Night Owl Cards

  Oh, Topps, you know me. You know us. So knocked sideways by everything that's been going on in the world the last couple of years, we're not even sure what year it is half the time. So now is the perfect time to put out a card set made one year ago -- heck, the year of production is right on the box! -- and hope we don't even notice. I was certainly in that state yesterday. I attended calling hours for my former co-worker who passed last weekend (funeral was earlier today), and I had already made sure I wouldn't be at the office much that day. It was the perfect opportunity to head to the opposite side of town for some retail therapy. The card shelf was full again. I had my picks. Flagship. Heritage. Opening Day. But the Big League jumped out at me. I saw the "2021." I knew half the players wouldn't be with the teams depicted. I still bought it.   I can't help but wonder what casual collectors think, those who don't know that Big League was pushe

    I don't have a lot of mini collections. I can't focus on that many hobby things these days anyway, but I've never been the mini-collection type. If I did venture outside of my set/team/player-sphere, one of the collections I would set up is cards of players who later became broadcasters when I was starting to learn baseball. They were my first baseball teachers. Yeah, sure there were youth league coaches and my dad and all that, but I wanted to know about Major Leaguers, not that "keep your eye on the ball" stuff. Fortunately there were guys on TV who told me all about major leaguers. Sure, there were people like Vin Scully and Keith Jackson and Lindsey Nelson and Frank Messer. But the ones who knew all the inside stuff were usually called "the color commentators" and they were usually former ballplayers. Ex-ballplayers like Joe Garagiola, Tony Kubek, Ralph Kiner and Don Drysdale were invaluable to me learning about professional ballplayers and what

Oof, yesterday was a rough one. A longtime and well-loved former co-worker passed away over the weekend. I worked closely with him for a number of years and I'm almost the last one around from when he was working there, so I wrote the remembrance for him in the paper.   It was a long day and wore me out. But I appreciate the opportunity, although the rest of the week won't be any easier.   It's also another road block in my attempt to do card things and nothing but card things, so the 5,000-post/card giveaway encountered a little hiccup. But it's still in motion!   I had started out sending packages in the order of how winners commented on the giveaway although there was no real order set out. Then in the middle of packaging the repack giveaways, I got an envelope from Jeff of Wax Pack Wonders . He sent a note saying he was sending a few return cards before he forgot in anticipation of receiving his giveaway package. And, just like that, I instinctively started filling

    (A first update on the 5,000-post/5,000-card repack giveaway: I mailed out the second and third boxes today. The first box should have arrived or is close to arriving has arrived . And I've selected all the cards for the fourth box. This is going to take me a couple months, at least, so I'll continue to post periodic updates).   -------------------------------------- This is the last of the posts that I announced I had planned to do back at the end of the summer. You've already seen me rank the best Future Stars cards . You've seen the lowest-rated Rated Rookies and the Best On-Card Element series . I had promised a Best On-Card Element finale with 1994, but I haven't been able to get it together on that one. Maybe I need to feed the hamster in the wheel another treat. What I have for you tonight is something very similar to the Best On-Card Element series but more all encompassing ... and less time-consuming. I have narrowed down the all-time top five graphic