Night Owl Cards

In yet another depressing proof of the theory that the "masses are asses," this card was selected as one of Topps' 60 best of all-time. Shame, shame, collectors. We've been played again. I know that Topps can be blamed for much of this. It deemed only 100 of its cards as the best of all-time, and a respectable chunk of those cards were dismissible junk. But apparently many collectors did not read the rules of the voting. These 60 cards that are determined the best of all-time by your votes are to be randomly inserted into this year's base set. Aaarrrrghhhh! What have we done? We could have voted for all those '50s and '60s cards! Throw in some key '70s cards and there were close to 60 cards that anybody would be happy to pull out of a pack of 2011 cards. Instead, collectors voted the 1989 Randy Johnson card as the 54th best card of all-time. And for your excellence in voting, you will be rewarded. Topps will vomit thousands of Randy John...

Sadly, my own little diamond anniversary party is coming to a close. That went by awfully quick, didn't it? That's the way I like it. No long, drawn-out affair like that Awesomest Night Card thinga-ma-role. When's that ending? Anyway, I have cards 41-60 coming up in a second. I'm just showing ol' Don Mossi here to illustrate that there are many, many, many cool cards that I do not have that would be just as worthy contenders for bumping out half the Mantles that Topps has nominated as anything else I'm featuring. It's just that my collection is focused mostly in the '70s and '80s so that's what I happen to think is the best. Feel free to nominate your own top 60. Then Topps can take credit for spawning a thousand lists and everyone will be happy. OK, the final cards on the list. Again, these are in total random order. Observe: 41. 1975 Topps Steve Yeager: First Dodger card I ever pulled from a pack purchased with my own money. A "...

I wish this card made my top 60 of the best ever, but, sadly, it just missed the cut. Had I possessed it as a child instead of only seen it from afar, then maybe it would have been chosen. (By the way, it's Tiant's 70th birthday today). Still a great card. Still better than an '87 Barry Bonds or half of the other rookie cards that Topps is asking you to vote for on its site . I don't have anything against rookie cards. It's just what they have become that bothers me. I'm tired of it. I have several of the rookie cards shown on the site. Have the Gwynn, the McGwire, the Clemens, the Mattingly. But you won't see them on my top 60. But enough of that. On with cards 21-40 of the best ever! Remember, you're trapped in a Michael's craft store. All you can see is shelf after shelf of yarn and beads and fake plastic plant stuff. There's glitter everywhere (*shudder*). These are the cards that will get you through the madness. And by "you...

Topps wants you to believe that this might be one of the best cards it has ever produced. It's also perfectly willing to feature this card in its set next year under the assumption that collectors will be thrilled if they happen to pull it. As you may have heard, Topps is celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2011, and part of the celebration includes having collectors vote on a pre-selected group of 100 cards -- "the best cards (they've) ever produced" -- to be inserted into packs of 2011 product. The 60 with the most votes get the insert treatment. It is a good promotional idea gone terribly wrong because Topps has no idea what many collectors believe are "the best" cards. I know this: if a 1989 Topps Randy Johnson card is voted as one of the 60 "best," and is inserted in next year's product, and I happen to pull one of these cards, I will cut it into 60 pieces and then cut each of the pieces into 60 pieces. I don't even know how ma...