Night Owl Cards

(Opening Day is TWO DAYS AWAY! What am I appreciating? OPENING DAY IS TWO DAYS AWAY! Time for Cardboard Appreciation. This is the 107th in a series. OPENING DAY IS TWO DAYS AWAY!) I've whined a lot about the past month. Probably more than I should. I mean, nothing catastrophic happened in the last 29-plus days. But even though I have it better than a lot of people in this world, I still think I'm deserving of a break for what I went through this month, even if I have to make my own break. So that's what I've done. I have taken Thursday and Friday off from work. You know what Thursday and Friday are don't you? They're the first two days of the baseball season! That's right! I HAVE THE FIRST TWO DAYS OF THE BASEBALL SEASON OFF!!!! I don't plan to fucking move for 48 hours. It has been a long time since I have not had to work the first day of the baseball season. I'm sure I was in college the last time that happened. So, you can understan...

Before I get into this post, just take a moment to stare at this John Buck card. Have you ever stared at a word or a letter for so long that it doesn't make sense anymore? Sure you have. If you stare long enough at this Buck card, particularly his space-age catcher's mask, it doesn't even appear as if he's playing baseball anymore, or that's he's even human. OK, maybe it's me. Anyway, to continue the silliness, I've compiled a countdown of my favorite 2011 cards so far. I say it's silly because I'm not trying to complete any 2011 sets right now. That means I have just a starter's set worth of 2011 cards, and am probably missing some dandy ones. But tradition is tradition and this blog is nothing without traditions and old, moldy cardboard that the app-loving junkies just can't understand. In recognition of my relatively scant number of 2011 cards, I've trimmed the list to a mere top 10. I'll keep the commenting to a min...

Unless your name was Nancy Kerrigan, Kurt Cobain or O.J. Simpson, 1994 was going along quite nicely until the baseball strike. I moved to a new city in 1994. I didn't know it at the time, but it was one of the smartest decisions I would make. After four years of frustration and upheaval, I began to experience stability in '94. I've lived in the same city since and what I know about my current life now began 17 years ago. In the baseball world, the Dodgers were on the upswing. Their catcher and first basemen were the two most recent Rookies of the Year. And the right fielder was about to win the next one. The pitching staff was pretty good, even though they had just traded away someone named Pedro Martinez. In Triple A resided touted prospects like Todd Hollandworth, Billy Ashley, Roger Cedeno and Ron Coomer. At the time that the major league season came to a halt, the Dodgers were 58-56, but in first place in the National League West. When baseball resumed, the D...

Since Opening Day sits just four days away, I present to you a cautionary night card. Any Cleveland Indians fan knows that the 1987 season was a disaster. Sports Illustrated famously put Joe Carter and Cory Snyder on the cover prior to the season and proclaimed the Indians the best team in the American League. The rational for doing this was basically because Cleveland had finally enjoyed a winning season in 1986, going 84-78. It was its first winning season since 1979 (when the Indians went 81-80), and the Indians had never been that far above .500 since 1968. The Indians had also scored a bunch of runs in '86, so, SI figured, someone must be doing something right on that team. The problem was there was a whole lot of wrong on that team, too. The Indians simply managed to keep it hidden well in 1986. The Indians' top two pitchers in '86 were knuckleballers, Tom Candiotti and Phil Niekro. And Niekro was about 240 at the time. Their No. 3 pitcher was Ken Sc...

I'm sure a few of you retail hounds have noticed that blasters of 2008 Upper Deck Timeline have reappeared in Walmart. It's been three years since UD put out this set and I'm still tempted to buy packs or blasters every time I see it. I'm wondering if in three years time when I see marked down blasters of 2011 product, if I'll be even half as intrigued. I really like the Timeline set. I've said that many times. I'm also half-heartedly collecting the whole thing, which is the proper way to collect this set. If you try to collect it wholeheartedly, you'll blow through the ceiling fuming over how you've pulled another Chase Utley base card for the 52nd time. And then you'll have to call the fire department and be all embarrassed. I bought one discounted blaster a few weeks ago, and the only thing keeping me from buying another one (besides the "no money" excuse) is the fact that 2011 Heritage is still amusing me. Fortunately, ot...

We have reached the top 10 of the Card Back Countdown, and I'll start the final 10 with a set that I really can't explain why it's here. But I'll figure it out. I have a natural affinity and respect for 1950s cards. A lot of what we see now in cards was started in the '50s, including card backs. You could tell that Topps was experimenting with the backs of its cards during its first few major releases. The back of the 1952 set looks nothing like the back of the 1953 set, which looks nothing like the back of the 1954 set. But the '54 set seemed to give Topps an indication of what it wanted. A template for future sets. For the first time, Topps featured what could truly be called a cartoon on the back of its set. The card back for the '53 set did feature a cartoonish drawing, but that was merely a picture to go along with a quiz question. The '54 set actually featured a strip cartoon with a story to it -- a comic -- which you rarely see on bas...

Topps Heritage seems intent this year on featuring ballplayer's hairstyles. It's an ugly turn that's excused as "staying true to the original." However, I think most of the players who were not wearing caps in the 1962 Topps set didn't wear them because either they were just traded or Topps thought that they would be traded. Baseball expanded by two teams in '62 and there were players moving everywhere. So Topps asked the player to take off the cap. Just in case. Then, when the player was traded or drafted by an expansion team, Topps had a capless photo at the ready. I could be wrong, but I don't think there was any MLB expansion in 2011. I also don't think Ian Kinsler has been traded. Or is about to be traded. (Or is that short). The same goes for Carlos Gonzalez or Hanley Ramirez or Carlos Lee or Jason Bay or Hunter Pence. Yet, all are devoid of headwear in 2011 Heritage. This is very irksome. Why am I so cranky about this? Well,...