Miinnnnnnniiiiiiiiiiiiiii trilogy, part 1

Eight days ago, I enjoyed the best mailday ever in terms of 1975 Topps minis. I received three separate packages filled with the best kinds of cards in history.

On that day, I cut my '75 mini want list down to 266 cards, which is pretty darn good considering that when I completed the 1975 Topps blog in October of 2011, I was around 530 cards away from completion.

Each individual package was so good on its own terms that I must break the motherload down into three separate posts. Those of you who don't enjoy '75 minis can leave for three posts and go do whatever people who don't like those kinds of cards do. Wear black and moan in the corner, I guess.

But those of you who stick around will see some gosh darn fine cards, along with some other cool stuff.

The best example of that I can find is by showing the package from mr haverkamp first. He's always got something fantastic going and this was no exception.

This time, he sent over nine '75 minis. And he sent them in the most appropriate way possible ...

... in a 1975 Topps mini-style page!!!!!

Ever since I started whining about these pages not existing anymore, people have been digging up long ago pages -- back when they were infested with PVCs -- and sending them to me. At this rate, I may be able to stop griping to UltraPro to create an updated version of the page ... well, except I don't dare store my cards in these pages, given what I've read about PVC.

But you can expect to see this page display my '75 minis in each of these trilogy posts. The cards will live.

As far as UltraPro's progress on developing a page for these size cards (2013 Heritage minis, etc.), the latest I heard was they were demonstrating a mini-sized insert this week for their one-touch card holders that would allow minis to be stored properly in the holders. That's a start, I guess, although I don't have much use for one-card storage. None of my minis will be going in those.

Anyway, back to mr. haverkamp.

The minis were the star of the show, but it wasn't the only card page I received.

Here's a regular-size page with a bunch of 1977 Topps wants and one appreciated upgrade to my beat-up 1971 Frank Quilici card.

The '77 Topps quest is wrapping up nicely. I'm down to four cards. I've been informed that two are on their way. The third and fourth are now members of the Nebulous 9.

It pays to turn the page over and look at the backs of the cards, because when I did, I found this hologram item from the early '90s.

I don't know what else to tell you about it because we've wandered into full-on Stump Night Owl territory. It's from Upper Deck, from something called "Grand Slam." There's a Coke logo on the back. My guess is some sort of regional/stadium issue something-or-other.

Pretty cool.

Speaking of stadium issues, mr haverkamp sent me something that I know you could purchase only through the Dodgers because I did so back when I was 14 or 15.

I wrote about buying those Dodgers player pictures on the blog at one point. It was one of the first baseball items I ever bought through the mail. The player picture set featured 20 flimsy paper photo copies of the Dodgers players of the time. I bought them around 1980, which is why the photos featured were of Bob Welch, Rick Sutcliffe, Reggie Smith, etc.

But mr. haverkamp sent one from slightly earlier:

The player pictures I bought were $1.00. Inflation was big in the late' 70s, you know.

These pictures are from the mid-1970s, judging from the photos within.

Andy Messersmith and a pre-perm Don Sutton.

A young-looking Bill Buckner and a shockingly young-looking Tom Lasorda.

And here's The Penguin and Popeye. These photos are different from the ones that I have in my later 1980-ish player pictures set.

Judging from the players contained in this set, I'm guessing it was purchased/issued around 1976. This was pre-Dusty Baker/Reggie Smith. Apparently, the Dodgers just kept in the set players who were no longer with the team (like Messersmith), until they were ready to issue a whole new one.

This one goes even farther back into time with Dodgers from the late '60s/early '70s.

There is Maury Wills and John Roseboro.

Here you have players who appeared only briefly with the Dodgers, Jim "Mudcat" Grant and Frank Robinson.

The Robinson picture makes me know that this set was purchased/issued 1972 or later.

I would've guessed exactly 1972 but this picture threw me a little:

Geoff Zahn didn't pitch in a game for the Dodgers until 1973. So maybe this set was available for sale in '73.

At any rate, it's very cool to have pictures of players like Len Gabrielson, Al Ferrara, Ron Hunt, Jim Hickman and coaches like Red Adams and Preston Gomez in a Dodger uniform. Outside of a handful of cards that exist of them, these photos offer a rare glimpse into that time period before I became a fan.

See? I told you there'd be some other cool stuff besides minis.

Not that minis aren't totally cool on their own.

But you'll find that out in the next part of the trilogy.