Night Owl Cards

Before I get to the countdown, I wanted to mention a blog phenomenon that I find cool and humbling at the same time. The much-loved and much-read blog site, UniWatch , linked to Night Owl Cards on Wednesday. While posting an interview with former major leaguer Jerry Reuss, Paul Lukas of ESPN fame linked to my own Jerry Reuss post . I now might have to rename my blog, "a baseball card site." The measly 200-plus visits that I receive on an average day was eclipsed in a two-hour period. NOC received 800 visits Wednesday and 938 page views. And that, faithful readers, is the difference between the blog big boys and some dog-and-pony baseball card blog. But it's also cool. Anyway, back to the countdown. The latest card back countdown selection begins a short run of card backs that may not impress by today's standards, but are here anyway because I consider them iconic. I do not have any 1963 Fleer cards. I just have the cheap Fleer Tradition imitation from...

When I arrived in the building where they were holding the card show on Sunday, I wasn't wearing a lab coat. I wasn't carrying a clipboard. I wasn't wearing glasses. And I didn't ask anyone to "tell me how you feel." But I definitely felt like a psychiatrist during my card transactions, because the dealers were in a venting mood. They always seem like the anxious, nervous sort, but they seemed even more anxious-er and nervous-er than usual. One dealer that I always go to totaled up my cards, gave me a price, gave me a bag and then walked away without taking my money. (Don't worry, I flagged him down). One dealer moaned endlessly about the economy and thanked the Lord above that he wasn't relying on his card sales to feed his family. One dealer told me it was the worst October show he'd ever been to in years and years of going to October shows. Then he told me a happy story about getting two flat tires on two separate occasions on the way to one of...