My night card collection has become the most casual collection that I own.
I almost never make Awesome Night Card posts anymore and the Night Card Binder sits unopened most days. It's not until I take it off the shelf and look inside that I realize how magnificent it is and how terrific most night cards are. All those glowing lights and sometimes even neon! I need more of that!
Some collectors still help me realize that and none more than Dave, a reader who has blessed my collection with fine cardboard from everywhere and every era. You'll see some impressive stuff he sent tomorrow, but for now, I have NIGHT CARDS because he sent 58 of them!
Good night!
This forced me to pull out the Night Card Binder and figure out how many of them would fill the many empty spaces in it.
It turns out 36 of them are finding a new residence in the NCB! Let's see what makes a night card binder these days.
Of course, early Upper Deck is always a possibility for the binder. Upper Deck's 1989 set was a pioneer, not just for all that usual crap you hear about but for night cards! UD wasn't afraid to shoot baseball games in the dark.
The Valenzuela 1991 UD card underlines just how much I neglect that night card binder. I should have included multi-exposure Fernando in the binder already, I certainly own enough copies.
Panini Donruss Andrew McCutchen cracks the first page of the Night Card Binder -- a very difficult task -- by filling the only empty spot in the first 18 slots, card No. 16. The first page is now complete!
Yes, that means I double-bag pages in my night card binder. Who cares about the backs! The nightness is on the front, not the back!
A special, special place in my heart for early '80s night cards. The inset photo may have been taking during daylight hours but that doesn't nullify the night card!
Heritage cards that use designs from the '60s/early '70s present some strange-looking night cards. They are so out of place with what I'm used to seeing in, say, 1970 Topps.
But this is fantastic -- well, except for the Nationals being in the World Series.
Yeah, I know, there were no World Series night games depicted in 1971 Topps, but it somehow just works here. I think it's because the 2020 Heritage cards are appropriately zoomed out and that's where night cards have an opportunity to shine. With all the zooming-in on cards these days, it's tough to see lights on or other examples of what make night games so fun.
This is something you'd never see in 1971 Topps, but I'm glad it's in 2020 Heritage and I'm glad it's zoomed out. It just needs a light pole somewhere.
This is more typical for modern night cards. Tight shots on the players, but you can tell they're night cards, because of the event being shown or how the light shines on the player or his equipment.
Also, check out all those fans. Is it odd now to see fans on a baseball card? And how are 2021 cards going to look like without any fans in the stands? How are they going to look with almost all photos for all sports in the covid era being taken from the stands?
Editing wire photos every night for the newspaper, I can tell that they look nothing like they normally do. There are no photographers sitting on the court for basketball games. And photographers for other sports are probably not at field level, which produces wider shots.
Hey maybe this will work out well for 2021 cards!
There is your typical cropping you see these days, courtesy of 2020 Topps. All of these are Series 2 cards from Dave that will make it into the Night Card Binder. There are a LOT of night cards in Series 2.
A bunch more (there are some fans!). The second two cards in the bottom row are actually from Series 1.
Even some night card inserts in 2020 Topps.
Last night card that I'll show.
This is the night card at its best. Wide crop and a visual example of why I like those night cards and night games, the lit-up field level scoreboard!
Not all night cards are created equal. But together in a night card binder, they make for some pretty viewing.
My thanks to Dave for reminding me.
More goodies from him to come!
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