's names. Everyone knows him as longlivethewho, and that's good enough for me. Longlive happened to mention that he had three 1975 mini cards and wondered if I'd like them. Well, considering that time stops every time anyone mentions '75 minis around me, I certainly WOULD like them. And so I have them. Unfortunately, the one side effect of getting '75 minis is that you then have to dig out your corresponding regular-sized '75 card to scan in order to prove that you in fact did receive '75 minis and aren't just making up a convoluted tale of '75 mini love just to have something to write on the ol' blog. So I have done the dirty deed and here they all are, freshly undug: That Bec...