1975 Topps

I'm taking a break from watching the WBC to add this tonight. Venezuala and USA are playing right now. My wife and I are having a hard time deciding which team to root for. Venezuala has 4 Tigers playing tonight and USA....well it's USA, plus Curtis Granderson is on the team. I just watched my beloved Tigers go hitless in their first at-bats. Cabrera struckout in the 1st inning, Ordonez flied out to Granderson, Guillen grounded out to 2nd in the 2nd inning and Granderson grounded out to 3rd to start the 3rd inning. So far the only bright spot for the Tigers today is Galarraga, he has struck out 3 batters in the first two innings, Pedroia(swinging), Chipper(looking) and Dunn(looking). Awesome, especially after how the Tigers pitching did in today's spring training game against the Yankees.

In 1975, Topps decided to try something different....they came out with a "mini" baseball card set. The cards look exactly like the regular sized set just smaller. I heard one time years ago that Topps was testing these cards in certain markets and Detroit happened to be one of them. Unbeknowst to me and my friends, or anyone else for that matter, the cards would be smaller in 1975. You have to remember...the information highway was a lot slower in 1975 than it is today. I'd been collecting baseball cards for about 3 years by then and every spring I couldn't wait for the cards to show up on the counter at the corner store. I would stop at the store on the way home from school to check the counter. When they finally arrived, I was so excited!! I couldn't wait to see what the cards looked like each year. I bought a couple of packs and opened them, but something just wasn't right. Even at the age of 10, I knew something was up. The design was colorful and even though each player on a team had a different color border, something else seemed different. I went home and sorted them by team then put them away with my others cards and that's when the mystery was solved....they were smaller. I still bought them that summer but not as much as I would have if they were the normal size.

I am working on completing a Tigers team set of both sizes and I would be willing to make some trades to complete my set. Let me know if you have any and are willing to trade.