Night Owl Cards

Ah, 1998, an epic year in the night owl timeline. But baseball cards didn't have anything to do with it. I was five years into my collecting hiatus. The year is legend because I became a dad. I am sure I watched some of the Mark McGwire-Sammy Sosa home run race with a baby in my arms.   Somewhere in the summer of 1998, my wife and I were wheeling that baby in her stroller while walking through a mall, I don't remember which one. We walked into a chain book store -- I don't remember which one -- and I spotted Topps cards on one of those islands near the front of the store. They were packs of 1998 Topps. OK, sure, I'll grab a couple of packs and see what cards look like in the year 1998.   I recall thinking they were OK, nothing special. They certainly didn't break my hiatus, which lasted for another eight years, give or take a pack or two. I had no idea how active the hobby was at that time -- the number of sets and companies and "innovation." It was a year...

I've run this card blog longer than most, and the longer it goes, the more difficult it is coming up with original topics. I am all too well aware of when I'm repeating myself, and also too well aware that sometimes I don't know when I'm repeating myself. There are just some topics that I should never discuss again. And I'm going to do something about it by occasionally writing a series of posts called "I will never write about this again". One of those topics is my four-year foray into fantasy baseball in the mid-1990s. I don't need to write about this again. I was terrible. It was a long time ago and the rules have changed vastly. It's time to let it go. The reason I haven't let it go until now is that I'm forever trying to remember what players were on my fantasy team during those years (1993-96). I finally did a little research and figured out most of them. I am going to list them here now so I will have this for posterity an...

The last Awesome Night Card post was dedicated to World Series cards and how I wish that there was a card for every World Series game in each year's Topps product. Topps has adopted the scattershot method with regard to World Series cards, presenting them however the mood strikes it over many years. I also mentioned that other card companies have picked up the slack for when Topps ignored the World Series altogether. Fleer and Upper Deck in particular. This is one of the Upper Deck examples. I wasn't even aware of UD's tribute to the 1997 World Series until Dave K. sent a bunch of night cards a few weeks ago. Baseball cards, and baseball in general, were not on my mind much in the late '90s. These are all from the 1998 UD set and do the World Series right. One card for every World Series game. And the card backs do it up right, too. That's a full boxscore of the game and a brief summary on the side. The 1997 World Series is noted for Edgar Renteria...