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Use the menu below if you'd like to search for posts that relate to your interests. Note - this was just created on 12-30-20 so I will need to link the posts in the coming weeks. Until then, you can scroll down to the labels on the right to find the same information.


Sunday, July 31, 2016

1970 Kellogg's Baseball Card Backs #73 - #75

I'm jumping around a bit with my comments on the card backs.  My next focus will be on the card backs from the 1970 Kellogg's baseball card set.  This is the first set of their 14-year run.  I already looked at a few of the newer sets which had some great comments.  Can the initial set be as interesting?

I really like a lot of things about the 75-card set.  What I don't like is that one is more likely to get a common player out of the cereal box.




#75 Don Mincher - The 1968 Expansion Draft is mentioned as being on October 15, 1968.  It doesn't mention that he was the first selection of the Pilots.  The NL draft was held on October 14th.  This surprised me since it seemed like the season might still be going.  The last game of the World Series that year was on October 10th.  No time was wasted in getting to the draft.  Can you name the other three teams in this draft?

Mincher played one season for Seattle before being traded by the Brewers before the 1970 season.  His number of games played on this card doesn't match what is on baseball-reference.com.  That could be an error or a result of research done.  I should check a Topps card to see what it shows.



UPDATE - Both the 1970 Topps and 1970 O-Pee-Chee cards list his games played as 140.  I checked out all of my cards and all list the games played as 139.  I guess it is uncorrected, but I will keep looking.  One of my cards came from a six-card pack that I opened.


#74 Tommy Harper - he was also selected by the Pilots in the Expansion Draft.  He played three seasons with Seattle/Milwaukee before being traded.  Nothing unique in the bio.



#73 Denny McLain - here's a hobby that probably ins't mentioned much - organ.  It turns out that he created a few records in the off-season.  Since Lou Boudreau was a Cub announcer for a long time, I already knew that Denny was his son-in-law.  They should have mentioned that McLain was the 1968 AL MVP 20 years after Boudreau won the same award.

Normally McLain is mentioned as MLB's last 30-game winner, but since it was still fairly recent (1968), the card mentions it without the fanfare.





Saturday, July 30, 2016

Post #512 - Let's Play Two

Sorry Eddie Mathews, but this post isn't about you.  Why?  You didn't make it into a Kellogg's set with your 512 career homers.  Ernie Banks equalled your career total and played late enough to get into Kellogg's sets.

Banks got into the 1970 and 1971 sets as well as one of the small sets from the 1990s.



I'm busy today with some flooding in our neighborhood.


Friday, July 29, 2016

Here a Goose, There a Goose.....

I was in Colorado Springs yesterday, hometown of Goose Gossage.  I've been past the park named after him before and it's a great place for baseball.

This time in town I noticed a lot more.  Goose's autographed pictures seemed to be everywhere that I went.  It seems like he remembers his hometown well.  I know that he's gotten a lot of bad press lately talking about how to play the game, but the same could be said by older players in every other major sport too.

I'm tired from the trip so that's all for today.  Maybe we'll play two tomorrow.


Thursday, July 28, 2016

Going to Baseball Games as a Kid - NL and AL

When we were kids we'd go to a few Cub games per year and probably about 5-10 White Sox games.  Since the crowds were big for the good teams we always seemed to go and see the other 1970s teams that weren't very good - Expos, Padres and Astros.


Nate Colbert played for all three of these teams, so I bet I saw him play way too much.  He got into four consecutive Kellogg's baseball card sets (1971 - 1974).  He was traded to Detroit after the 1974 season.  He only hit 10 of his 173 homers after the trade.


Steve Blass played for the Pirates so we didn't get to those games.  We didn't see the Dodgers or Reds much either.  He played all ten of his seasons with the Pirates, appearing on Kellogg's baseball cards in 1972 and 1973.

The White Sox games worked the same way.  We never ended up seeing the good teams there either.

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Kellogg's Hockey Cards - I Don't Have Them All Yet

I picked up some of these Kellogg's hockey cards recently.  I don't really collect hockey cards, but I figured that I'd work on this set since it only has 24 cards.



I'm not a big fan of these cards because they are really just Score brand cards.  There is no mention of Kellogg's on the front of the card.  I assume that the normal Score Patrick Roy looks exactly like this on the front.

Sure it says Kellogg's on the back, but that isn't enough for me to be highly interested.  Kenner did this with their Starting Lineup figures at some point and people quickly lost interest in the cards.






Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Why Aren't There More Nice 1975 Kellogg's Cards?

Other recent purchases included some 1975 Kellogg's baseball cards.  I knew from the listing that they weren't in great condition.  That seems to be the norm for 1975 cards.  Finding nice 1971s being difficult makes sense since there were no factor sets, but what about the 1975 factory sets?

Were there lots of 1975 factory sets?  If so, where did they go?


More about Tiant some other time.  I'm hoping someone can shed more light on the problem with 1975s.

Monday, July 25, 2016

Recent Card Purchase - Check The Borders

I picked up this 1976 Tom Seaver recently.


The 1976 set is one of my favorites and I think that the Seaver card is great.

Here is my problem.  The 1976 cards have so much white border that when the card is discolored it really looks bad.  The Seaver pictured is one of those cards.

I haven't been buying much on e-bay lately and condition certainly is questionable when doing so.  The National will be a great chance for me to check out what I am buying.

Sunday, July 24, 2016

1982 Kellogg's Card Backs #01 - #09 - What is in a Name?

The writers for the 1982 Kellogg's baseball card set did a great job with the card backs.  Let's see how they did with the first nine cards.



Hobbies - Tom Seaver mentioned bridge and George Brett mentioned surfing and horses.

#09 Fernando Valenzuela - in the short season he batted .250, drove in seven runs and had two game-winning hits.  Everyone has heard plenty about his pitching.

not on the card - he batted .200 for his career with 10 homers and 84 RBIs.

#08 Tom Seaver - Valenzuela's battle with Seaver for the Cy Young Award is mentioned.

#07 Rollie Fingers - "his ability to get people out is an unchanging as his famous handlebar mustache".  His 272 saves is an all-time record.

not on the card - he pitched 78 innings in 48 games.  Today's closers tend to do one inning per appearance.

#06 Ozzie Smith - he is shown as a Padre but the back reflects his trade to St. Louis.  He proved to be difficult to sign for Cardinals GM Whitey Herzog.  He is one of 10 Smiths in the NL.  Can you name them at this time?

not on the card - Whitey Herzog sure is mentioned on a lot of cards.  I'm going to track who is mentioned totals someday.

#05 Jack Morris - basic stats in the bio.  His "wicked slider" and 94-mph fastball challenge hitters.

#04 Rickey Henderson - the card starts with "Some are calling him the next Willie Mays".  He finished second to Fingers in the 1981 MVP voting.

#03 George Brett - when general managers around the league were polled to find out who they'd want to build a franchise around, the answer was George Brett.

#02 Bill Buckner - he's been the toughest batter to strike out in the NL in the last five years.  He had a career high in RBIs with 75 even with the strike-shortened season.

#01 Richie Zisk - he found the Texas winds to blow in and foul.  He should like the Seattle ballpark and finally find a permanent home after switching teams frequently.

not on the card - his career did end with Seattle, but he was only 34 at the time of his retirement.


Saturday, July 23, 2016

1982 Kellogg's Card Backs #10 - #18 - Perry Mason on a Baseball Card?

Kellogg's stuck to their game plan of putting lots of Hall of Famers at the front of their sets, so maybe there will be some interesting comments on the next nine cards from the 1982 Kellogg's baseball card set.



Hobbies - Reggie mentioned automobiles and Dave Winfield listed art, fashion and reading.  

#18 Mike Schmidt - he led the league with a "Ruthian" slugging percentage.  He won his second consecutive MVP award and sixth Gold Glove.

#17 Bruce Sutter -  In his last five seasons Sutter was an all-star each time.  He missed the first game with an injury.  In the last four he's got two wins an two save.  The card states - "It's almost as predictable as the ending of every Perry Mason episode - Sutter comes to the rescue and accepts congratulatory from his N.L. teammates after every game.".

#16 Pete Rose - he tied Stan Musial for the NL all-time hits record and then there was the strike.  He had to wait through a 50-day strike to break the record.  

not on the card - Rose has had to learn to wait a lot in his life.

#15 Burt Hooton - nicknamed Happy by Tommy Lasorda because Burt never seemed happy.  

not on the card - he seemed happy when I saw him throw a no-hitter as a Cub.  He probably didn't like the team around him most days though.  

