Night Owl Cards

I've been doing this blog thing for so long that I've accumulated quite a list of trade partners. Most of the transactions aren't even really trades anymore. I just distribute cards whenever I have the time and then someone shoots something back. I periodically come across new trade partners and I try to accommodate them, although I admit I'm not very good responding, mostly because life despises my hobby and won't let me keep up. But when I'm about to transact with a new trader, there's always that concern on my end: what do I tell him that I collect? Yeah, I know you know what I collect. But it's different for a new trader. I collect Dodgers, but I also already have a ton of Dodgers cards, probably around 20,000 now. I also am trying to complete Topps sets from 1956 and 1973, but not everyone has those just lying around. And I love '70s oddballs, Kelloggs and Hostess in particular, but again, not everyone has those. There are also various ...

Today is the one day out of the year that I feel like a hen in the fox house. No, I do not have a vote in the Baseball Hall of Fame balloting. But, yes, I am a sportswriter and editor, and I don't enjoy seeing my profession bashed as often as it is on this day. I don't enjoy listening to critics accuse writers of being elitist and sanctimonious and passing judgment, while they also judge. Last night on Twitter, someone who supposedly knows a lot insinuated that people who choose to write for newspapers for a living are stupid. And I thought, "How come there's never relentless insults of plumbers or accountants or hotel maids in my timeline? How come it's always sportswriters?" The fact is, the arguments that arise from the Hall of Fame vote are too divisive and too personal. It's so over-the-top. All of the critics' efforts, biases and prejudices are being invested into a museum in a southeast corner of New York state. That's all it is. It...

(Today is "Pardon Day," a day of seeking forgiveness. In the spirit of that day, I would like to say to the Padres "I'm sorry I thought your team was crap at the beginning of the year and that your manager would be fired." However, I am not sorry for hoping whoever plays the San Diego Padres in the playoffs beats the s---t out of them. I can only appreciate so much of "Pardon Day." Now, it's time for Cardboard Appreciation. This is the 80th in a series): Most people know this card as the rookie card of both Paul Molitor and Alan Trammell. For them, that's rarity enough -- two standouts at their position featured on the same rookie card. But for me, it's rare for another reason. When I first started collecting, the four-player rookie card was the standard. Four-player rookie cards appeared in the first set I ever saw ('74 Topps) and the first set I ever collected ('75 Topps). It was the first cards I ever cut up ('76 Top...