Night Owl Cards

  It's rare that a single card gives me two post ideas. Now consider that the card is this 1983 Topps Jeff Newman and the odds of that are incalculable.   One of my very favorite parts of Topps Traded sets, especially those from the 1980s, is how they capture the passage of time, even if it's really only a year or half a year that's gone by. That passage is demonstrated in how players sometimes change their look.   In the very hairy 1980s, that meant changes in facial hair and there was no better way to demonstrate that progression than in the Traded sets of 1983 and 1984, which each provided inset photos of the player in head shot form.   I was reminded of this with Jeff Newman's two 1983 Topps cards. His 75th birthday was yesterday and I took the opportunity to showcase his different looks:   Look at the drastic change in inset photos. It's almost as if Jeff Newman ducked into a bathroom stall, pulled out a razor and gave himself a trim, stuffed his Oakland A'...

I'm expanding on my most recent post from the 1985 Topps blog. That's the advantage of having more than one blog -- the other blogs sometimes give you ideas for the main blog, and that is very key. Until Topps issues a product every day (don't say "ToppsNow," wise guy) or there's a card show every day, it will always be a challenge to come up with material on a daily blog. So, this post is about the power of the mustache, specifically referring to one player. I would hope that everyone familiar with 1970s/80s baseball players knows about the power of the mustache. The sudden surge in ability for players like Ron Cey, Mike Schmidt, Davey Lopes, Steve Rogers, etc., once they grew some lip hair is right there in the statistics. But for me there is one player who documents this phenomenon better than any player. Dwight Evans enjoyed a long and prosperous career, mostly with the Red Sox, from 1972-91. But the tone of his career shifted about midway thro...

Here is a little multiple choice question for you. When I completed the 1982 Topps set a few days ago, my first thought was: A. I've completed all Topps flagship sets between 1974-86! B. I don't have to buy any more binders -- the family's storage crisis is over! C. Hockey sticks! Hockey sticks! Hockey sticks! D. I can update the mustache champion post! Those who answered "D" know me to a frightening degree. Back in November, when I tried to determine which set had the greatest percentage of players with mustaches , I had it narrowed down fairly well: sets from the 1970s and 1980s. But I had to confine it to only sets that I have completed, because searching online for cards I don't have for projects such as these gets time-consuming and messy. So all of the pertinent Topps sets between 1974 and 1989 were included, except one. That one was 1982 because I hadn't completed it yet. I went ahead and listed the top five mustache sets anyway ...

One of the great disappointments in my life is the inability to grow a respectable mustache. This is both my fault and the fault of my ... um ... surroundings. I actually grew a mustache and wore it for about a year-and-a-half around 12 years ago. It was your average, full, well-maintained 'stache. But the problem was I have blond hair and those yellow mustaches never really work out right. It was a Frank Viola mustache. You know the kind. He has a mustache. You know it's there. But part of you isn't quite sure. Is that really a mustache? Your eyes get all squinty trying to determine what he has on his upper lip. That's the way it was for me. Close up? Oh, yeah, that's a mustache. At a distance? Can't tell without ma glasses. The solution for us fair-haired folk who want their facial hair to stand out is to grow a fu-manchu or a righteous mustache-beard ensemble. But that's where the "surroundings" come into play. I'm pretty certain...