According to my calculations, I definitely will be able to spend my birthday cash on baseball cards. It's been a long two months of waiting to see if this would be possible. But somewhere in early October potentially, I may finally end up with my birthday present. You kids out there, adulthood is way overrated.
I do admit I did spend a small amount of birthday cash on cards already. I agreed to sign up to the 2013 Topps minis break held by Ryan at "O" No! Another Orioles Blog.
I don't enter group breaks lightly. But I felt this one was necessary because where the heck am I going to get 2013 minis of my Dodgers? I'm sure as hell not buying a whole box of that stuff online. So this was about my only chance.
I knew I wouldn't get the whole team set, but I was hoping for the majority.
But I didn't get the majority. I got half. And doubles. Of virtually every Dodger player I received. This is no reflection on Ryan's break ability at all, but 2013 Topps mini collation sucks. I've read people say that the '13 minis is a fun break. Not if the collation is like that across the board. If it is, Topps has some gonads selling it only online like it's some valuable exclusive.
So let's see the Dodger minis that I DID receive, with mini positioned next to corresponding base card so you can see the mininess with your own pupils:
A.J. Ellis: One day he will get his own card.
Randy Choate: Hard to believe Topps was so desperate for Dodgers to feature that Choate received a card.
Matt Kemp: I wonder if his card prices are going down? I've had no money to check.
Kenley Jansen: Turning into something special.
Paco Rodriguez: Also something special. Remember Javy Guerra? Whatever happened to him?
Andre Ethier: Slowly working his way back to where he once was, but I still have almost no confidence in him when he stands at the plate.
Dee Gordon: Still looks overmatched on an MLB field.
Luis Cruz: May seems so long ago.
Jerry Hairston: My hope in the Michael Young acquisition is that Jerry Hairston will never play first base again.
Josh Beckett: See you in April. Maybe.
Ted Lilly: One of the better Dodger cards of the year. But I like Hanley Ramirez better.
ERA leaders card: Yee-ha.
I also received one insert in the break:
I assume there is probably a refractor foil version of this mini and a gold version of this mini, which almost makes me laugh at the thought of anyone actually attempting to complete all those parallels for a set with limited availability.
I saw something interesting when I turned the cards over:
One back is facing one way and the other back the other. One also says "batting crown" and the other says "bat crown."
I'm going to go ahead and assume that these were just differences in the base set and mini set. I'm really hoping this isn't some variation on top of all the other variations there are. (Find the back variation of the gold variation of the insert and then do it again for all the other color variations and all the Dodger inserts!!!! And pay us to do it all!!!!!)
So these are the players for which I still need minis:
It appears to me that the missing Dodger minis are a lot more integral to this year's team than the ones I received. Doesn't that figure?
Anyway, if you find yourself with any of those, I'm interested -- in the most disinterested way possible.
I did pick up another team in the break, but I'm not showing it here because the cards are going to be mailed to someone.
I'm sorry for having such an attitude about this set, especially because it's a mini set and you know how much I love minis. And that is why I wanted to feature some minis that really make me happy on this post, too.
They arrived from Cardboard Catastrophes and it was really great of Jeffrey to send them to me. I'll get around to sending something back someday. I promise.
Here they are:
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Bob Gibson: Also in his final set.
George Foster: My absolute favorite Foster card. This card was so cool in '75. I didn't really know who Foster was at the time, but I wanted to learn.
Willie Stargell: I forgive him for hitting that ball completely out of Dodger Stadium.
Jim Palmer: One of the cooler cards in the '75 set (my base card needs an upgrade).
Willie McCovey: Hah! McCovey was a Padre!
Tony Perez: Look at that great signature.
Now those are some heavy hitters right there! Very pleased to cross them off the want list.
I'm still 160 cards or so away from completed the '75 mini set, but that is a lot closer than I thought I would ever be. I've gotten there much quicker than I thought I would, too.
And the best part is I know I will be done with it some day. I can't say the same about the 2013 Topps mini Dodger set or really any current set out today.
And that is why one version of minis makes me say:
meh.
And another version makes me say:
MIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(P.S.: C'mon UltraPro, let's get those mini pages out already!).
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