Night Owl Cards

  Here we are: One of the years of my past that is lost in the black hole of time and continuing memory loss. 1996 will be known to me for two things: the year I bought a house and the year the most hated boss of my life left town. Aside from a few assorted song favorites (Oasis, Garbage, Smashing Pumpkins, you know the ones), that's all I can recall. But what about the baseball cards? Yeah, about that. 1996 was also the first year I did not buy a single card since the time I knew what a baseball card was more than 20 years prior. So, how am I supposed to evaluate the cards from this year? I sure don't feel qualified. I've said this for the last couple of editions for this series. The enthusiasm is low. And in typical '90s fashion, the cards make it difficult. How do I trim it down into something manageable and coherent? For 1995, I limited the sets I was reviewing to only those that could muster 500 cards in their set. But in 1996, Topps pulled a fast one and issued a ...

When I first started blogging, there was only one other Dodger card blog out there. Jim, of that only other blog , was all too aware of this. I think when he discovered my blog, he did cartwheels. Finally! Another Dodger fan on which to dump his doubles ... er, I mean, with whom to trade. And so we did. We happily sent Dodger cards to each other and knew without a doubt that the other was grateful. How can you not be happy with Dodger cards? But after awhile, trading with the same person who likes the same team can get repetitious. I mean, I still trade with Jim and he's still a terrific trader -- one of the best. But we do have a lot of the same cards. Why not draw another Dodger fan into the mix? It took a long time to find another Dodger fan. There's a lot of screwed up people out there, you know. People rooting for Diamondbacks and Mets and Braves. I didn't think I'd find another blogger who knew that the Dodgers are really the only team to collect. P...