#14 Reggie Jackson - he is pictured as a Yankee but the card back shows that he's now an Angel.  He signed a lucrative contract with California. 

not on the card - Jackson was an Angel in the Looney Tunes set and in a Naked Gun movie. 

#13 Bob Horner - his home run/at bat ratio is similar to Hank Aaron, Ted Williams, Willie Mays and Joe DiMaggio.  He just needs to stay healthy.  

#12 Dave Winfield - Steinbrenner made him the highest played MLB player - the 23-million-dollar man had a great season too.  

#11 Nolan Ryan - he threw is fifth no-hitter and won the ERA title.  But, he lost the last playoff game to the Dodgers 4-0.

not on the card - he led the league in ERA twice in his career but he never led the league in wins.  

#10 Hubie Brooks - his grandfather played in the Negro Leagues.  In most years he would have been a great choice for Rookie of the Year, but he came in with Fernando Valenzuela and Tim Raines.


Friday, July 22, 2016

Post #504 and the Honoree is?



Eddie Murray had 504 career home runs, 19 of them grand slams.

Murray homered in 32 different parks against 28 different teams in a career that ended in 1997.  What two teams did he not hit a homer against?  





Thursday, July 21, 2016

1982 Kellogg's Card Backs - #19 - #27 - What Happened to the Ivy at Wrigley Field?

I don't know if there is anything interesting or another question, but here goes.  Let's check out nine more cards.



Hobbies - Fisk mentioned woodworking and reading.  Nothing else of note is mentioned.

#27 Steve Carlton - he passed Bob Gibson to become the NL all-time strikeout leader.

#26 Ron Guidry - George Steinbrenner outbid 16 other teams to re-sign Guidry in the off-season.

#25 Carlton Fisk - he hit a game-winning homer on opening day against the Red Sox in Boston in his first game with the White Sox.  He is a master at stalling the game when a relief pitcher is warming up.

#24 Gary Carter - he led the team to its first playoff appearance.

not on the card - the team led the league in 1994 but the strike canceled the season.  The league didn't want the Expos in the playoffs I guess since the Expos only qualified for the post-season in 1981.

#23 Keith Hernandez - "Hernandez is for real".  That's a nice way to start a bio.

#22 Dave Concepcion - he is said to have invented and perfected the one-hop throw to first base that works so well on Astroturf.  I didn't remember that one.

#21 Don Sutton - he decided to "fatten his wallet by playing out his option in 1980".  Well put.

#20 Neil Allen - as a vote of confidence to Allen's closer status, the Mets traded Jim Kern who they thought would be their closer.

not on the card - he became a starter in 1983.  He was traded to St. Louis for Keith Hernandez whose card is directly below his on my nine-pocket sheet.  Nice trade for the Mets.

#19 Dave Kingman - talking about his career-best 1979 season with the Cubs the card says "The ivy on the outfield walls of Wrigley Field is only now recovering from that barrage".  Nice.

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

1982 Kellogg's Card Backs #28 - #36 -- And a Question for Everyone

Let's try another nine cards from the 1982 Kellogg's baseball card set.  Is there anything interesting on the backs?



Hobbies - not a lot on interesting ones.  Johnny Bench mentioned singing and Art Howe mentioned handball.

#36 Phil Niekro - not much to say since there are stats from 1964 to 1981.  His streak of double-digits wins was stopped only because of the strike.  The strike sure comes up a lot on these cards.  Is it even mentioned on Topps, Fleer or Donruss cards?

#35 Tony Armas - he became a star when Billy Martin became A's manager in 1980.  He was obtained from the Pirates along with Rick Langford and Mitchell Page.

not on the card - that was quite a trade for the A's who gave up Phil Garner, Tommy Helms and Chris Batton.  Helms played 77 games with Pittsburgh and a few with Boston.  Batton never played in the majors again after playing two games with Oakland and Garner played until 1988.  The A's picked up a few others in the trade including Doug Bair, Doc Medich and Dave Giusti.

#34 Art Howe - "looks like a former computer programmer for Westinghouse because he was a former computer programmer for Westinghouse".  He manages in the off-season in the Puerto Rican League.

not on the card - as a former programmer, this now ranks as one of my favorite card backs.

#33 Buddy Bell - he played his first seven seasons in anonymity in Cleveland.

not on the card - when you have 10-cent beer night how do you expect the fans to remember the players' names?

#32 Goose Gossage - he got injured during the strike while training to resume play.

not on the card - saves are not even listed in the stats.

