Night Owl Cards

    The June-July issue of Beckett Vintage Collector arrived at my doorstep Saturday and inside is my 16th article for Beckett, mostly with the Vintage magazine. That's still pretty cool, and there's newness for me with this issue as well. I'm actually interviewed for another article in the edition. The article in which I'm interviewed, by Kevin Glew, is on 1983 Topps, a set I absolutely love. It's the first long article in the magazine (if you know the Vintage mag set-up, there are a bunch of short news items or photographs to kick off things before the long-form stories). The article that I wrote is on the history of All-Star cards in Topps. It's the last article in the magazine. I never know how to react to my story's placement in the magazine. Should being last be considered the "last to make the cut" or should it be considered the "grand finale," like Sports Illustrated did back in the day? Whatever. I'm published in a slick, glo...

The other day, I let someone sucker me into following a link about how we can "fix" the All-Star Game. I think you know, I loathe this kind of "fixing" talk, especially when it comes to baseball and especially when it comes to the most exciting game of the summer for me. The author of the article is not one of my favorites (famous baseball card collector, former SportsCenter host, you know who I'm talking about), so I knew where this was going right away. His suggestion for "fixing" the game was to copy what the NHL is doing for its All-Star Game now. Honestly, I'm not 100 percent sure what they're doing, but it's not a real hockey game. It's some sort of one-period playoff involving some all-stars, and then there's another one-period playoff with other all-stars and then we eventually reach the final and a winner, without ever really playing an actual game. So he says, play two three-inning "games" with four sepa...

So, you didn't much care about my Cody Bellinger cards yesterday, no matter how difficult they are to obtain or how much they're selling. I get you. It's just the Home Run Derby. Players teeing off on batting practice fastballs. That's not why we love the game. And you're right. Today is the day that I love so much. It's All-Star night and this time it doesn't count! No matter how much they tinker with the All-Star Game -- and they have -- I still look forward to it. To let you know how much, today is one of only two days out of the year that I specifically select food and drink to consume during the game. The other day is Super Bowl Sunday. (There are plenty of other days in which I watch games and eat, but those are much more random). This day has special meaning to me. But I've addressed all of that before during all of my other All-Star Game tribute posts. That's another hint at how much I like the game -- all of those ASG posts. Here ...

I will be starting this book tomorrow. The timing is perfect because the 1976 All-Star Game was played exactly 40 years ago tomorrow. It was the first All-Star Game I ever watched. I don't remember a single moment from that game (before the advent of youtube anyway), which likely means I may have watched maybe the first inning or maybe just the opening introductions before I was shooed off to bed. My mother was coping with two of her sons' sudden insistence on watching every baseball game available (and there weren't many available then) and probably didn't understand it at all. By the following year, we had her somewhat in line and I recall staying up to watch virtually all of the 1977 All-Star Game in Yankee Stadium. Those late '70s All-Star Games are my favorite All-Star memories. The players who played in those games I consider to be "my All-Stars." I was watching a little bit of MLB Network's replay of the 1992 All-Star Game last night (you...