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...

I have determined that it is almost impossible to rank the all-star cards from 1975-81 -- what I call the "Golden Age of All-Star Cards" -- with any kind of objectivity. I'm really trying, because objectivity has been pounded into my head as a valuable thing to possess. But I basically threw up my hands after a few minutes of the whole business . I can't do it. Once you slap that all-star star or badge or banner on a card, it immediately becomes special. How can I eliminate any of the cards from the countdown if all of them are special? But press on I must. Because I do it for you. I give and give and give ... Anyway. The point is there are a lot of cards that you probably think should be in this Top 20 countdown, that I think should probably be in this Top 20 countdown, that aren't in the countdown. For example the 1975 Topps Pete Rose card, a card that I looked at as a tiny cardboard god when I was a kid, is not in the countdown. I don't even...

I think it's time that the Texas Rangers start dressing the part again. How can you call yourself a Ranger and not have long hair and a stache? For me, the 1970s Texas Rangers are the real Rangers. The true Rangers. None of this finely groomed stuff you see today. All those tattoos and necklaces and haircuts that took too much thought. Yeeech. It's time to start looking like outlaws again, boys. But there is one thing that will make me forgive the Rangers from straying from their roots: beating the Yankees in the ALCS. Today is the big day. After three days of doing absolutely NOTHING, there's a game to watch. And in light of the occasion, I am presenting the Rangers next in the team colors series. It's another feeble attempt to send some good luck the Rangers' way. Before even conducting this examination, I knew red and blue would be the easy winners for the Rangers. Texas has always used one color the other, even though sometimes it doesn't know wheth...