It's incredibly easy to find night cards in current sets, and there's no better example than the most current of flagship offerings 2015 Topps.
To underline just how available night cards are, terrific-sender-of-packages Dave shipped me a bunch of 2015 Topps night scenes amid the great selection of other cards he sent (I'm getting to those, I promise).
I immediately went about determining whether they qualified for my night card binder, and I was pleasantly surprised to see how many made it.
Let's relive the rundown.
"Does it make the binder?":
Yordano Ventura, #79. Yes
Chris Carter, #246. No
Starling Marte, #79. No
Alexei Ramirez, #65. No
Michael Bourn, #23. Yes
Tyler Colvin, #245. No
Brandon Phillips, #266. Yes
Maikel Franco, #309. Yes
Andrew Susac, #232. Yes
Craig Gentry, #183. Yes
Toronto Blue Jays, #13. Yes
Atlanta Braves, #64. Yes
New York Mets, #24. No (shouldn't have worn those hideous camos)
Chase Utley, #163. Yes
George Springer, #318. No
Marlon Byrd, #187. Yes
It's the fickle nature of the Night Card Binder that allows Marlon Byrd, Andrew Susac and Maikel Franco into the binder, but not George Springer's excellent card.
And that brings me to this card:
As you well know, this is #1 in the Topps set.
I have a card in the #1 spot in my Night Card Binder already.
It's this card:
Ah, it's like those Red Sox-Yankees battles from 10 years back! Manny Being Manny against The Captain. Somebody alert ESPN.
Both of these cards have historical context, which is always a plus. The Jeter card recognizes the end of a memorable career, while the Ramirez card recognizes the start of a memorable career.
Which card survives?
Let's see ...
"Does it make the binder?":
Derek Jeter, #1. No
The Upper Deck Fun Pack Manny is just too fun.
You may remember there was some stupid hub-bub over Jeter being named card #1 for the set, and some asked why he didn't receive card #2, the uniform number he wore for all those years.
So did Topps miss a chance to get this Jeter in my Night Card Binder by not making it #2 in the set?
Here is card #2 in the binder:
Nope. Jeter wouldn't have even come close to booting this card.
Nice try, Topps.
(P.S.: Don't fret, Derek fans. I think there's a Jeter card somewhere else in the binder).
Comments
It's a little more interesting to me than the Springer card.
Although if Springer becomes a Hall of Famer, I reserve the right to change my mind.