Mini me!

This message is for people who read my blog somewhere between rarely and never. But I'm going to say it anyway. You never know, once it's out there, it's out there.

So here goes:

If you are doing some shopping for oh, say, a birthday or for Christmas, or because I just injured myself doing the dishes the other day (no kidding. Forks are dangerous), and you want to buy me the best gift ever, something that I will appreciate forever, there is just one thing you need to do. One little thing. And that is:

MINI ME!

Whoops, wrong image. I mean, all you have to do is ...

1975 TOPPS MINIS!!!!!

I'm not talking about any old mini card. Those numerous varieties of late '80s minis won't do. Neither will those 2003 Opening Day minis. Not even Allen & Ginter minis will do. For sheer happiness, I'm talking about the only thing that came to card collectors' minds when you mentioned minis between the years 1975 and 1985.

I've written a couple of odes to '75 minis already, so you know where I stand. So does John from Pursuit of 80sness, who sent these marvelous minis along with a package of Dodgers all the way from England this week. I think he caught me drooling over some of the '75 minis he bought and featured on his blog. But instead of telling me to put my tongue back in my mouth, he sent some to me! Wow!

I have seen very few of these cards outside of the 100 or so that I collected in 1975. So getting more than a dozen in very fine shape takes me right back to those days when I was nine and buying the mini cards from the green corner grocery store across from my elementary school.

These are the perfect cards, John. I can't think of anything better to get. You've really hit the mark this time. Of course, as I've said before, this starts me thinking about collecting the entire mini set to go with my full '75 standard-size set. And I don't know how smart that is. I'm only thinking about it, mind you. But that doesn't mean I'll turn away minis at the door. Every mini is welcome with open arms.

John also sent some Dodgers, although he claims his Dodger magnet needs re-charging. I think it's in perfect working order.

Let's start with a couple of Upper Deck cards from the early aughts. Quick, all of you folks who weren't collecting cards during this period, which is the card from 2000 and which was the card from 2001?

I have a hard time telling them apart. The Dreifort card is the 2001 card. UD does this a lot. I'm constantly filing my 1997 UD cards in my '96 UD pile. The designs are so much alike. It's easy for someone like me who wasn't collecting then to get them confused.

Here's Paul Lo Duca, who just creeps me out now. It's depressing. He used to be one of my favorite Dodgers (notice I didn't say "my favorite." Somehow that clears me of falling for a loser). Now all I can think of is his cheating ways, both in the steroid department and the love life department.

See? Didn't he seem like a nice guy then? What happened?

On to something more pleasant. Here is one of the many Jackie Robinson cards that have been produced in the last decade. It took a long time for card companies to realize that cards of historic players would sell, but now there's no going back. Topps is going to drain that ocean dry. And I'll be helping them do it. I'm a sucker for a card of Jackie or Pee Wee.

Here's another one, from a set I love dearly, Upper Deck 1970s. I don't consider Wills a player from the '70s. He was finished in 1972. It looks like the photo was taken in 1971, though. The uniform seems to match.

With the Wills card, I need only the Garvey NL MVP card to get all the Dodgers from this set. But I won't be stopping there. I want to finish this set off. Even if it is one of Upper Deck's rip-offs of the 1975 Topps set, my absolute favorite and the set that first brought us minis (as far as I know anyway).

Great cards, John. Nothing mini about this package at all.

MINI ME!