Night Owl Cards

  This is the card that drew me in to the 2021 Topps Chrome Platinum Anniversary set. I was minding my own business wandering through ebay one day when the card popped up all renegade-like on some unrelated search. "Steve Sax?" I said to myself. "A card of Steve Sax? A shiny card of Steve Sax?" What is this? I knew it was new but I had never seen it before. The fact that it was a card of Sax erased all other previous thoughts I would have had of this set -- "phooey, it's another 1952 Topps design, phooey, it's more shiny for shiny's sake, phooey, how many rookies are in this thing?" But I didn't think any of that. All I thought was, "what the heck is this set?" and "how do I get this card?" About a month later, I received an envelope with that very Sax card. I didn't even need to buy it myself. It came from, I believe, reader Grant, who doesn't like putting his name on envelopes.   I know a card like this, a set ...

  I recently received a handful of Dodgers from the 2021 version of Topps Fire from Cards On Cards a week or so ago.   Topps Fire is one of those products that I can take or leave. It wouldn't bother me if it disappeared tomorrow, yet it is an art-focused set so I always find it somewhat interesting from year-to-year.   Also, since it's an art set, it is highly polarizing and I can just hear the comments to this post in my head as I write it ("Anonymous: those cards suck"). But artists are used to that. In fact all creative types are used to it. People feel like they can throw whatever uninformed criticism they want at artists, photographers, writers and designers, but would be highly offended if you critiqued their office job (if they have a job).   So, we press on, knowing somebody out there somewhere likes it. That said, I'm stunned that Topps Fire is still a thing after five years. That's right, this is the five-year anniversary of Topps Fire. In fact, it...