Night Owl Cards

Once upon a time this was a "WHOA, DUDE, THAT IS SICK! " autograph card. But thanks to the disappearing ink pens that Upper Deck supplied to unsuspecting ballplayers like Chad Billingsley, it is a poor, pathetic version of its former self. This card in its present form is just plain sick. In the traditional sense. Get it a medic. Stat. I don't like calling out this card, because it was sent to me unsolicited by the Brooklyn Met at Clear Cut Cards . He knows I like the Dodgers and Billingsley, so he sent it along. Plus he added some appreciated Triple Play stickers. But the fading signatures on these Sweet Spot cards are common knowledge, and an example of what happens when companies don't put enough advance planning into their project. I think that should be publicized. In fact, I have this Sweet Spot Signatures card of Chad Billingsley already. Here is the version I already had: Only slightly better, eh? The worst part about the fade on these ...

A couple of weeks ago, I won a prize on The Brooklyn Met's Clear Cut Cards blog. He was giving away a set of cards created by Gary Cieradkowski, who illustrated and designed the set. Cieradkowski also runs the Infinite Baseball Card Set blog, which you should all know about by now. The set I received is Series 1 (and I don't think I'm alone in saying that there had better be a Series 2). The cards have sat patiently for two weeks waiting for me to sing their praises. But I'm afraid I've lost my voice. I really have no time to do this set justice. I'm writing when I really should be sleeping because another ridiculously early work day (and I just got off of work at 2 a.m. ) is scant hours away. But I feel that I must show the cards now. I could wait until I had more time, but the people who gave away the prize and created the prize deserve something a bit more prompt. So, here's what I've got. I hope I don't form any "words" th...

This isn't how I intended to start this post, but I am so excited by the news that I had to mention it first. I've just won me another contest. The prize is Series 1 of the Infinite Card Set, created by Gary Cieradkowski. Gary designed the set and runs a fascinating blog . I can't wait to receive these cards and provide my own inferior take on them. Many thanks to The Brooklyn Met and Clear Cut Cards for offering such a great prize. One of the reasons I am so excited about receiving the cards is because I am a big fan of the history of baseball. It fascinates me. I once had a chance to write a story about Bid McPhee, a 19th century Hall of Famer who I hope ends up in the Infinite Card Set some day (or maybe he is. I don't know). I talked to some folks in Cooperstown and some SABR historians for the McPhee story. It was one of the most enjoyable stories I have ever written. I find the historical part of cards much more interesting than the "whose the next gr...