2021: the best, the worst, the ... mama we're all crazee now

My mother and father used to like to sit on the front porch a lot.

They liked to say hello to the neighbors, watch the day go by, just generally enjoy the outdoors through the comfort of their screened-in sanctuary.

But gradually the neighborhood turned. People congregated on the corner and sometimes argued. There'd be fights in the night. Loud, smoky, rusted-out vehicles drove too fast down the street. People walked in the middle of the street, on their way to or from a drug deal. A young couple, obviously strung-out every time I saw them, would walk their neglected dog past my parents'  house almost every day. My dad nicknamed one soul "hat, coat and gloves," because that's always what he wore, even in the middle of August. Vehicles would camp out in front of the apartment across the street, motor running, at all hours. Pleasant porch how-do-you-dos became neighborhood watches. My dad, would often go out on the porch in the evening ... and call the police.

I couldn't sit out on the porch with them. It felt too much like gawking at an accident. And I couldn't help but think that the neighborhood had not only gone downhill but had gone crazy and my folks' house was the last sane house on the block.

That's what 2021 has felt like to me. From a hobby perspective, from a country perspective. I'm looking out the window, and I can't believe what I see.

I'll keep this to what I've seen in the hobby in the past year, but there is plenty of 2021 weirdness to cover there. As I've said many times this year, about a variety of things, I don't know what happened to people.

-- Lining 50 bros deep, spending part of the afternoon staring blankly at their phones amid the baby apparel, for the chance to buy a few $20 retail blasters.

 

-- Blithering on about NFTs, which are about as far away from what I'm interested in when it comes to collecting cards as tamagotchi pets.

-- Transforming Twitter, and I would imagine Instagram and Tik Tok if I was on those things, into nonstop sales pitches at all hours. Twitter is 50 percent card-sale come-ons now and it's really hurting my interest in the site.

-- And the big thing that's driving the above behavior -- that everyone thinks, all over again, that they can get rich off this hobby, which is a pipe dream at best, but that hasn't stopped everyone from losing their damn minds.

 

I sold cards this year, too. Just a few. Because how could you not when you saw the prices of them? But mostly what I did was what I always do, and have done for decades, collect cards because I like to look at them.

 

Except that this year I kept one eye on the window. Because you never knew what you'd see walking down the street. Every year for like the last 3 or 4 years, I've said that the previous 365 days were among the strangest in the hobby that I've ever experienced, and then the following year just goes and tops it.

 

I've stopped looking forward to a correction. I hope I'm wrong but I think it's hopeless. We're just all too damn crazy now.

 

But let's take a look back before we plunge into the weird unknown:

 

 

BEST SET I COMPLETED

 

This was a fun one this year.

 

 2004 Upper Deck Timeline Dodgers set.

 

1992 Bowman Dodgers (yeah, Piazza wasn't the last one, it was this guy).

 

 

 

1955 Bowman Dodgers.

 

 

 

2003 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites (to complete the 2003-05 run of Fan Favorites).

 

 

1980 Kellogg's 3-D.

 

1983 Fleer.

1982 Fleer.

1960 Topps Dodgers (and the entire run of 1960s Topps Dodgers, except those stoopid rookie parade cards in '62 and '63).

 

1978 Kellogg's 3-D.

1980-87 Baseball Immortals.

Except for cards 191-199, which are quite elusive.

1976 Hostess.

1956 Topps.

I think it's safe to say that 2021 was my most successful year ever for completing sets. I've wanted to complete some of the above since I was 14 years old.

In last year's end-of-the-year post, I predicted I'd finish the '78 Kellogg's and 1982 and 1983 Fleer sets, but I never expected to finish 1956.

Which brings me to ...

BEST SET I'LL COMPLETE IN 2022

I'll go out on a limb and say 1970 Topps. Yup, still need the Jackson, Bench and Ryan. But I did just pick up the Clemente and, heck, at the start of 2021, I didn't have the 1956 Mays, Clemente or Mantle cards (not to mention Kaline, Killebrew, Rizzuto and several others) and we know what happened.

 

More reasonable set-completion in 2022: 1985 Fleer.

