Night Owl Cards

  Here we are: One of the years of my past that is lost in the black hole of time and continuing memory loss. 1996 will be known to me for two things: the year I bought a house and the year the most hated boss of my life left town. Aside from a few assorted song favorites (Oasis, Garbage, Smashing Pumpkins, you know the ones), that's all I can recall. But what about the baseball cards? Yeah, about that. 1996 was also the first year I did not buy a single card since the time I knew what a baseball card was more than 20 years prior. So, how am I supposed to evaluate the cards from this year? I sure don't feel qualified. I've said this for the last couple of editions for this series. The enthusiasm is low. And in typical '90s fashion, the cards make it difficult. How do I trim it down into something manageable and coherent? For 1995, I limited the sets I was reviewing to only those that could muster 500 cards in their set. But in 1996, Topps pulled a fast one and issued a ...

Although monster-sized portions have been around for decades, probably spurred on by the Big Gulp's arrival in 7-Elevens in 1980, the term "biggie size" or "super size" was invented in the early 1990s. And out-of-control portion sizes began in the '90s. As much as people like to blame the '80s for crass consumerism -- "Greed is good," etc. -- the '90s did its share of damage on our wastelines and wallets as people overate, overextended and overcollected their way through the decade. There were more card sets than ever before during the '90s and a lot of collectors bailed because who could possibly collect them all? It took years for us hobby dinosaurs from the '60s, '70s and '80s to realize you didn't really have to collect them all, just collect what you liked. And while I still have problems wrapping my head around that concept, it's getting easier every year. My bank account decides it for me. But I still...

There seems to be this misconception that I don't "do" '90s cards. That I have a dismissive attitude about '90s cards. That I can't be bothered with the card excess that was the '90s. But would someone who doesn't appreciate '90s cards have the above Hideo Nomo "Smoke 'n Heat" insert card from 1996 Fleer in his collection? Would that same '90s critic say that he's always liked this card? Would he say that while '90s base cards weren't exactly his style in many cases, some of the inserts from that decade are some of the most glorious-looking, inventive items ever to be UV coated? Would this same critic enjoy 1995 Topps? Would he say 1994 Fleer might be one of the best base sets ever to exist? Would he confess that he actually likes Circa? Would he be considering a 1993 Upper Deck blog? Would he have paid homage to 1992 Pinnacle? Would he have more than 400 Mike Piazza cards in his collection? And would he b...

If you missed last night's post because of the problems with Blogger's reading list, you might want to wander down there for some quirkiness. I also added to the post at the end, by recording the total number of "balls in flight" for several sets. And I hope to add others. OK, now ... this card. I've received this particular card in well-meaning packages a few times now. I like it a lot. Who doesn't love a bank of illuminated lights? And the "thank you" on the jersey sleeve, well that could work for a variety of posts, and it just leaves a warm glow all over everything when you see it. But it's not a night card. You can see blue sky in the background. And clouds. This is a dusk card. I don't collect dusk cards. I've gotta draw the line somewhere. So are there other lines drawn in my random and arbitrary rules for night cards? I'm glad you asked because I've been getting my share of cards lately that hover on the ...

I received my cards from Colbey's "Fleer Matte Finish" break a week or two ago. I entered this break because I needed just one Dodger from the '97 Fleer set -- and you see it here -- and I needed a load of Dodgers from the '96 set. You see those here. The Fleer sets from 1996 and 1997 aren't very exciting. In fact, the base cards are the polar opposite of what was going on in the card world at the time. But that's what makes these sets so interesting to me. What was Fleer thinking going in this direction? It's a common question among those who collect '90s cards. And when viewed from the angle of all of Fleer's base sets in the 1990s, it's just part of the strange route that Fleer took during this decade. From the point that Fleer returned to card making, in 1981, I considered them as another Topps. Fleer seemed -- to me anyway -- like it wanted to be Topps. Donruss demonstrated right away that it was not Topps, and as the years wen...