Night Owl Cards

  On the schoolyard in the spring of 1977, there was no card I wanted more than the one of George Foster. I was a Dodgers fan and on the lookout for Dodgers cards, but even a player on the Dodgers' chief rival at the time could not prevent me from coveting his card.   Foster was hitting home runs at a pace that I had never experienced before, on his way to 52 in one season. His card was the titan of the '77 set, bigger than airbrushed Reggie, bigger than prospects Dawson and Murphy (who?), bigger than Fidrych, bigger than Nolan Ryan. Foster's card was a base card. Yet, it had major appeal. That concept and sentiment is lost in today's hobby and vanished a long time ago. Foster's cool was replaced by inserts, first known as "chase cards," and then "hits" and then parallels and then short-prints. All detracted from the base cards, the cards that actually made up the set. I was reminded of how much the hobby and collectors have changed again this mo...