Old man shows cards

 

This post is going to meander a bit, but it's been a long time since a comment on my blog affected me like this.

 

I can't remember the last time someone had a meltdown in the comments about something I wrote -- maybe that MLB scout that one time when I dared to say I didn't want cards of scouts? -- but it doesn't happen very often.

 

In a single comment I was called "old," a "whiner" (twice!), a "complainer" and "childish." I don't know why someone can't just simply stop reading. It's the first time that someone actually announced that they were going to stop reading my blog.

 

I've gotten the "you complain too much" complaint before (it's interesting when people complain about complainers, which is what I'm doing here, too). I usually dismiss it. More often, when I go off on a rant, I then receive comments about how amused they are about it, and that it's when I'm at my best, and that I should do it more often.

I think I may complain a bit more than I should, both here and in regular life, but I think I do that because I value honesty. I want to be honest with myself and I think there is a major problem in the world with dishonesty and also with the corporate sanitation of every event that occurs, whether it's good or bad (one of my current favorites is how everyone acts like sports gambling is OK now. And gambling commercials is all you see during telecasts now. Yeah, that isn't going to lead to problems).

 

Oh ... I guess I should be showing some cards with this.

 

 Here is a card I received from Matt of Diamond Jesters in another one of his Time Travel Trades. It's going to my 1979 Topps football set quest but I don't even have a want list up yet.

So, yeah, honesty has been a big part of this blog from the beginning. I calls them as I sees them and I don't like sugarcoating. I also think it makes a more interesting blog than simply writing, "look what I got, isn't it great?" And I also try to make my comments somewhat honest (without being jerky), and try to avoid stuff like "That's cool!" without any further thought.

In the early days of blogging, holding card companies' feet to the fire was a big thing. Collectors listened to blogs and card companies did, too. If you think my blog complains about the way things are in the hobby, you obviously didn't experience Stale Gum or Wax Heaven and a host of others. It was non-stop bitching about the way things are. Readers loved it. Oh, there were a few "can't you say something nice" people but in general this is what was expected of blogs.

I tried to make my blog a mix of fun and complaints. I still try to do that. However, I think maybe my complaining side stands out more because most of those "this isn't right" blogs have disappeared and what's left mostly is "look what I got" blogs.

 

I'm a relic, from an earlier time.

 

Oh, yeah, cards:

 

These cards came from reader Dan. I sent him a few 1988 Topps buyback cards that I didn't need and he didn't need to send me anything in return but he did. I love the 1981 Topps Scratch-Off wrapper as that's from that time that I love and I never opened any of those in '81. (Also, if I'm being honest, I have these Dodgers already).

And speaking of being a relic, I've been around awhile, have been collecting for more than 40 years and watching baseball for just as long. I've seen the game change quite a bit and collecting change even more.

It's true, I miss a lot of what's no longer there in both the hobby and the game. I miss stolen bases and complete games, I miss cards on real cardboard and sets without 47 inserts. A big part of this blog is keeping those times alive so they aren't forgotten, and in order to do that, I need to write about what was great about those times, and sometimes the current ways get caught in the crossfire.

I just don't find current baseball, with its three-true-outcomes-all-the-time and making 8 pitching changes even though the pitcher is doing perfectly fine, as interesting. In fact, it can get annoying.

However ...

There are people who are a lot more crotchety -- I've seen them on this blog -- and I know people who refuse to watch the current game and refuse to collect current cards.

Guess what. I still watch. I still collect current cards.

I do that because even though I prefer those times when I was a kid, I don't want to be trapped in that time period. I want to stay current, for the blog's sake, sure, but also for my sake. Being a parent helps you appreciate what your kids appreciate, which aren't what you appreciate. I may not understand but I try to learn and at least give things a try, whether I end up liking it (probably not) or not (probably).

Cards:

Look! Modern stuff! These are Chrome needs from good friend, Joe, who I've mentioned many times on this blog.

