A mini "problem"

 

It's taken me a little time to get to this package arrival, mostly because it's a lot to go over.

That happens sometimes with the sends from Johnny's Trading Spot -- there's so much stuff and a lot of it is not the usual stuff, so some time has to go into the corresponding blog post.

For example, this:

This is way cool. It's a season highlights record of the 1959 Dodgers' season, their second year in Los Angeles and a World Series championship team.

 

The record is a collection of highlights with each of the moments narrated as they happen by Vin Scully. Ira Cook does the narrating between highlights.

Listening to Scully is always a treat but it's even more interesting here because he's so young and his voice is so different. Yet all of the great descriptions that he was known for are still there and it's amazing he had that kind of command of the language way back then.

The record is in terrific shape, not a single skip or pop. But I knew I'd have to find time to listen to it before I wrote this post. I finally put it on the turntable yesterday. (If you're not thrilled about 1959 regurgitation, you can skip the next six grafs).

The record is divided into five highlights with two on the first side and three on the second. The first is Roy Campanella Night at the L.A. Coliseum. I wish I had this record before I wrote that Beckett magazine article on one-of-a-kind cards, because there's cool extra information on the record and also two separate interviews with Campanella.

The second highlight is a controversial home run call during a Dodgers-Giants game, which was new to me. Willie Mays hit a ball off the foul pole that Scully immediately said was just barely foul. The umpires ruled it foul but Giants manager Bill Rigney told Mays to round the bases with a home run. The umpires met and decided to call it a home run, which caused Walter Alston, Don Drysdale and Gil Hodges to flip out. After more ump consulting, they changed it back to a foul ball and that's when the fun began. I know why there's just two highlights on the first side of the record as it took that long for Scully to describe all the histrionics that Rigney went through. Eventually Mays was given a double, due to some ground rule at the Coliseum that wasn't explained on the record.

On side two is Scully's recounting of Sandy Koufax's 18 strikeouts against the Giants. At the time it was a major league record and after 15 Ks, Koufax was setting a new record with each new strikeout.

The next highlight was Scully broadcasting the Dodgers-Pirates game while at the same time giving the rundown of the ninth inning of the Giants-Phillies game, which I got the impression was a brand new innovation. The Phillies won when Orlando Cepeda flied out, which I think put the Dodgers in first (I had left the room briefly at this point). That caused a cheer to go up in the Coliseum stands, as fans had radios with them listening to Scully. The Dodgers were confused why they were cheering.

The last highlight is the last game in the special playoff series between the Dodgers and Braves after the two teams finished tied at the end of the season (I always forget there was a special playoff this year). The White Sox had already won the AL pennant, which is why Scully said a couple times that they Dodgers were playing to go to Chicago.

There were no World Series highlights, I'm guessing because that was nationally broadcast and not a KMPC production.

So that was all very interesting and a nice element in my collection, and sorry I went on like that too long. I think it's the second Dodgers record I have after the Ron Cey 45.

Johnny also sent my first look at the 2023 Topps Chrome Platinum Anniversary cards. These look much better than the 2022 AI-inspired ones. I still hate that we're going back in time with these things, it's a little inconvenient when I'm updating my team binders.

Finally, there was this box:

Johnny "warned" me about this ahead of time and then there was a note that said I was "probably going to hate on me for what is inside".

Well ...

I can't hate on someone for sending me 245 mini cards created in the spirit of the 1975 Topps minis! I know you can't tell those are mini cards.

Is this any better? Probably not.

This is always the best comparison.

 

I've already said that I have no plans to collect the mini Heritage set. Although I loved the '75 minis more than any other card set, this is not the same. These players aren't ones that make me want to collect the same cards twice. Also, Heritage makes it way too difficult by short-printing the first 100 cards in the minis, too. Why do I want to deal with that twice?

 

There's also the matter of the 2024 minis being slightly shorter than the '75 Topps minis. I read about this somewhere else and compared a handful of cards just to see if it was so. I believe it is.

 

 I haven't compared every card, but it seems to be the case. This, by itself, is not enough to make me not want to collect the 2024 mini set. The short-print issue is MUCH MORE ANNOYING. But we can add this to the list.

 

Shuffling all the mini cards in my hands does remind me of doing the same with the '75 minis back in '75 but I still ain't collecting it. I mean I'd have to buy mini pages for these and apparently Ultra Pro isn't selling them anymore after I made that stink way back? Yeah, too many problems to address with this chase.

I've already separated the Dodgers I received to add to my team binder. You probably noticed some key guys like Ohtani, Betts and Kershaw are missing. This is another reason I'm not chasing. The lot was missing a lot of key guys (no doubt safely in Johnny's collection now), which means I would have to chase De La Cruz, Soto, Volpe, Altuve, most of the Braves and all of the Cardinals (for some reason). Oh, and ALL THOSE SHORT PRINTS.

So, yeah, thanks but no thanks.

I'll enjoy the ones I have -- maybe trade a few -- as a token of the 2024 Heritage set and a reminder that Topps regularly likes to screw up a good thing.

(P.S.: I think a couple of collectors are sending me even more minis, so I could be eating my words here, but I doubt it).