Night Owl Cards

  Greetings on Black Friday. For the first time ever, I may or may not have taken advantage of an online Black Friday card sale. I also may or may not have purchased a black card as part of a Black Friday card sale. I'm writing this in advance so this is all speculation. I have big plans. They often don't come to pass. But with that particular breakthrough on my part -- if it actually did happen -- I thought I'd do a quick Black Friday-themed post and show off what I consider some of the best efforts to present black on cards. Black cards are almost always appealing to me. It's difficult to see how you can go wrong. But there have been examples of ho-hum black cardboard (see: most Bowman efforts). I've pulled some of the black cards that I like the best from my collection (they're all Dodgers, sorry) and arranged them into tiers, third-string, second-string and first-string. I could have added a fourth-string, but there's company in the house and that would...

As someone with an obsession for night cards and black-bordered cards in general, I've discussed the merits of darkened cardboard a number of times on this blog. Until Bowman obliterated the ability to feel fascinated by a set with black as its primary theme, thanks to its habit of black-bordering every set for 10-plus years, a black set was a true gift. Something instantly powerful and memorable. Growing up in the '70s, you might remember those pervasive black velvet creations that featured day-glo unicorns, rainbows, spaceships, or other rock n' roll images of the post-hippy era. Walk into any wood-paneled den in 1978 and if the home included a teenager, you might see one. At one point in time, those were considered the height of cool. Black-bordered cards are a little like that. Some might consider them dated or tacky. But I think they're awesome for all eternity. I'm not of the thought that black-bordered sets are a plague, something to criticize beca...