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?)
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