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...

One thing I still can't get accustomed to with modern shopping is the sheer variety all in one place. For years I operated in a world with only four channels on my television, a handful of station on the radio and a sports magazine that arrived once a week. Much like someone who grew up during the depression (my apologies for comparing the '70s to the Great Depression), that period will be with me forever, and I'm still adjusting to the grand smorgasbord that appears before us whenever we fancy. The best example of my inability to fully grasp this is whenever I select cards on COMC. I absolutely cannot focus. I have a variety of collecting interests, so that plays a part, but I cannot commit myself to a single shopping task and finish it. There is just too much other goodness to absorb. I had a little bit of cash to spend recently and went straight to my favorite online card site. The first card I threw in the cart was the above Pete Rose In Action card from the 19...

Today is Ron Cey's 68th birthday. I must acknowledge my favorite player of all-time's birthday each year and this year I'm doing it with a card I've shown before -- it's one of a dozen signed cards that I own of The Penguin. But it is special because it's Cey's signed 1976 SSPC card. It is special because I now own the 1976 SSPC set (which some call the 1975 SSPC set, but we all know you couldn't buy it until 1976). I recently completed a mammoth trade with Scott Crawford On Cards . More than 1,000 cards exchanged hands in the deal. And most of the cards I received were the 630 cards that make up the '76 SSPC set. I have long wanted this set for a number of reasons. It's a great-looking set that I have admired since I was a teenager, viewing it in the TCMA or Larry Fritsch mail-order catalogs. It features the players from my introduction to baseball, all of the greats from the mid-1970s. And, most important of all, it is a companion set ...