Night Owl Cards

(The older this blog gets, the less other bloggers can relate to it. I'm pretty sure of that. I don't particularly care because I'm certainly not going to start waxing nostalgic about the late '90s to keep up with the times. But at the rate things are going, I'll be the only blogger musing about the '70s and '80s in a mere matter of months. Anyway, for the few of you who tune in for Cardboard Appreciation, thank you. It's time once again. This is the 291st in a series): I really don't want Cardboard Appreciation to turn into Eulogy Appreciation, but that's the way it's gone the last two times. A week after losing a childhood favorite in Jimmy Wynn, we lost one of those baddies from my childhood, Ed Farmer. Some of you are saying "baddie"? He was a baseball announcer for 30 years! The radio voice of the White Sox! A respected and familiar voice of someone who obviously loved the game so much! He championed the cause of org...

The 2017 Topps Series 2 checklist is out . I did a quick review of it to find the Dodgers. No Cody Bellinger, so look for that in Update. I'm sure he'll be on like five cards in that set. I also looked to see if there is a card of the Brewers' Eric Thames and there is, at No. 603. When it arrives in packs, Thames will officially become a "gapper." That's what I call players who have disappeared off cards for at least three years and then returned. I've been fascinated by this phenomenon ever since I was collecting as a kid. A number of years ago I started referring to them as "gappers" in my head. I'm sure that term has some sort of negative connotation elsewhere, but I don't care. If the Reds can send out a bright crimson beast every night and call him the same thing, then I can, too. I'm assuming there are plenty of gappers from the past 25 years besides Thames, who last appeared on cards in 2012. But I'm going to focus...