Night Owl Cards

  Lucky you, because I didn't go anywhere this week, I can publish the latest edition of my "best on-card element series" before I expected! I hadn't planned to cover 1985-89 until after the new year, but nobody can plan anything anymore so I don't know why I'm bothering to semi-apologize for any delays or changes. Delays and changes are an everyday part of life now more than ever. You'll get it when I get to it! How about that?   I'm up to the back half of the '80s in determining the "best" or "most notable" design element of each major card set for each year. This might be the last one of these I do. The number of sets gets obnoxious in the '90s -- I may be willing to cover the first half of that decade, we'll see.   So without further adoing, here is the rundown for basically what was my favorite period in life -- and, no, it didn't have anything to do with 1987 Topps.   1985   1985 Donruss   Best on-card element...

   Ha, ha, man, I just can't be trusted with this series. Every time I fall behind (this was supposed to be a once-a-week thing), I plan to get back on schedule and then promptly forget about it again. Geez, night owl, write these things down! Anyway, we've reached -- finally -- the 1980s in the Best On-Card Element saga, and I've decided to split the decade up into two posts, now that there are multiple card manufacturers. This post will cover 1980-84 and the other one, whenever the heck that will be, will cover 1985-89. If you don't remember what I'm doing here, and I can't blame you if you don't, I am listing the "best" or "most notable" on-card element for each major set. This can be an element on the card front or the card back, but that's all this is about. Here is what I've got for 1980 through 1984: 1980 1980 Topps   Best on-card element: The dual flags. 1974 Topps displayed two flags, too, but each were the same size and...