Night Owl Cards

A week or so ago I realized that it has been 40 years since the release of the 1975 Topps set. Forty years since I first collected a baseball card set. Forty years since I kept those cards and didn't throw them away at season's end. Forty years of the greatest set ever created during a young boy's first year of buying packs. I've started to see a little bit of mention of this particular anniversary here and there. One of those online baseball writers with a lot of followers showcased an image of a 1975 Topps rack pack (with George Brett as one of the players because, of course, the only two people in the '75 Topps set were Brett and Yount) and said "remember these?" like we were supposed tax our brains straining to retrieve lost images of these colorful cardboard squares from back during our -- heh, we were so childish then -- kid days. OF COURSE I REMEMBER THEM YOU TWIT! NOT A DAY GOES BY THAT I DON'T THINK OF THEM! Sorry, it's just that ...

I received a card today of The Biggest Rookie Sensation In The Universe At This Very Moment In Time. Normally that would be cause to celebrate the card and the legend that is ManBearPuig, plus get into a discussion of worth, scarcity, hype, blah, blah, blah. But I think the way in which I received the card is much more interesting than all of that. This card -- one of those Bowman minis -- arrived from Ryan, who runs the blog Ryan's Pitch . He offered to send it to me a few weeks ago, before Yasiel Puig had been called up to the majors. Puig was already a big deal at that time and pulling his card was a moment. But nothing was blowing through the roof yet. Then last week happened. Monday: A single in Puig's first major league at-bat, two total hits, and a rifle shot from right field to first base to double up the runner and end the game. Tuesday: Two home runs, a double, and five runs batted in. I kept waiting for Ryan to send me a note that said: "You kno...

I was a little cranky yesterday as the last post and some of my comments on various other blogs probably indicated. Yesterday wasn't an awful day or anything. It was just one of those days when I couldn't get to the cards or to blogging no matter how hard I tried. Anytime I turned around, there was always something else to do. Something minor, something harmless, but something "not cards," to do. I find myself getting cranky in situations like this. Which isn't good, as that seems like a red light for addictive behavior. But at least I'm aware of it. If anyone calls me on it, I'll say, "I'm aware of it! I'm aware of it!" and then go back to staring at cards. See? Problem solved. During yesterday's rant, I wrote about how frustrated I was with collecting current sets. And I AM still frustrated. That just wasn't crankiness speaking. I'm frustrated by the short-prints, and the inserts dominating base cards, and the...