Night Owl Cards

I haven't reached my senior years yet, but good, gosh, sometimes -- actually every day now -- it sure feels like it. The limbs don't work the way they once did and eight hours of uninterrupted sleep is the stuff of legend, to borrow from Vida's jersey. I have a more difficult time relating to people, probably because I'm one of the few left on this earth who doesn't think rap music and tattoos are as melodic and beautiful as Mozart and roses. I miss the 1970s and 1980s and even a bit of the early '90s. I miss regarding 20 home runs in a season as an achievement. I miss girl groups. I miss wax packs at drug stores. I miss a whole lot actually, but if I go on any longer, someone will think I really am a senior. No, the farthest back that I go is the mid-1970s. The first player that I remember seeing on TV is either Johnny Bench or Thurman Munson. The first player I remember seeing on a baseball card is Tommy John. He goes back to the '60s, but when ...

The underlying reason behind my recent quest to pursue 1980s Fleer sets (and some of the early '80s Donruss sets) is a continued mission to connect with the baseball players who were in the game when I was a kid. I'm not in this hobby for the dudes that play today. As much as the current hobby thrives on Judge and Trout and the hot rookie du jour, that does very little for me. I'm not even in this hobby because of Kershaw or any of the current Dodgers. The guys who played and managed in the game in the '70s and '80s keep me collecting cards. They keep me connected. They keep me young. Sure, all of them have stopped playing. They're all old now. Some of them have died. But they will always have more meaning to me than anybody who played in the 1990s, 2000s or today. So, with most of the Topps sets completed from my childhood, I'm searching for other avenues. Fleer is at the top of the list. So is Hostess and Kellogg's 3-Ds. Beyond that, I'm a...