Night Owl Cards

(Today is National Handwriting Day . You don't need me to tell you that modern athletes' handwriting is abysmal. Look at any number of autograph cards on the market. It baffles me that people collect scribbles that look like they were created by a 16-month old. But handwriting doesn't mean as much to the general public as it once did, and the story goes that National Handwriting Day was created in part because of a fear that the art of handwriting was being lost. This was in 1977. Little did they know ... . Time for Cardboard Appreciation. This is the 288th in a series). Whenever I page a set into a new binder, potential blog topics always pop up in my brain. Such was the case as I was adding my 2019 Topps Holiday set into a brand new red binder. I just completed the "task," which took me four days because my goodness life hates baseball card activities, and no less than three blog ideas sprouted from that activity. None of them are particularly fascinati...

I watched the "Jack of All Trades" baseball card documentary on Netflix yesterday. I didn't think I'd like it, but it turns out it was pretty good. It's far from perfect. But the complaints that "it isn't really a baseball card movie" are kind of pointless. Of course it isn't. Who could make money off of a movie that is about nothing but baseball cards? Anyway, it was interesting to look inside the hobby a little and to reminisce about that junk wax period that is now over 25 years old! One of the things mentioned repeatedly in the documentary is how everybody during that period was trying to get rich. Collectors, dealers, card companies. And one theory on how to do that back then was just to produce more . More of everything. More stores. More cards. More sets. Definitely more sets. It's 1992 now in the "Best Set of the Year" series and we're up to 12 sets that I have to analyze. I cried about having to review nine s...

About three years ago, I embarked on my first blog trades. Those were fun times. I think I spent all my free time sitting on the front step waiting for the mailman while I sang "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." If you go back and look at those first trade posts -- and I'm sure some of them are so sickeningly upbeat that you'll want to throw your laptop in the garbage, incinerate the trash can and truck the ashes to the Yucatan Peninsula -- you'll see me positively flip out over cards like 1992 Fleer and 1989 Upper Deck. I needed a lot of Dodgers back then. An incredible, staggering amount. I was probably very, very easy to deal with as a collector. "This dude needs some '91 Fleer Dodgers? Well, isn't that darling? I've got 3,000 of them around here somewhere ..." But three years and hundreds of trades later, I don't need that many Dodgers. Well, let me rephrase that. I still need a lot of Dodgers. I just don't need as many. Wa...

OK, it's time to name us some more sets. As expected, the 1984 Fleer set wasn't an easy one. Although a number of folks made valiant attempts at coming up with a Define the Design name, there didn't seem to be any one name that really sums up the set. In fact, 1984 Fleer may actually be undefinable. But I refuse to accept that. So in honor of collectors everywhere -- at least ones who send cards through the mail -- I am taking one commenter's advice and naming it "The Blue Painter's Tape Set." Do not mail a card package without it. Another difficult one, 1985 Fleer. I thought about going the cup route. I kind of like calling it "The Sippy Cup Set." I'm a parent. I remember the sippy cup years very well. But when I look at the card, the cup image isn't the first thing that comes to mind. What comes to mind is that the colored border looks like a pocket. A breast pocket on a suit. And so, I'm going to take dayf...