1-4-me

 

This card is appropriate and timely for me and my blog.

It is a card of my favorite team, of someone who was inducted into the Hall of Fame this year. It specifically mentions a night game, though the photo doesn't appear to be at night. Also, the whole set is in newspaper format. I produce part of a newspaper almost every day.

But I've written about that stuff and this card before. The key part today is the appearance of Gil Hodges' number.

Fourteen years ago today, I started Night Owl Cards.

It's crazy how long ago that was. But the hobby will tell you exactly how long. Collecting is almost nothing like it was in 2008, when the Target in town was just one year old and I'd go there weekly to see rows of Allen & Ginter greeting me from shelves every time.

Today, the Target is still there but I don't go there much. There's nothing on the shelves I want. Baseball is nonexistent. We complained about cards back then but we had no idea.

Discussing the hobby is a lot different, too. Blogging isn't as important to people. That's pretty clear. This blog isn't as important to people anymore. That's definitely clear. I could list the ways, but let's just say that the numbers on yesterday's card show post were as if I was writing in 2011 again.

Back in 2011, and prior, I'd keep posts shorter and content wasn't as deep as it is now.

I feel this post going in the same direction.

They say that gifts for 14th wedding anniversaries are ivory-related. I've got a couple ivory-themed cards, including one of Chris Ivory's brief appearance with the Buffalo Bills.

 

 

Ivory Crockett from good ol' Allen & Ginter, when A&G was a tribute and not a calculated marketing ploy.

 

The old Philadelphia A's elephant logo is a fun twist on the ivory theme.

 

So, yeah, not a lot of thought for this anniversary post. No giveaways either. That big 5,000-post one wore me out.

 

But I do have one card for me (1-4-me!) that I'm choosing to believe was sent to celebrate the blog anniversary.

This card arrived yesterday.

It came from the Baseball Card Store.ca. Totally unexpected. It was a gift. "Go Dodgers," it said in the accompanying (Christmas) card. And, yes, it was definitely a need.

There are still many signs that people are out there reading. Maybe it's not in the waves of even a couple of years ago, but it's there, even if I the number of commenters who have vanished into thin air match the leaves on the trees out in the front yard (there are 3 large ones).

Looking ahead, no big plans for the blog. I may cut back a little more just because I can feel my energy lessening for the once-a-day stuff. But, who knows, that may pass and I'll be back to typing out some epic that nobody has time to read.

Thanks for reading, those of you who still do. And for those of you who stopped blogging, went to Twitter and now do nothing but sell cards on there ... what happened to you, man?