WORST SET OF 2021

I didn't buy very many 2021 cards this year and really am not in a position to evaluate sets, since I didn't see much or collect much. But right now Allen & Ginter Chrome sounds like the dumbest thing to hit market. I know Topps would chrome every man, woman and child if allowed, but there are some things that make zero sense and applying chromium to a set that was born in the 19th century is one of them.

BEST SET OF 2021

This is what I opened from this year:

2021 Topps flagship

2021 Topps Heritage

2021 Panini Diamond Kings

2021 Stadium Club

That's it. Five blasters in total and zero individual packs (thanks a lot, flippers). None of it impressed me enough that I could say it was the best.

WORST DISAPPOINTMENT OF 2021

Topps never unveiled a Big League set. It was my "Set Of The Year in 2020." I was looking forward to it, yet Topps strung collectors along by pushing back the release time four or five times. It also delayed my shipment of cards in a group break that I guess I'll receive in 2022. Thanks a lot, Topps. And Big League. Yeah, yeah, I know, the pandemic.

BIGGEST PULLS OF 2021

LOL, at five blasters and no packs, this is the only thing I pulled of note in 2021, a French-back card of Lou Bob. It didn't even sell for what I initially thought it would sell for when I first pulled it.

BEST MISCUT CARD OF 2021

Best miscut card of all-time.

BEST 'I DID A THING' OF 2021

Oops!

 

WORST TOPPS GOOF OF 2021

Uh, there were a lot of them, but I think having your exclusive license swept out from under your feet dwarfs anything else. I'm still hoping Topps' brands transfer to Fanatics, but current cards are so far down on my list now, don't listen to me.

BEST HOBBY DEVELOPMENT OF 2021

OK how about some equal time for the good in the hobby? Not only did card shows return in 2021 but I got to go to shows in back-to-back months, which has never happened. Ever. Also, I have people emailing me with shows within driving range almost on a weekly basis now. The hobby may be filled with insane people now but it's also never been healthier. So I guess you need insanity to make the hobby go? 

 

That sounds about right.

 

 

WORST BLOG DEVELOPMENT OF 2021

 

The desktop computer that I had used for the first 13 years of the blog died. That threw me into an uncertain state of shuffling between taking photos of cards and using a scanner app. I didn't enjoy either, but now I've declared a truce with both, so I guess that's what I'm going with for 2022.

WORST BLOG DEVELOPMENT 2

People got weird in the comments. It was probably overdue as plenty of popular online sites are just filled with trolls and other bad commenting behavior. But I figured my readers were immune to that nonsense. I suppose not. 2021 just could not keep out the crazy.

WORST DEAD HORSE-BEATING BEHAVIOR OF 2021

After last year's popularity of Project 2020, Topps, never known for letting something drop, developed  Project 70 in which artists created cards from a limited number of subjects. That led to situations where the first couple of Dock Ellis cards were charming and then SOMEBODY PLEASE TURN IT OFF. If artists were able to choose from an unlimited number of player subjects, this thing would've been a lot more fun and not the mind-numbing exercise it became.

BEST MAGAZINE ARTICLES I WROTE IN 2021

Still super fun, super exciting and in January I will be working on my 13th article for Beckett's magazines.

BEST CARDS SENT TO ME IN 2021

 

 

 Wow. Wow. Wow.

WORST TOPPS GOOF 2

Topps printed the names and positions on its flagship set in type too small for anyone who doesn't have 20-20 vision or eyes that are younger than 30 years old. Baffling. I don't know how this got past whatever editors were in charge.

 

And just to show that Topps had a blind spot in this area this year, the too-tiny type migrated to the back of the leader cards in Heritage. Above is a comparison with an original 1972 Topps leader card.

However, Panini has had the too-tiny-type problem on its card backs for years so maybe there is a reason for this -- a reason that needs to be fixed unless card companies want to start paying eye doctor bills.

 

BEST HOBBY DEVELOPMENT 2

I'm a late-comer, but I joined Trading Card Database and began uploading my collection on the site. Recently I've added a couple of images to the site, too. I still don't see myself trading on there, but who knows.

