Night Owl Cards

(Just a quick intro today: I need a haircut! It's time for Cardboard Appreciation. This is the 293rd in a series): Last month, Beckett published a list of the top 100 baseball cards of the 1980s . The list tried to reflect the era of the '80s, i.e., which cards best defined the time period between 1980-89. Naturally, the vast majority of the 100 cards were rookie cards. This will not be the case when I compose my top 100 cards of the '80s later this year (I swear, I'm going to do it). But I get it. If you're going to try to sum up collecting in the '80s, you're going to have to cover rookies and error cards. That's all anyone talked about in the '80s. Since I'm not that kind of collector, I wondered how many of the cards on that top 100 list I actually owned. I didn't expect to do very well, even though I was collecting, off and on, through the whole decade. It turns out I have 50 of them -- better than I anticipated. Since I a...

It's nothing short of bizarre how ESPN has started dictating the prices that people can charge for commonly available cardboard. Recently, people flipped out over the ESPN "Last Dance" documentary, which mercifully just ended Sunday. I don't have any problem with Michael Jordan or the documentary, in fact I will always be on the MJ side of any Jordan-LeBron debate. But I have zero interest in the NBA and watching Last Dance referenced all over my timeline the last few weeks is not how I want to enjoy my quarantine time. That's my problem though. What sellers have been charging for Jordan rookie cards (and other Jordan cards, I guess, I have no idea what those are) since the documentary came out could be your problem. If you're not a regular follower of the card market, that is. In other words, if you're thinking now is a good time to buy a Michael Jordan rookie, maybe hold off on that urge a few months or so, or probably a little longer than tha...

I haven't attended a Major League Baseball game in more than a decade. It's been even longer for an NFL game. Longer than that for an NHL game. An NBA game? Never. So what's my excuse as a sports fan, whose job is all about sports, whose first choice when flipping on the TV or internet is sports programming? I guess I have a few excuses. They're actually exactly that: excuses. If I really wanted to, I'd get on that MLB website, buy some tickets and head out tomorrow. But most days, the following excuses make total sense: Pro games have gotten way expensive, I live far from large cities, and traveling sounds less and less fun the older I get. (Every time I see one of those car signs that reads "I'd rather be hiking" or "It's always better when you're swimming," I think "I've got to get one of those that says, "I'd rather be home reading a book.'") Obviously, I've settled down. So, naturally...

I was reserving this card from Brian of Highly Subjective and Completely Arbitrary for this particular awesome night card post. Then, in the handful of days that passed since receiving this card, I received another envelope from Brian. So I'm just lumping "Stuff from Brian" all together here. He's really taking this Supertraders thing seriously. Rock on, brother. I wish I had the time for that kind of dedication. Anyway, Brian sent this card because he's done his research, too. Last summer I featured the first page in my night card binder. I mentioned how the No. 4 slot was a tricky one and I was resigned to putting a Yadier Molina card from 2013 Topps in that spot, even though watching Molina, and Cardinals games in general, is not good for my blood pressure. So, Brian sent this card from the special 8-card 2001 Upper Deck Coca-Cola commemorative Cal Ripken Jr. set. It happens to be the fourth card in the set, and Brian wondered if I a problem with the...

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...

I was out doing some birthday shopping today and decided to finish off the dirty deed by visiting the card aisle to see if 2014 Heritage had finally come to the Northeast. It hadn't. So I kind of stood and stared not really interested in the card abundance sprawled out before me. I was about to head to the checkout line without a thing when I spotted something new on the second shelf. I chuckled to myself. "Oh," I said. "2014 Donruss". The box was filled to the top, not a soul had touched it. I really had no desire to touch it either, but, there is something irresistible about packs stacked to the brim, so I grabbed two of them. I've always got to try something new. I'll come right out and say this product isn't for me. It's not just the "no logos" thing, but it's also the Donruss thing. The Donruss name is supposed to trigger a nostalgic reaction among collectors. But I was almost 16 when 1981 Donruss arrived and I prett...

Way back in the first days of the blog, I mentioned that the one player in the major leagues today who seemed like he was put on this earth to play baseball, the one player who I couldn't possibly envision doing anything else, was Chipper Jones. Even though there could be any number of players about which you could say the same thing, for me, there could be only one player like this at a time. The first player I attached to this concept was Cal Ripken Jr. No real surprise. He came from a baseball family. What else was he going to do? But when I saw Ripken, I knew that he was THE Baseball Guy, the man who if someone said, "give me an example of the ideal baseball player," would flash instantly on everyone's screen. But Ripken held that title all the way until his retirement. Being THE Baseball Guy is a career-long responsibility, and no one can take it from you. Since Ripken's departure, Jones has held the honor. But now that Chipper is old and dec...