Night Owl Cards

This has long been an obsession of mine but probably isn't an obsession with very many other people, so I fully expect blog clicks to be in the "whatever" range. But I'll see your "whatever" with my "whatever." Onward. As someone who collected as a kid in the '70s, I've always noticed so-called "big head" photos. That's what we called them then. We thought they were weird. Who wants to see a giant head on a baseball card? We wanted to see action, or at the very least someone with a bat or a ball in their hand. But, of course, like everything nostalgic, as the years passed and cards continued to hammer collectors with nonstop action, I started to long for those "big head" cards, or remember them fondly anyway. There was a resurgence of "big heads" in the late '80s/early '90s with the arrival of Upper Deck, and I think it was noticed enough that other collectors began to refer to them, althou...

Today, I'm planning to head into work for a full day for the first time since Wednesday. We'll see how that goes. I'm still coughing like a nine-pack-a-day puffer and unless my co-workers consider that comforting background music, things could be bumpy. Also, I haven't exactly been in touch with the normal rhythms and customs of life for the last week and have done a variety of things to almost get myself and others killed, including: driving at night through a snowstorm for a mile without headlights, leaving the stove burners on while making chicken soup, sailing through a stop sign, and other things I'm sure my wife will tell me about when she's sure I'm my old self again and can be sufficiently embarrassed. Staying home and lying on the couch when you're sick isn't only to get you healthy and keep others from catching your illness. You're also there because sick people lose the direction manual to life's little rituals. Fortunatel...

(After this past weekend, which consisted of the rare combination of partying and slaving -- all done on one less hour than there usually is on a weekend -- there is no questioning what I am appreciating right now: some well-deserved sleep. But first, it's time for Cardboard Appreciation. This is the 21st in a series): Today, I give you the first "Cardboard Appreciation Challenge." What I'm asking you to do is choose which card is the iconic card of the 1970s. Which card sums up everything that was fun about that decade? Candidate #1 is a card that anyone who has ever chewed a pink slab of cardboard gum knows inside and out. Oscar Gamble's 1975 Topps card has been the subject of internet soliloquies for years. I'm not going to get into everything that's great about this card. It would only be a rehash. It's all been done. All I can say is if you're going to vote against this card, you'd better have a damn good reason. Candidate #2 is ...