Night Owl Cards

There was a time when I thought baseball players suddenly appeared one day on a baseball field on TV or on a baseball card. There was no sense of "where they came from," their family history, or even the path that they took through youth baseball, the school years and the minor leagues. For awhile, I was aware of only the player, and if that player had a dad who played in the major leagues, I had no idea. Baseball players didn't come from other people. They were just THERE. That changed a little bit when Topps issued the Father & Son subset in the 1976 set. That's where I found out that Buddy Bell and Bob Boone had fathers who also played in the majors. When Cal Ripken Jr. arrived in the majors in 1981 and became a sensation in 1982, I'd hear about how his father -- Cal Ripken Sr. -- was a coach on the team. But since I didn't live in Baltimore and didn't care about coaches, that knowledge faded quickly. Somehow, while collecting cards in t...

Today is one of those "high holy days" of night cards that I mentioned a few months ago. Seventy-eight years ago tonight, the Reds and Phillies played the first night game in major league history. The Reds prevailed 2-1. Almost a century later, night games are the rule, not the exception. Night events in general are increasing rapidly. Who had ever heard of a PGA tournament under the lights until a few years ago? But now premiere events that used to be held exclusively during the day -- golf, horse racing, auto racing -- are now also at night. (this causes holy hell with deadlines, by the way). Increasingly, we live in a night owl world. That's right, I am hardly unique. And in some small way, we can credit or blame Reds officials Powel Crosley and Larry MacPhail for it. They were the ones so desperate for attendance (the Reds were last in 1933 and 1934) that they thought up holding a game at night as a gimmick to get people to the park. Good thing there were n...

This message is for people who read my blog somewhere between rarely and never. But I'm going to say it anyway. You never know, once it's out there, it's out there . So here goes: If you are doing some shopping for oh, say, a birthday or for Christmas, or because I just injured myself doing the dishes the other day (no kidding. Forks are dangerous ), and you want to buy me the best gift ever, something that I will appreciate forever, there is just one thing you need to do. One little thing. And that is: MINI ME! Whoops, wrong image. I mean, all you have to do is ... 1975 TOPPS MINIS!!!!! I'm not talking about any old mini card. Those numerous varieties of late '80s minis won't do. Neither will those 2003 Opening Day minis. Not even Allen & Ginter minis will do. For sheer happiness, I'm talking about the only thing that came to card collectors' minds when you mentioned minis between the years 1975 and 1985. I've written a couple of...