Night Owl Cards

  I recently completed the 1986 Fleer baseball set.   I've said in past blog posts that this was "the forgotten set" in my brain when thinking back on 1980s Fleer sets. Back when I had not completed a single '80s Fleer set, I would always confuse 1985 and 1986 Fleer. This was a time when I was not collecting baseball cards, especially ones that weren't Topps. Sometimes my brain would skip right over '86 Fleer and I'd think the icy blues of '87 Fleer came after the '85 gray flannel suit set.   That's part of the reason I set out to complete all the main Fleer sets from the '80s. These sets contained players that I followed from childhood forward, I wanted all those guys in my collection. So I got 1984 Fleer done, then 1981, 1982, 1983 and 1988. I recently finished 1985 and now '86 is in its own binder.   These are the last four that I needed. If you listen closely you can here Luis from Sesame Street singing "One of These Things ......

  By 1983, I had adjusted to the growing number of card products on the market.   That total seems laughable now, but just two years prior there had been just one brand and suddenly I had discovered two selling rivals to Topps in Donruss and Fleer, and somehow I had to collect all three.   Gradually, and even before 1981, those companies were putting other card-type things on store shelves. I found most of them for sale in a deli, which was on the way to the drug store where I bought most of my cards. I don't know what caused us to go into that deli, maybe someone told me, "hey, they sell cards!"   I know the first time I bought cards in that deli was 1980 because that's when Topps issued the large, glossy Superstar Photos, which I ate right up.  The increased competition created more card product in the deli and I bought Fleer sticker packs there, 1981 and 1982 Topps stickers (and the sticker book), the 1983 Fleer Stamps and the 1983 Donruss Action All-Stars. I...

Have you ever thrown out a card without realizing that you had done so? If your life is as muddled and agitated as mine, then your response to this question is, "Of course! You fool! Who hasn't done that about 14 times a week? What else are you going to ask, "Have you ever poured syrup on pancakes? Have you ever stood in line behind someone that smells? Have you ever eaten dog food? EVERYONE HAS!" Um ... OK, it was only once. And I was 10. And it looked like tiny hot dogs. But, anyway, I've done it a few times. I've probably done it a few other times of which I'm unaware, because the discarded cards are now decomposing in the county dump. The most recent time was just this past Wednesday. I had just completed writing the Koufax-Kershaw post featuring the cards I received from Dennis . That was my cue to throw out the packaging, the tape, the penny sleeves (I don't need to save those anymore), etc. I also threw out a piece of cardboard that ...