 

BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE OF 2021

For the second straight year it's the baseballcardstore online site. This year, Steve gave me a list of Dodgers cards that I could select from before he uploaded them on the site, sort of like a personal shopper. Don't that beat all.

BEST REBOUND OF 2021

COMC, at the very end of the year, became a place I could trust again and that meant I could resume my quest for more 1975 Topps buybacks. I made the best progress in that area since 2019, but I'm starting to run out of options.

 

BEST CARDS I SENT MYSELF IN 2021

I will never top that.

BEST TRADE OF 2021

I completed a trade with JJ on Twitter that landed me a Host of Hostess cards from the '70s as well as some '70s Kellogg's. I'm smiling right now thinking of it.

 

BEST CARD THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN 2021

This card was created by Gio in 2020, I believe. But I didn't receive it until Julie from A Cracked Bat sent it to me in 2021. It may be my favorite custom card I've ever seen. And, yes, that needs to be a list on my blog in 2022.

 

BEST BLOG COMMENT OF 2021

The comment didn't show up on Night Owl Cards, it was on the 1971 Topps blog that I completed a couple of years ago. Former baseball player Bob Reed boasting about the number of cards he has of himself on a post about his card might be the greatest thing that has happened to me as a blogger.

 

BEST ACTUAL THINGS TO HAPPEN TO ME AS A BLOGGER IN 2021

OK, are you ready? This is a top three and all are mind-blowing:

3. I interviewed the person who appeared on the first card I ever pulled out of a pack, back when I was 8 years old.

2. My story on 1991 Topps baseball appeared on the cover of Beckett Baseball in March to make me a cover boy for the first time. 

 

1. I completed the 1956 Topps set (and in a two-for, it's my most-liked tweet of the year).

I guess it was a pretty good year.

 

 

WORST HOBBY DEVELOPMENT OF 2021

I haven't been able to buy current cards at a Walmart or Target or anywhere since last February. This Josh Bell card is the last one I pulled out of something I bought off a store shelf. Even after many people have reported cards showing up on store shelves where they live, they still haven't come back where I am, and until I see them, I doubt they ever will. Hopefully 2022 will change my mind.

 

 

BEST SERIES COMPLETED IN 2021

 

 

I finished the Greatest 100 cards of the 1980s countdown. I don't have any similar series planned for next year, but along those lines I did commit to doing a 1993 Upper Deck blog. Maybe you'll see it in 2022, maybe you won't.

BEST PART OF COLLECTING THE DODGERS IN 2021

 

All the cards showing the Dodgers winning the World Series!

BEST CARDS OF 2021

I don't have a favorite card for 2021. Here is a handful that have amused or intrigued me, so I guess they're tied as my favorite:

OK, I think I've gone on for long enough.

It's time to recognize the Person of the Year.

The Person of the Year is the worker who has encountered the most bat-shit crazy in 2021, outside of doctors and nurses and mail carriers. The Person of the Year is the poor folks who stocked the card shelves in 2021 (and 2020).

These people were pestered, hounded, grilled, followed, stalked and forced to "make friends" with collectors all because they were adding cards to shelves like any other piece of merchandise. Little did they know when this all started that some collectors had gone crazy and by the time it was all over, and store employees would be removed from their card-stocking responsibilities because folks were involved in old-world justice in the parking lot over a few pieces of pseudo-cardboard representing some sports figures.

There's no need to show a photo of these store employees because I'm sure they still want to remain anonymous. I don't blame them.

That's a wrap on the 2021 year. There was some good in it, after all. And I hope that we can continue to get some promising hobby signs in 2022 like we did in 2021.

But I don't have a lot of hope for some people.

 

That's OK. Just stay off my porch.

(Persons of the Year: 2021 - Retail card shelf stockers; 2020 - Dustin May; 2019 - Gary V.; 2018 - Kylie Minogue; 2017 - Aaron Judge; 2016 - Justin Smoak; 2015 - Sandy Koufax; 2014 - Bill Wetmore; 2013 - maybe Josh Donaldson; 2012 - Adron Chambers)