Night Owl Cards

The first time I ever saw a blank-backed card -- that is, one that wasn't supposed to have a blank back -- was in 1987. I was buying rack packs of '87 Topps here and there, usually after classes, driving off campus and on my way to my grandmother's. It was then that I pulled a blank-backed card of Tom Nieto. Instead of saying "who the hell is this?", because after all it was Tom Nieto, I said " what the hell is?" because the back was blank. I didn't like it. I was deprived of the stats and factoids that make a card complete. It was especially important because I had no idea who Tom Nieto was and I wanted to learn. I had half a card here! I was promised a FULL card! Later -- and I can't remember if it was in the same rack pack or in a different one -- I pulled another blank back. It was another Montreal Expo named Tom.   Tom Foley was half a card. I was flustered. For years, I wanted to pull another '87 Tom Nieto and...

This goes against everything I stand for as a collector, but I have to say it: stop sending me cards. Well, OK, I didn't mean it like that . I merely meant stop sending me 1986 Topps cards, because in the last two weeks I went from needing more than half of the set to needing JUST FIVE CARDS. Today I received two packages in the mail, both including 1986 cards. Those two packages, from Joe of MLB Collector and Tom of Lets Play 2 , whittled my want list down to merely #45 Damaso Garcia, #102 Joe Orsulak, #135, Joe Niekro, #500, Rickey Henderson and #562, Joe Beckwith. Two Yankees in that group. The final cards I need to complete a set almost invariably include Yankees. That team is destined to haunt me until the day I die. The fact that I was able to make such short work of a 792-card set is a testament to the great blogging community and its generosity. Granted, this is '86 Topps, not a PSA-graded 1964 set like Tom is working on, but, still, come on, you guys are great. Thank...