Night Owl Cards

  The trouble with me and O-Pee-Chee cards of the '60s, '70s, 80s and early '90s is that I am so fascinated with the differences from the Topps sets from the same year that I ignore OPC cards that look the same as the Topps cards. I mean what's the point of collecting another card that looks like the Topps card in every way? This is particularly true for OPC sets that don't note that it is an O-Pee-Chee set on the front. And, yes, I know there are always differences with the backs -- because there is French -- but as much as I emphasize how you must read your card backs, backs are backs. So, I'm in danger of never completing an OPC set as much as I like them because the cards that are different from their Topps counterparts are SO fascinating that it makes everything else boring in comparison. For example, the 1977 O-Pee-Chee set, which I think is the greatest of all the OPC sets because of all of the variations from Topps, is on my radar. But the only cards I e...

This is the first card I pulled out of a pack of 1977 Topps cards. It was a rack pack. My dad bought it for me from a store on the other side of town. The store was a couple blocks down from a hospital. We were coming home from visiting my mom there. I don't remember why she was in the hospital. It wasn't anything major, because I don't remember feeling alarmed or anything. In fact, I remember the entire ride home as a very pleasant, comforting experience. Just me and my rack pack of brand, new 1977 cards. It was going to be a heck of a collecting season, what with me pulling a Dodger in my very first card out of a pack. And it turned out to be a terrific collecting season. One of the best. I've recounted it once or twice . Probably more. The way I collected cards that year -- the communal nature of the collecting process during that season -- makes the 1977 set very special to me. It is why it is the next set I am collecting during my bid to complete all of ...