Those longtime readers will know that I have liked Chrome cards for a long time. I don't like them as much now but that has more to do with the design than what they actually are. And, again, there are lots of collectors my age or even younger who think Chrome cards are stupid and one of those modern thingamajigs that has no use.

I like them.

Here is something else I like: Music.

I like music more than collecting cards. I probably love it more than baseball. I especially love music from that time when I was growing up and forming attachments, the 1970s and 1980s. That's perfectly natural. Everyone does that. I will defend '70s and '80s music against any other kind forever.

As someone of a certain age, I had fallen into the trap that popular music stopped being "good" by the end of the 1990s. Most of the stuff on the popular charts or on the radio the last 20 years or so, I dismissed as garbage. It wasn't pleasing to my ear, it all sounded the same. I guess I'll just go back and listen to 1983 again.

But then about nine months ago I was looking around on music channels online and I found current popular music, rock and alternative and country and such, that I actually liked. No, this wasn't anything you heard regularly on the radio or airing out of people's car windows or what was played at a party on the beach. No bass-thumping and the same four chords. But, good gosh, it was actually people singing, with intelligent lyrics and it sounded like stuff I've listened to most of life.

I missed listening to current music, it's what I had done the first 35 years of my life. So, now, that's what I listen to. I am listening to Polica, Tennis, The Hold Steady, Waxahatchee, Dawes, Rufus Wainwright, The Beths, Dehd, etc. All have put out albums in the last year or two and I like it. Unfortunately you have to search for it because programmers won't play it.

I searched out that stuff and I don't think that's what someone does if they are stuck in the past complaining.

 

More cards:

 

I received this in another Twitter transaction from Tim. I either forgot about the 1982 Donruss Juan Eichelberger error or never new about it.

 

That, obviously, is not Juan Eichelberger.

 

Here is Juan Eichelberger:

 

The other guy is Gary Lucas, who has a card of his own in the set. That's a big-time goof.

This is a Padres card and, yes, I wanted it, even though I don't like the Padres and some of their fans irritate the hell out of me because of their rudeness and braggadocio.

But all teams have fans like this. I know that. I just focus on the ones who are traditional foes of my favorite teams. I never liked Dan Marino because the Dolphins were mortal enemies with the Bills during the 1980s. You should have heard me and my friends -- heck everyone in Buffalo -- rip Marino during his playing days.

I don't think that is "childish" or wrong in any way. That's rooting. That's being a fan.

I do not love all teams and I am not happy for every team when they win a title. I don't understand fans who have this outlook. It's weird to me. Maybe I'd be a bigger person if I felt that way, but I grew up with brothers who each had different favorite teams. We ripped on each others' favorite team all the time. My one brother still does this. He'll be sending me another text if the Dodgers lose to the Giants again. I expect it. It's a little bothersome but mostly I tell my Dodgers to win so I can tell my brother to shut up and I move on. I certainly don't get offended by the whole thing.

No, I don't like the Padres. I don't like the Giants or the Astros or the Yankees. The Brewers bother me a little, and the Angels are stupid. There are players on most of those teams that I root against and if that player is a longtime member of that team -- like Brett Gardner or Yadier Molina -- they will get most of my derision. People rag on Justin Turner and Clayton Kershaw all the time. Sure, it's annoying to me, sure I don't get it -- especially with Kershaw -- but I am not offended and it will not make me stop reading a blog. I'll shrug and say, "well he's wrong" and maybe tell them why but probably just move on.

 

By the way, Twitter is absolutely filled with this trash-talking, and it's so much ruder than anything I could ever think to say. I'm appalled by it, which is why I'm baffled that someone should call me out on it.

Just a few more cards:

Wonderful 1967 Topps needs from reader Dave (sorry, Dave, if I'm being honest, I discovered I had all those minor league Dodgers cards you sent with the '67s. Still appreciated seeing them though!)

