Night Owl Cards

There is a quote from the movie "Dazed and Confused," in which 20-something loser Dave Wooderson utters what is now a T-shirt/meme/excuse to eyeball 16-year-olds: "I get older, they stay the same age." This is meant as a distasteful, lecherous statement, but as you get even older than 20-something, it transforms into a lament. Yes, I'm getting older, but dammit, there are always all these young people, all the same age, looking the way I used to and enjoying the things I used to, and it's a little difficult sometimes reconciling that. It's apparent every time I look in the mirror. Less hair, more lines. The body doesn't do what I ask it to do often enough or well enough. And then there's my view on things. I try not to sound old, but it's a fact, the music, the styles, the clothing, the hair, the card stock, it all used to be better. It's obvious, I get older and nothing is getting better. At least from my perspective. But there ...

Just a couple of weeks ago I announced my official pursuit of the very colorful, very '70s, very funky 2001 Upper Deck Decade set. The set is an homage to everything I truly love about baseball and cardboard, glossed-up and modernized just enough. Well, not long after my declaration -- Monday, in fact -- my mailman handed me a package about yay big (pretend I'm holding up a baby pig). I opened it up and out popped 75 cards toward the set, direct from the always generous mr. haverkamp. I tell ya, this blog thing is genius, it really is. So after chopping my want list for this set in HALF, I decided to show off some of the cards. For anyone who lived through 1970s baseball, especially if they were a kid at the time, this set is a terrific trip, full of memories of when players were larger than life and dressed like they were float decorations in the Rose Bowl Parade. I get such a kick out of looking at these cards. The memories come flooding back. And the photos -- wh...