Awesome night card, pt. 259 and 260: oldest and newest

With little time and even less motivation, it's time to determine whether the oldest night card I own and one of the newest night cards I own will make the Night Card Binder.

The oldest card, of course, is vastly more interesting. This is a 1950 Bowman card of pitcher Marino Pieretti. Even if you know nothing about Pieretti, and that was me about 10 minutes ago, it's a fascinating card. Check out the painted glow from the lights beaming down on the right-hander.

Now, look at the back. There are two points of interest for me. First, observe Pieretti's height and weight. Five-seven, 158 pounds. Those are my measurements there. Dammit, if I was born in 1921, I could've been a major league pitcher even at 5-7.

Next, note that Pieretti was born in Italy. That's pretty cool.

Pieretti was raised in San Francisco, where baseball thrived in the 1940s and 50s. Pieretti was popular in the area long after his playing career ended. But in 1977, he had liver cancer and the prognosis wasn't good. Depressed, he barely left the house. His friends decided to take him out to dinner. Pieretti got plastered and the dinner was deemed a great success. They did it again the next month and it became a tradition. Pieretti lived four more years and even after his death the monthly dinners continued and those who attended became known as "The Friends of Marino Pieretti." As of 2015, they were still meeting and can be spotted wearing green jackets.

OK, after that little story, this card better damn well make the binder.

But first let's check out one of the newest night cards I own.

Despite everything I've said about 2016 Topps, I like this card. It might be my favorite card from the set.

You just don't see that much of the night sky on a single card very often. And the smoke effect, which in 99 percent of the cards is just awful and distracting, makes it appear as if -- like in the Pieretti card -- the lights are illuminating Johnny Cueto.

I don't need to do any research to inform you about Cueto. You all know his story. And this card probably marks the last moment in which I enjoyed his work. He's now a hated Giant and completely disgusting.

However, we restrict our Night Card Binder judgements to the contents of the card only.

All right, here is the big moment:

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Night Card Binder candidate: Marino Pieretti, 1950 Bowman, #181
Does it make the binder?: YES (It knocks out this card, which is very sad, but not even Rickey can compete with 1950 Bowman).

Night Card Binder candidate: Johnny Cueto, World Series Highlights, 2016 Topps, #61
Does it make the binder?: YES. (It knocks out this card).

And that closes another Friends of Night Owl meeting. Sorry, I don't have any money for jackets.