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Second place is the first loser


The 1975 Topps mini set is the greatest mini set -- the greatest mini parallel set -- to ever show its face on retail counters.

This is not merely my opinion. This is irrefutable fact. I will not stand for alternative theories.

But do you know the next mini set to come along after 1975's minis?

For years, decades, I had no idea.

Now that I do know, it makes perfect sense. I've said before that 1986 Fleer is the forgotten set of the 1980s. For years, I'd go through all of the major sets of the '80s and always skip '86 Fleer. When I did think of it, I'd mistake it for '85 Fleer and vice versa.

I'm pretty sure that during the '80s I had no idea that '86 Fleer came in mini form, too.

But my ignorance hasn't stopped me from owning the complete 120-card set of 1986 Fleer minis. I recently received it -- along with a bunch of other goodies you'll see at another time -- from reader Mike.

It came in the tidy box that I pictured above. I'm not sure how these were made available. A mail-order box perhaps? On a shelf in Kmart? Like I said, I was barely collecting in 1986, I still don't know a lot about what went down then.

The cards were wedged quite firmly into the box, making for some chipping issues, particularly with the first card in the set, George Brett.

The best part of these cards is that although they carry the same design as the traditional-sized 1986 Fleer set, the photos are completely different. So I was able to view never-before-seen (by me) photos of some of the top figures from that time.




And since it's 1980s Fleer, you get the patented "just a little bit off" photos from that time period.


I know these cards aren't exactly rare. Even though I didn't collect at that time, it took me no time at all to complete the Dodgers in this set as they were sent my way almost immediately.

To be honest I didn't think much of them. They're a bit too small for my taste.


That's an idea of how the Fleer minis stack up against a regular-sized '86 Fleer card.

They are smaller than the 1975 Topps minis, which I consider the ideal size for a mini card -- small enough to be endearing but not so small that they're escaping out of your hands all the time.

This is why even given my appreciation for the '75 minis (and A&G minis) I never took to the second wave of mini cards, which basically consisted of just Fleer and Topps, putting out mini-version sets in 1987 and 1988, too.

You know what they say: second place is the first loser.

And you'll always lose going up against 1975 Topps minis.

(But I sure do like that I have this complete set!)



(But only 18 stickers? What about the 8 other teams around then?)

Comments

The use of a different photograph is great. Didn't Topps do that, too, for their Mini-Leaders sets? Use different photos? Lamely the too-small Micro sets from 1991-1993 used the same image as the base regular size card. Have a nice evening.
Fleer produced the team stickers for all 26 teams (2 versions each), yet only put some random of both versions in the boxed sets. So the rest are out there.
Good for Fleer for being ahead of the curve and using 2 different pictures
CrazieJoe said…
The different photos makes it well worth getting.
I'm glad you like the set. I remember Topps and Donruss made even smaller, postage-stamp sized minis briefly in the early 90s. For a couple of years Topps even made a full 792-card set that came in a box about the size of a paper towel tube. I think they had the same photo as the regular-sized cards. I also remember that for one or two years, one of the company's "mini minis" were the prize in boxes of Cracker Jacks.
Fuji said…
This set was sort of a big deal back in the day... because of that Canseco. Well... at least to me, my buddies, and I'm sure other A's collectors. It was cool to see him on a 86F card by himself. But as much as I enjoy owning this set, the 1987 Fleer mini set (I still need to pick up a 1988 Fleer mini set), and the 1991, 1992, and 1993 Topps Micro sets... none of these come even close to the 1975 Topps Mini set.
RunForeKelloggs said…
I never even noticed that there was not a sticker for each team. I might need to check that out since I think I have two sets buried somewhere. Thanks for passing that information along.
friend11 said…
Sadly there no bubble blowing cards in either set.
Jeff said…
I've had this set since 86 or 87. They're so small I looked at them once and never pulled them out again...