In the last 5-to-10 years, the percentage of night cards in sets has exploded. Reasons for that include Upper Deck's exceptional photography over the years, Topps devoting entire subsets to the All-Star Game, and the general tendency to start sporting events later and later (which is both a blessing and a curse for the night owl).
In fact, night cards are so frequent that I have an unlimited supply. I can also start to consider something that never would have been possible even 15 years ago:
Which player has appeared on the most night cards?
Now, I haven't figured this out. First, I don't have the time for that right now. Second, with the exception of one binder, most of my night cards are scattered about willy nilly. Third, I don't have a lot of cards from the Upper Deck late '90s/early '00s period, where I imagine there were a great many night cards.
But I do have some guesses. Jimmy Rollins, for example, seems to keep popping up on night cards. I like this one from 2008 Upper Deck quite a bit. It's my favorite of the Rollins night cards.
Here are a few others that seem to appear on multiple night cards:
Jerk-face Roger Clemens appears on a bunch of them, unfortunately. In my worst-case scenario, he would appear on the most. Of course, there are all those Barry Bonds home run insert cards, too, which could be considered night cards by some. Fortunately, I don't.
I've noticed a number of Chipper Jones night cards, too. He's a more acceptable representative for night cards.
I don't honestly expect Paul Konerko to be the night card leader, but I do have a lot of them, especially since the White Sox went to the World Series in 2005. In fact, a player on any team that went to the World Series recently has a built-in night card advantage. There have been many cards with the World Series as a backdrop in recent years.
One day I will also figure out who has the greatest gap between their first night card and their last night card. It might be Fred McGriff. He appears on a famed 1989 Upper Deck card, which will one day make an appearance on this blog. This card is from 1995 Score, but I know he's been on more recent night cards.
There are others that seem to reappear at night: Ryan Howard, Vladimir Guerrero, Ryan Braun, Curt Schilling, Nolan Ryan and a few more.
I may not know for sure who has the most night cards in my collection. But you know me. Once I get an idea and it has to do with "the most," I'm all over it. However, it'll have to get in line behind that all-nickname team that I'm still struggling to get off the ground.
You can be sure, however, that I'll get there. And I'll be compiling the list under the lights.
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