Night Owl Cards

  I am in the final stretch in my 1985 Donruss completion quest. Just as I figured several months ago, I am getting this done during the summer when I have time to attack little projects like this.   Dwight Gooden has been placed in his proper page spot in the upper left, next to Barry Bonnell and above Dave Stieb. I am now down to two cards. The Kirby Puckett rookie card is on its way to me. That leaves the Roger Clemens rookie as the final card needed.   Set-collecting veterans know that one of the last stages of finishing off a set is determining what you missed -- what gremlins have slipped past the inventory clerks I have hired to make sure every card has been obtained and documented (check that, I am the only inventory clerk, and I am unpaid).   This time I found four gremlins and I have snagged them all before getting the final two cards -- it's embarrassing when you have the final card documented and then some gremlin ends up being last.   I shall now ex...

(Apparently, we should be appreciating our relatives today, because it is "Visit Your Relatives Day." It's making me feel particularly guilty because today is my brother's birthday, and I can't visit him. Something about work getting in the way. Sorry, buddy. But instead, I'll appreciate some baseball cards in your honor. This is the 31st in a series): What do you think Rick Mahler is about to do in that dungeon of a locker room with that baseball? Is he about to autograph just that one? Does the photographer want you to think he signed all of those balls in front of him? Or are these all props and Mahler isn't going to sign a single ball unless he sees cash up front? Fleer was the first card company to provide photographs that showed you the everyday world of a ballplayer. Granted, a lot of those photos were difficult to view because they were either blurry or dark, but the idea was there. Later, Upper Deck took that idea and ran with it. Then they jump...