More, more, more '75 minis!!!!!!!!!!! ... Hey, at least it's not ponies!!!!!!!!!!! ... M-m-m-m-minis!!!!!!!

It looks like another week without buying cards.

That's why I love receiving packages from far away and cards that I ordered days ago. When they arrive, it's like you just bought them! Yay!!!! Please, please don't take away my U.S. Postal Service!

I received the two Lineage '75 minis that you see here from Spiegel. You'll see the rest of what he sent some other time.

Those two minis, and these 18 ...

... which I received from Community Gum, bring me to over 30 minis from the '75 insert set.

Considering there are 200 of these things, that's not very much. Especially since I need two versions of all of the Dodger minis.

I'll probably put up a want list soon. But I want to make it visible. Maybe I'll put it at the top of my want lists page, or just throw it on the sidebar. I'll spend some crucial weekend time pondering that.

But for now, some more observations about the '75 minis. I don't care if you're sick of it. Go stare at the multiple posts of the Josh Hamilton logo-less Panini card if you're bored with this.

Observations:

1. It has occurred to me that the '75 minis -- the actual '75 minis that came out '75 -- may be the first parallel set of all-time. I'm not a huge card historian, so there may have been a parallel set that's even older. I know there are a whole lot of variations on base cards that go way back, but I don't know if there were whole sets intentionally issued as parallels.

If the '75 minis were the first parallel set, what a strange world it produced. There are some parallels that are my favorite cards of all-time. And there are some that are the most awful cards ever made.

2. Among the Lineage cards that I received from Community Gum, quite a few of them were miscut. But that's not some printing flaw. I believe Topps intentionally made the borders off-center because that was a lot more common back in the mid-'70s. However, as someone who actually collected cards in the mid-'70s, I don't recall there being THAT MANY off-center cards.

It's hard to say, because I was a kid, and I just didn't notice things like that too much. If I had to pinpoint it, I'd guess that I'd receive an off-center/miscut card maybe once every other pack or maybe once a pack? That's really nothing but a guess. But the rate I've been seeing from the Lineage minis, that's a lot more than one per pack. That's like three miscut cards a pack.

3. How about those Diamondbacks cards? The longest team name that Topps had to worry about in 1975 was the Cardinals. With the way Topps had to squeeze "Diamondbacks" on the top border, there is a whole lot of extra space on the top. Oh, and this doesn't have much to do with anything, but Gerardo Parra is a little skippy punk.

4. I'm still obsessed with the border comparison. There's no hope for me there. After getting all these cards, I don't see any new border combinations in the Lineage minis, but I'm still going to list them all:

1. Green-purple
2. Orange-blue (didn't exist in '75)
3. Yellow-orange (didn't exist in '75)
4. Green-yellow
5. Orange-yellow
6. Yellow-Light blue
7. Red-yellow
8. Purple-pink
9. Pink-yellow
10. Light blue-green
11. Brown-tan

Additionally, here are the original '75 mini border combinations that are missing from the Lineage that I have seen so far:

Brown-orange: I'm glad to see that Lineage at least used the brown-tan combination, because you can not NOT use brown in a '70s color scheme.

Tan-light blue: This color combination is used pretty sparingly in the '75 set. But that's what makes it so special. It would be cool if this combination was in Lineage.

Yellow-green: Not sure why I haven't seen this combination in Lineage. There are green-yellow bordered Lineage cards. All you have to do is turn the colors upside down.

Red-orange: This was one of the color-combinations that was special to me as kid in '75. I really liked the red-orange borders. Too bad I haven't found it in Lineage.

Green-light green: All right, this is one of the ugliest border combos in the '75 set. But it is used with almost more cards than any other border combination. You've GOT to put this color combination in a '75 mini tribute set!

Red-blue: Probably my favorite color combination in 1975. If Lineage had just replaced the orange border in their orange-blue bordered cards (the Braun, Morneau and Dawson) with red, it would have produced my favorite Lineage minis.

Yellow-red: Another iconic color combination in the '75 set, used with a number of notable stars like Tiant, Aaron and Cedeno. Should've been in the Lineage set, instead of the non-existent '75 combination, yellow-orange.

Blue-orange: This color combination is right up there with red-blue as my favorite. It would have been too cool to see this combination in Lineage.

Orange-brown: Another combination used with more cards in the '75 set than almost any other combination. But it's not in the Lineage minis. The orange-brown combo was featured in countless living rooms, dens, wet bars and kitchens in 1970s America. Shame on Topps for not wedging that into the Lineage set.

Again, I haven't seen all the Lineage cards. Perhaps I'm missing a combination.

But you can be assured that if there is another combination in the set, I will find it, analyze it, dissect it, pulverize it, and sprinkle its remnants upon all the collectors of the world, until they say, "Please, please, no more, give us anything, give us ponies, instead!"

Sorry, can't help you. My daughter's a teenager.



That's all I've got.

Minis forever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!