Night Owl Cards

I worked last night during Game 1 of the World Series. This can be excruciating when the Dodgers are involved, mostly because a large-screen TV is on a wall immediately above my computer. I am surprisingly capable of avoiding just about anything else playing on that TV, but not the Dodgers in the World Series. Part of me wants to grab the remote and flip it to the Home and Garden channel just to take the pressure off, but I guess that'd be too weird, huh? Last night, the cable to the building was out. It had been out for four days. Out of all the people in that newsroom, I had to be the guy to say: "hey, anybody know the TVs aren't working?" So, the cable was reconnected around about the third inning of last night's game. I knew the game situation thanks to the usual online sources, but I'd rather watch on TV (with the sound off, of course). Online folks like to crab about Joe Buck and John Smoltz, and understandably so in many cases, but do they know h...

When you get to a card show twice a year there is a certain amount of pressure when the next one comes around. I feel the need to find something memorable at the show, because who knows when I'll get that opportunity again? Here it is the beginnings of spring and, chances are, summer will be dying or dead the next time I'm show-bound. So I was in that frame of mind this past weekend when I walked into the building and handed over my admission fee. For starters, I wasn't all that excited by what was on the want list I brought. If I look a little deeper into that, it's probably not a good sign, but on the surface, I knew some of the stuff I really wanted -- 1960s Dodgers high-numbers, 1970s Kellogg's/Hostess cards -- probably wouldn't be at the show. But I could hear those non-deep-thinkers shouting in my ear: YOU'RE AT A SHOW! YOU LIKE CARDS! FIND SOMETHING AND BUY IT! Suitably kicked in the pants, I got down to work. The show is at the state...

When I had finally come to grips with the fact that there were three baseball card sets to collect instead of one in 1981, I turned my attention to what each company had to offer in conjunction with their baseball cards. Topps had gum, of course. Inedible yet comforting pink slabs. They were always good for a lick or two before you tossed them on someone's lawn. Donruss had puzzle pieces. Yeah, right. I'm going to assemble a puzzle. Puzzles were schoolwork without being in school. No thanks. Fleer, clearly, had the best "perk" in their packs. They had stickers. This wasn't a fair fight at all. I was aware of Fleer's stickers from the previous year. In 1980, you could get team logo stickers -- with a piece of bubble gum -- five to a pack. On the reverse side was a drawing for each World Series from 1940-79. I was hooked. A historical illustration of each World Series game? Even as a youngster, that was right up my alley. I immediately forgot about th...