I've been watching snippets of spring training the last couple of days. It's a busy time of the year for me, so I can manage only a couple of innings at a sitting usually. But that's enough to get that spring high that I'm so desperate for here in the later stages of winter. I watch the the spring games and marvel what I see, like it's life on another planet. Spectators in the stands are actually fanning themselves! I take a quick look at the temperature bud on my laptop screen. 18 degrees. Nope, no urge to fan. I can only imagine what it's like to live near spring. Going to ballgames sure is great. But I'd appreciate the simple, carefree feeling of hopping in the car (without clearing it off or stumbling on ice) and traveling a smooth street to the nearest big box or card shop. Sure, every life has problems, but in some places there is no snow on top of that. One person who lives near spring is Jeremy of Topps Cards That Never Were . He was able to ...
I have written many times that I view cards from the 1980s as the most accessible. The hobby was booming, "artificial scarcity" was barely a thought, cards were plentiful. That, combined with being a very active collector of Dodgers cards, has given me an inflated idea of the '80s portion of my Dodgers collection: I HAVE THEM ALL! I never truly think that 100 percent, but part of me believes I must be 5-10 cards away from owning every single one of the Dodgers cards from the 1980s. That couldn't be farther from the truth. I know this because not only is Trading Card Database handy for knowing what you have in your collection, but it is just as handy for discovering what you don't have in your collection. About a year ago I started investigating which '80s sets contained Dodgers cards that I was missing. It didn't take long to compile a sizable list. In fact, I got only as far as 1982 before losing interest. The images downloaded to a folder sat o...