Night Owl Cards

Before I hit you with the second Cardboard Appreciation tournament and the weekly polls that come with it, I thought I'd squeeze in one more poll before that. Here's the deal: I was watching that commercial that's playing during baseball games this season. I can't even tell you what they're trying to sell. Credit cards or drugs or something. It's that one where they show little kids playing baseball, imitating famous home run moments of the past. The usual stuff: Carlton Fisk in '75 and Kirk Gibson in '88. That made me think about something that I've thought about before. The Fisk home run in Game 6 of the 1975 World Series is pretty much the epic home run of that decade. (Sure, there was Reggie Jackson in '77, but he hit three of them in Game 6. The drama is in the quantity more than the timeliness). The Gibson home run in Game 1 of the '88 World Series is the epic home run of the '80s (Cardinals fans will argue Ozzie and Royals ...

Since Opening Day sits just four days away, I present to you a cautionary night card. Any Cleveland Indians fan knows that the 1987 season was a disaster. Sports Illustrated famously put Joe Carter and Cory Snyder on the cover prior to the season and proclaimed the Indians the best team in the American League. The rational for doing this was basically because Cleveland had finally enjoyed a winning season in 1986, going 84-78. It was its first winning season since 1979 (when the Indians went 81-80), and the Indians had never been that far above .500 since 1968. The Indians had also scored a bunch of runs in '86, so, SI figured, someone must be doing something right on that team. The problem was there was a whole lot of wrong on that team, too. The Indians simply managed to keep it hidden well in 1986. The Indians' top two pitchers in '86 were knuckleballers, Tom Candiotti and Phil Niekro. And Niekro was about 240 at the time. Their No. 3 pitcher was Ken Sc...

I have already mentioned that I am a set collector above all. Player collecting is not something I think I'll ever understand. Team collecting is something that grows more and more interesting by the day, and it may one day supersede set collecting for me. But for now, like it's always been, I am a set-builder. That said, I've never figured out exactly what my five favorite sets are of all-time. I've always known my absolute favorite -- 1975 Topps . But the rest just kind of hovered around in my brain under the general heading of "I LOVE these cards!" It took a card package from reader Randall to pin down my absolute top 5. He sent me card wants from two great sets -- 1993 Upper Deck and 1971 Topps . That caused me to stop and figure out which sets ruled above all. And this is what I came up with -- in no particular order, except that 1975 Topps is the undisputed king: 1956 Topps 1971 Topps 1975 Topps 1983 Topps 1993 Upper Deck That's the ...

First a note about the latest "Define the Design" post. I said it was going to be a toughy, didn't I? No one really came up with an ideal description for the 1990 Upper Deck set -- probably because it is "the most boringest boring bore of boredom set," to partially quote dayf. So, for now, I'm going with my "green-and-gold racing stripe set" definition on the sidebar. If anyone comes up with something better, let me know. But you won't win cards for it now. As for the 1991 Upper Deck set, a few people came up with a similar definition that works pretty well. The design seems to suggest the path from second base to home plate. The person who came up with that first is David from Topps Tribe . I'll be using his "Score From Second" description in the "Define the Design" sidebar, and he wins a stack of '91 Upper Deck cards! David, email me your address, and I'll send you some 2009 Upper Deck as well. OK, speakin...