Night Owl Cards

  I have probably mentioned a couple times that I feel like my era of collecting is underrepresented on social media. That's likely because folks who collected as kids in the '70s are less likely to be appearing on Twitter/X or Instagram. And I don't do cards on Facebook, which probably has a better chance of showing card stuff from my era. But it's difficult for me to match the glee for late '80s and '90s cards that I see constantly on those other social media sites. Like I've said before, it seems like every collector online began collecting in 1987. There's probably a book in there somewhere because it's definitely a thing. But I don't want to collect stuff from that time. I see pack-openings of 1990 Donruss a lot. I already know what's in those packs, they do, too. I don't have any desire to be trapped in a 1990 time loop. Also, and this is the key thing, I like cards issued earlier a whole lot more. Folks who collected those cards fr...

I was looking at the 1971 Topps football cards posted on A Penny Sleeve for your Thoughts yesterday and admiring just how fantastic the design was for those cards, when I remembered that I had meant to make a post about this some time ago. The '71 Topps football design is not my favorite of all the Topps football designs. I need to have an emotional connection to a design and I was too young to be collecting in '71. However, I do think the design is brilliant in its simplicity and in its ability to reach its target audience: kids. In fact, I think that all of the Topps designs for the big four sports that year -- football, baseball, basketball and hockey -- achieve the above goals. The cards issued in '71 across the board were: 1. Simplistic 2. Colorful 3. Fun 4. Got kids to notice That is why I think 1971 was the best design year Topps ever had. The football design is as enjoyable as opening the colored funnies on a Sunday. Each card displays a cartoon fig...