Night Owl Cards

Yesterday, my wife told me that there were binders of baseball cards at a thrift store in a plaza nearby. The only thing I knew about this thrift store in the past is it is filled with women's clothes and, like, nothing else. So there was no reason for me to go there. I couldn't believe that suddenly there were baseball cards. Per usual, I was suspicious. But that didn't stop me from heading out there almost instantly to see what was up. It turns out there were about a dozen-or-so one-inch ring binders, each containing sets from the early '90s. Stuff like 1991 Upper Deck and 1992 and 1993 Ultra. They weren't complete sets and they were 11 bucks a binder. Although I was momentarily interested in the binder of 1992 Pinnacle, I passed ... and headed down the street to blow some cash on Stadium Club! I sometimes feel like I need to apologize for buying modern cards, but for me this is the peak of the current-card season. Both Stadium Club and Allen & Gint...

I've written before about my high standards for baseball prospects as a kid collecting cards. During the '70s and early '80s, prospects appeared on three- or four-player cards because back then there was a hierarchy, dammit. No prospect was getting an individual card. I appreciated the rules at the time because I looked at the multi-player rookie cards as a proving ground. There was a pattern: appear on a multi-rookie card and then get your own card. This was why I became so dismissive of players who appeared on multi-player cards multiple years. I've cited the Dale Murphy example repeatedly. How could he amount to anything? He had failed the pattern! Hello! Appearing on a multi-player card once means you appear on your own card the next year! This was not realistic of me and obviously an inaccurate barometer of talent as Murphy went on to a long and productive career (just not as a catcher), even if his first solo Topps card wasn't until 1979. Besid...