 

It's true, I like vintage cards and not-so-vintage cards ('70s and '80s) the best. I collect them more and more while just paying token attention to current cards.

 

I point out what I like about older cards and what I don't like about newer cards because:

 

1) I'm from that older time. Grew up in the '70s.

2) I believe some of what was made at that time was the "right" way to do things and in some ways cards have gotten away from that, and that's not so good, and somebody needs to point that out. I don't believe that just because "companies are going to do what they want to do" is a reason to simply shut up about it.

3) I have been in the newspaper business for more than 30 years. Shining light on stuff is what we do. And, yes, the fact that there are less newspapers in the world is a bad thing because nobody is pointing out stuff.

But, dude, you're just talking about cards, for chrissakes!

Yes.

But I love cards. With all my heart. They are important to me.

I do this out of love. People who criticize or complain about the hobby don't do it out of hate or indifference. They do it because they love the hobby and don't want anything to hurt it. You never see me complaining about collecting tools or toothpicks or Funkos because I don't care. They could disappear tomorrow and I wouldn't make a sound.

Cards, though, bring out the passion.They bring out the over-the-top love for '75s and the off-putting disgust for 2012 Gypsy Queen.

Baseball does the same. I have disliked the Yankees for 45 years. And you'll hear about it. But I wouldn't have a sport without them or rivalries. That doesn't mean I won't stew in a corner, muttering to myself the next time the Yankees win the World Series.

I used to write about the Dodgers and what they were doing currently and who their current foes were all the time. People didn't get offended, they mostly just didn't pay attention, because they weren't Dodgers fans.

I stopped doing that and focused more on collecting, but I still have a couple of annual "rooting" posts every year ("30 Teams" and "If I Was King of the Postseason ..."). But I'm starting to think maybe people can't handle them. Some of the comments have been weird lately. I have a sharp, sarcastic sense of humor (my sister-in-law calls them "zingers") and I try to have fun with rivalries and such but people are starting to take it the wrong way.

People have gotten more sensitive online. Everyone not only has to divide themselves into political factions but they have to get so angry about anyone's opinion that was not their own.

I think opinions are interesting and entertaining and give you an idea of where someone is coming from, sometimes you learn from it. Honesty is interesting to me, as long as you're not a crackpot who doesn't read a proper news source and is airing falsehoods.

Last weekend, I met good friends who I hadn't seen in 25 years, since shortly after we all graduated from college. It was wonderful seeing them again. We went to a restaurant and just talked for four hours and it felt like only one hour went by.

It was amazing how much I missed their opinions and their quick-wits and their viewpoints that matched mine. I live in a different place now with different-behaving people, who don't get me and I don't get them. But still I try to understand, even though I like other places and other people better.

That's where I am with this blog, too. The world around it isn't the same, the commenters aren't the same, I'm trying to do things the way I did all along but people are behaving differently and getting upset and, geez, I'm just trying to get my feelings out, undergo a bit of blog therapy (writing about stuff, even stuff you don't like, is tremendous therapy) and tell you all that I like cards.

I can make my blog a blog where I buy a pack of cards, full of Diamondbacks and Marlins and Giants and say, "isn't it wonderful? These guys are all great major leaguers and phenomenal. It's a blessing to watch them and pull their cards."

But I wouldn't last more than two weeks doing that. And I think people would call me out on it. Or just stop reading.

To each their own, obviously.

I get that I am complaining (again) about someone who was simply airing their honest opinion of what they felt about my blog at the time. Shouldn't the commenters get to write honestly about things if I'm doing the same?

Yeah, I guess. I don't know, maybe none of this makes any sense.

I know, I know, I don't need to explain myself. I'm in year 14 of this. Maybe this was just a good opportunity to explain again what Night Owl Cards is all about. To those who might not know.

And give everyone another chance to leave the room.

I'll still be here after the last person shuts the door.