Night Owl Cards

We have moved past the period when current or future major league players would serve in the military. The Vietnam War period of the late '60s/early '70s is the last time references to military service commonly appeared on cards. You'll probably never see it again. But as a child, it was nothing to see "In Military Service" on the back of baseball cards. The early '70s was a time of change for ballplayers. While hippies and other counter-culture club members were everywhere in the '60s, it took ballplayers a little while to catch up with everyone else. So, the early '70s was a crazy mix of humanity on the ballfield, as evidenced by these 1973 Topps cartoons: Some players served in the military. So others could have the freedom to enjoy their degenerate, freaky music. Or chase skirts. Or marry in high school. Or be really, really creepy. But there were other straight arrows on the field in '73. Brainiac types. Working-class ...

Staying with the card backs of my youth, here is the 1974 Topps set. These are the first cards that I ever laid eyes on, so it follows that these were the first card backs that I ever witnessed, too. The card backs were everything that a card back should have been at that time -- horizontal, green, statistics and a cartoon. At this young age -- I was 8 years old at the time -- the card back didn't register with me as it did with the 1977 set . But I did notice a few things that have stayed with me to this day. I particularly like the compartmentalization of the various categories, with bold lines sectioning off the various features of the card back. I also like that the signature is on the back of the card, rather than the front. But, without a doubt, the best feature of the back is again the cartoon. And the best thing about it is something I would have never noticed back then, and that is how many of the players held down second jobs in the '70s. I wrote about this ...