Night Owl Cards

  I didn't post yesterday, mostly because I was gathering my thoughts (and pictures and scans) on what I was going to say about the latest step in Sports Illustrated's demise. The news yesterday was so stunning that I almost couldn't believe it and didn't want to write anything about it for fear it was all internet hysteria and we could go back to pretending that print journalism was still on a ventilator and not one final shovel of dirt away from burial. But it doesn't appear to be good news in any event. The patient is dying. The end is near.   This past week was terrible for traditional sports journalism. The Sporting News laid off folks, including Ryan Fagan, who I've mentioned a few times on this blog and was basically the face of TSN for me. Then the news about SI laying off virtually everyone appeared. I knew the faces of a couple of the writers who are losing their jobs there, too, thanks to social media. This is crushing. And this type of stuff is a re...

I'm still trying to get adjusted to my new work schedule and it hasn't been that difficult, except when it comes to blogging. I'm doing weird things like writing three posts at once or forgetting to pull the cards I need before the whole house is asleep and then rummaging around and waking everyone up. I need to get back on track because being "out of sorts" does not make for good blog posts. I'll get there, but for now, I thought I'd address some "card news" that's come across the virtual ticker the last couple of weeks. None of this news affects my collecting at all, which would instantly cause some people to point their bony finger at me and exclaim "what business is it of yours????" It's not my business, other than being a collector with an opinion. Which is kind of the lone prerequisite for having a blog, so I guess it actually is my business. So let's get going with some outsider's viewpoints. NEWS ...

This year's Topps' Archives set has started showing up on store shelves here and there (well, not here ) and there have been a few posts about it. Overall, those who have posted seem to have good feelings about the product, which is great for them. I'm glad someone is enjoying it. But I'm even more irritated over Archives than I usually am, which I'll get to in a moment. As I've said numerous times (I think if I ever shut down this blog it will be because all I'm doing is repeating myself every post), Archives is a disappointment because of what it could have been. Archives is a descendent of the Archives sets from 2001-02 but more resemble the Fan Favorites sets from 2003-05. The problem there is I can't help but compare present-day Archives and Fan Favorites from a decade ago. Fan Favorites comes out on top every time. Fan Favorites featured multiple designs (not just three) appeared on sturdy cardboard stock (not the flimsy stuff Archives s...

I fear that there is one thing that will eventually make me stop following major league baseball. It won't be interleague play or shaving cream shaming rituals or robot umps. It will be the amount of money that baseball players are making. I've never been one to begrudge the money that major leaguers make. While my father openly mocks the cash players receive, I understand that they're entertainers and entertainers in successful businesses are paid handsomely. We can holler about the injustice of teachers, doctors, scientists (or, god forbid, journalists ) not receiving what they're worth in comparison, but we live in an entertainment, consumer-driven society. So although the amount of money a long-innings relief pitcher makes in one year repeatedly blows my mind as I bounce checks over a simple monthly bill, I get it. Big leaguers are paid what the market will bear. I understand. But I don't like what it's doing to everyone else. They obviously can...

I am as guilty as anyone for wallowing in nostalgia. This blog is often an ode to old cards. It is an enabler to those who think of collecting in the 1970s as the best way to collect. You want rose-tinted glasses? I'm handing them out for free, night owl style. I even went a step farther into the past a few months ago by declaring that I would stop trying to complete modern card sets, that it would be mostly vintage for me, because of my disgust for what collecting has become. And then, yesterday, I tweeted this: But this can be taken a couple of different ways. For some collectors this is "The Truth." Cards and collecting and life will never be as good as it was when we could walk four blocks to the store, put a quarter on the counter, and get a waxy pack filled with photos on brown cardboard that was almost as edible as the gum that was included. There are many, many days when I consider this "The Truth," too (although I never experienced a six...

Today is the one day out of the year that I feel like a hen in the fox house. No, I do not have a vote in the Baseball Hall of Fame balloting. But, yes, I am a sportswriter and editor, and I don't enjoy seeing my profession bashed as often as it is on this day. I don't enjoy listening to critics accuse writers of being elitist and sanctimonious and passing judgment, while they also judge. Last night on Twitter, someone who supposedly knows a lot insinuated that people who choose to write for newspapers for a living are stupid. And I thought, "How come there's never relentless insults of plumbers or accountants or hotel maids in my timeline? How come it's always sportswriters?" The fact is, the arguments that arise from the Hall of Fame vote are too divisive and too personal. It's so over-the-top. All of the critics' efforts, biases and prejudices are being invested into a museum in a southeast corner of New York state. That's all it is. It...

(Today is "No Beard Day." I'm not making this up . Holding "No Beard Day" during the baseball postseason is probably not the greatest timing. But it's a perfect time for Cardboard Appreciation! So this is the 162nd in a series. Hold on to your dome cozies): You may have heard the news from Topps yesterday about a new Heritage High Numbers/Update/Traded set for 2012. Sounds exciting, right? It's been awhile since Topps did this. Last time was 2008, I think. Maybe 2009. The years run together at my age. But, silly me, I left out the good stuff. The Heritage High Numbers/Update/Traded set this time is an online exclusive thingy, through Topps' online exclusive vehicle, which shall go nameless. It is also just shy of $100. For 100 cards. "But," Topps says. "It includes an autograph." Well, that changes everything doesn't it? Here was my official reaction to this news, after reading Topps' rationalizations and a ...