All I Need Is A Title

I try to take my blogging seriously.  Yes, you see what I hope are jokes sprinkled throughout, but those just prove that I’m seriously trying to keep it entertaining for you all.  And because I want the blog to be good, I study the greats of the business and try to learn what makes their writing and posting so engaging.  Why do I eagerly anticipate each pony posting from dayf?  Why do I get so riled up alongside Stale Gum?  Why can Night Owl write about a spec of dirt on his scanning bed and we walk away feeling like better people for reading it?

The simple answer is that the best of the best have talent, plain and simple.  Since I’m not blessed with nearly as much as the ones I look at with reverence, I must emulate bits and pieces where I can.

Take Night Owl again for example.  I notice that he almost never gives his posts an obvious title.  He’ll tease a spark of an idea or present a topic of discussion which will then lead into a card related post.

I also noticed that he rarely hops right into the meat of issue.  There’s a build-up, a story-telling, an attention getting presentation that relates to the title and ties in the cards.  If a card reminds him of a certain moment in time, he’ll talk about that moment before even mentioning the card.  It’s a good move.

It’s a move I can’t do so well yet, but I emulate anyway.  Or, you can just call it stealing.  That’s fine. I fully accept that.

Still, I’ve been avoiding the obvious titles for a while now.  Unless it’s a post where the built-in SEO WordPress affords us would be beneficial (i.e. we’re selling something or the like), I prefer to not beat people over the head with “HEY, this is a trade post!!!”  I’d rather hope that they get intrigued by the title and get sucked into the writing to find they actually enjoy reading some trade posts (namely my trade posts).  Sometimes coming up with catchy titles is the hardest part.

For some of you, all of the above only tells you that I steal ideas and trick people into reading trade posts and you’re probably not going to chance it by clicking over here anymore.  Some of you astute readers may have also figured out that “HEY, this is a trade post featuring cards from Night Owl!!!!”  Oh, and you’re never coming back here again.  For the few that stay, I salute you.  Now, on to the cards.

Why not "Blue Light Special Players?"

The following sentence will both ask and answer my own question, but humor me.  I know that 1990 was nearing the height of junk wax, but I don’t understand the purpose of this set.  The card back looks like a normal Topps baseball card with stats and demographic information.  The only difference is the K-Mart branding.  The front looks budget with a fuzzy picture and a green blocky stalactite coming down. With all that said, you can be sure we picked up this mini box and kept that sucker sealed in the dungeon to appreciate in value.  It’s good to have a loose one.

I promise this was worth scanning

If you really want to see the front of the card, you can find it here.  I scanned the back of this Kerry Wood Cubs Team checklist because the front is exactly the same as his normal set card.  When putting this away in my binders, I almost thought it was a double.  Good thing I check the backs.

That's a lot of effort he's putting in there

In something of a surprise, this is my first 2006 Topps Dempster card.  I only have 4 2006 cards overall.  There are only 15 more I need overall across all sets for that year, so maybe I shouldn’t be surprised.  Ryan doesn’t even have any Chrome cards from this year.  Forget I said anything.

So this is where 1991 Fleer got the idea

Okay, this is an actual surprise.  This is my only Heritage Dempster base card.  How is that possible with all the heritage collectors I’ve traded with?  I think he was an SP one of the years.  He’s only been chromed-up one of the years (and that was released in Topps Chrome boxes), so I know there aren’t tons of variations running around, but still a little surprising to me that I haven’t received more so far.

Hypno-pitching

This is why I love O-Pee-Chee.  Sure it’s a studio gray background, but the photographers did more than simple portrait shots with the players.  It’s still a visually striking and interesting picture despite how deceptively the set-up may be.

You can see why Night Owl is collecting this set.  So, if you think you may have some cards he still needs, or some ’75 Minis (Lineage or originals) or a slew of extra Dodgers laying around, be sure to consider sending them out east to him.  I’ve done so a few times now and I’ve never been disappointed.  You can be sure he’ll write up something good about the trade and come up with a better title.