Night Owl Cards

The trouble with the world, if I may be so bold to weigh in (it's not like anyone else is holding back), is that not enough people think outward. Take a look at just about every world problem that there is, and within each of those individual maelstroms, is somebody, usually a lot of folks, thinking only of themselves. Looking out for No. 1 is a big, big problem on this earth. One of the biggest. And it's not getting better. I see it coming from all directions and all sides. No one is innocent. Everyone is guilty. Selfishness is the crime. Our hobby is not immune. That's what makes the baseball card blog community so great, because it's a daily example of what can be achieved when you think of others first, before yourself. Selflessness is such a staple of card blogs that some collectors have become immune to its charms. "Oh boy, here's another post about what somebody got thanks to the goodness of someone's heart. I don't need to read THAT....

Thanks to all who voted in the comments for their favorite 1970s Topps card of Bert Campaneris. I didn't know how this little project would go, since I wasn't installing a poll and, let's face it, the whole theme of the post is how Campaneris these days doesn't get the respect he once did. (Also, I was stunned by the amount of folks who never heard about the bat-throwing moment. Where am I hanging out that I see that mentioned at least every other month?) A surprising 31 people voted for their favorite Campy and the one with the most votes was the one I saw first, the '75 Topps Campy card above. The voting totals: '75 Campy - 11 votes '70 Campy - 4 '72 Campy - 4 '73 Campy - 4 '76 Campy - 4 '74 Campy - 3 '78 Campy - 1 My thanks to the readers who indulged me with their votes, or even if they didn't vote, their comments on that post. To show my appreciation -- for reading, for commenting, for joining in my card talk ...

(If you haven't voted for your favorite Bert Campaneris '70s card in the last post, I invite you to do so ). So you've been away for a few years and want everyone to know that you're back. How do you do that? Do what The Diamond King did when he returned to card blogging last month: Bombard readers with contests and giveaways! Well, you've certainly gotten MY attention, sir! I'll start with the giveaways first. Since he returned, the Diamond King has issued multiple "Diamond King 9" giveaways, straight out of the chute and rapid fire in the last month-plus. As I've said before, I am very slow to get to these "first come, first serve" giveaways. I used to think "I spend too much time on the computer" and now I realize "I don't spend enough time on the computer at all!" But I was able to nab two cards out of the many giveaways. I won this key 1981 Fleer Star Sticker of The Hawk. I have since acquir...

It's interesting how athletes from the past are remembered and whether they remain in the public conscious or not. Hall of Fame players usually survive in baseball conversations long after they've played because they've been immortalized in Cooperstown. Then there are players who didn't reach the Hall but were still very good and somehow, some way, are still remembered. Players like Dick Allen, Rusty Staub, Vida Blue and Mickey Rivers live on decades later as younger generations pick up on their legacies. Then there are all-stars like Bert Campaneris, who almost never get discussed anymore. There is just one memory of Campaneris that younger fans most assuredly know. I don't even need to mention it. You know what's coming, even if Lerrin LaGrow didn't . But there was much more to Campaneris than one momentary loss of reason. A couple of months ago, when watching old baseball games on youtube hadn't gotten old yet, I was watching a World Seri...