The "Hotel California"s of the card world

I don't know if this even happens for people anymore now that everyone has access to self-programmable music, but there was once a time when you couldn't listen to whatever music you wanted to from an infinite playlist, and grew tired of hearing the same songs over and over.

You couldn't merely switch to a good song either. Your choices were "keep listening" "change station to song I also don't like" or "turn off the radio."

This led to an inevitable loathing for certain songs that continued to emerge from the airwaves long after they were useful. People of a certain age all know the biggest offenders of the Overplayed Song: "More Than a Feeling" by Boston, "Stairway to Heaven," by Led Zeppelin, "Hotel California," by the Eagles, and the song that I wish never existed simply because of repeated airplay, "Boys of Summer," by Don Henley.

This has been a common complaint of mine that translates into other facets of life. If I've seen it/heard it/absorbed it a couple of hundred times, I probably don't want to encounter it again.

The same thing holds true for cards. There are a number of cards that appear over and over with the same or a similar thought process accompanying them that tends to make me zone out.

Here are some candidates for the Most Overplayed Cards of All-Time:

The tune we've all heard over and over: An iconic young player for a new generation on an upstart set for a new generation.

The tune we've all heard over and over: The first card on an upstart set for a new generation. Collectors back then did really awful things to the first card in a set.

The tune we've all heard over and over: Look! He's got really big hair! Look! He's got a horribly painted-on baseball cap! Look! He's wearing a striped barbershop apron!

The tune we've all heard over and over: Look! There's a curse word on his bat! Look! There are almost half a dozen different ways Fleer covered it up!

The tune we've all heard over and over: An iconic young player for a new generation on an upstart set for a new generation. (i.e.: '52 Mantle 2.0)

The tune we've all heard over and over: Look! That bat is really big!

The tune we've all heard over and over: Look! That bubble is really big!

The tune we've all heard over and over: Look! That trophy is really big! Look! Action photos!

The tune we've all heard over and over: This card costs a lot of money and the games people play.

The tune we've all heard over and over: An iconic young player for a new generation on a .... um, established set ... for a new generation.

These are the cards -- along with several others -- that pop up over and over if you're a collector and do a lot of reading about cards. That is why I'm secretly thrilled when somebody puts up a card of, oh, say, John Stearns from 1979 and decides to write about it.

Seeing the iconic cards of collecting repeatedly isn't really a bad thing, just like hearing the same song over and over isn't really a bad thing. In fact, I like viewing many of these cards from time to time.

Sometimes, though, I wish that there would be something new to say about them. Something I haven't heard repeatedly. Something that will make me look at the card in a new and different way. Maybe someday I, too, can find something new to say about the Billy Ripken F-face or the Henderson rookie.

Because right now, when I see these cards, this is what I hear:

"On a dark, desert highway, cool wind in my hair ..."