1975 Topps mini - Lou Brock

One way of getting more money out of your customer base is to make larger or smaller versions (or both) of your base set. Topps went with a smaller companion set in 1975. It is hard to tell from the photo, but these are about 3/5ths the size of a regular card. These and the regular set are surprisingly popular with collectors. When you see a bunch of them together you can kind of see why - they are very colorful. It also has the George Brett and Robin Yount rookie cards in it.

But when you look at some of the cards individually, they nasty. This Lou Brock is a fine example. The border colors for the Cardinals cards are a gross pink, yellow, and an almost teal blue. The yellow is the only one of those colors that has anything to do with the Cardinals uniform (the bat that the birds are on). The terrible pink and blue clash with the photos pretty bad. Most of the other teams can make a similar case against the border colors Topps chose for their team.

Lou Brock was nearing the end of his HOF career in 1975, but still stealing those bases. He set a new record for career stolen bases (since passed by Rickey Henderson). He was a fixture with the club in the years after his retirement all the way up to his death last year. One of the things that I enjoy most about the Cardinals is their tradition of keeping their beloved players around after they retire.