#31 Bob Knepper - the Giants traded him to the Astros for Enos Cabell.  Knepper turned things around with a strong season, finishing second in the NL in ERA.

#30 Johnny Bench - he requested that the Reds only use him at catcher twice a week so that he could extend his career.  This happened because Bench broke his ankle.  He played 52 games, only seven at catcher.

not on the card - in 1982 and 1983 he only played a total of six games at catcher.

#29 John Castino - Yogi Berra's quote is used in discussing his future.  Berra said "He's got his whole future ahead of him".  Castino had three solid seasons so far.

not on the card - he only played two+ more seasons.  He hit poorly in 1982 but rebounded in 1983.  Back issues ended his career in early 1984.

#28 Robin Yount - at age 25 he became the youngest player to appear in 1,000 games and the third youngest to collect 1,000 hits.

not on the card - who were the two players before Yount that recorded 1,000 career hits at a younger age than Yount?

I got one easily.  The other one is a player who has a Kellogg's card.



Tuesday, July 19, 2016

1982 Kellogg's Card Backs #37 - #45

Time to look at the next nine cards from the 1982 Kellogg's Baseball card set.


It' all American League on this page with two Tigers, two Red Sox, three Angels, an Indian and an Oriole.

Hobbies listed for this group - sports (4), hunting and fishing (2), golf (2), billiards (1), basketball (1) and running (1).  It was a surprise to see Kirk Gibson mentioned running.  Why?  He doesn't look like a runner and he played college football.

#45 Dwight Evans - he was on a pace for big career high marks but the strike ruined that.  He won his fourth Gold Glove in six years.

#44 Rick Burleson - he just completed his first season in California after being traded from Boston for Carney Lansford.  He made three errors in his MLB debut.

Not on the card - Lansford's card appears directly above Burleson's on the nine-pocket sheet.

#43 Carl Yastrzemski - not as much text since he's already played for 21 seasons.  His stats are divided into two columns so the text is only below his stats.  No one else in the set has that format for the card back.

#42 Jim Palmer - after his second losing season in 16 years, Palmer said he is ready to accept the role of relief pitcher if that's where the team needs him.

Not on the card - from 1982 to 1984 he made only nine relief appearances.  

#41 Carney Lansford - he won the batting title away from Brett and Carew who combined to win eight of the previous nine titles.  He could be "the next Buddy Bell".

Not on the card - at age 32 baseball-reference.com shows his stats as most similar to Buddy Bell.  For his career he's compared most to Bill Madlock.  Lansford had over 2,000 hits - that surprised me.

#40 Kirk Gibson - "a thoroughbred athlete at Michigan State he was an All-American wide receiver".

#39 Steve Kemp - shown on the back is the White Sox logo but he's in his Tigers uniform in the picture.  The trade was not a surprise to many since Kemp won an arbitration case against Detroit after the 1980 season.

#38 Bobby Grich - had the timing of "an Acapulco cliff diver" by having his best years when his contract was ending.  

#37 Len Barker - he threw the 11th perfect game in baseball history in 1981.  He led the league in strikeouts twice.

Monday, July 18, 2016

These Were Some Great White Sox Uniforms


How does Jorge Orta end up being my 500th post?  I like numbers and Orta ended up his career with 500 Walks.  


I've got a lot of this 1976 Kellogg's card.  That is a great White Sox uniform.

Orta played for 15 years, eight with the White Sox.  He hit 130 homers, which is about 100 more than I would have guessed.

We went to a lot of games at this time since my sisters got straight A's in school and I would usually get perfect attendance.  Doing either of those things in Chicago Public Schools got you a nice reward - four White Sox tickets.  I guess the Cubs must have had a plan with snobby, private schools because we never got Cub tickets.

Orta got into the 1975 Kellogg's set as well.  He hit over .300 in both 1974 and 1975.  That helped the two-time all-star get into these sets.

Sunday, July 17, 2016

1982 Kellogg's Card Backs #46 - #54

Let's see if there is anything interesting on the backs of these cards.



Dodger, Dodger, Pirate, Pirate, Dodger - ick!

#46 Ron Cey - he missed the end of the season with an injury from a hit-by-pitch but he came back to play in the World Series where he was hit in the head by Goose Gossage.  Cey ended up sharing WS MVP honors with teammates Pedro Guerrero and Steve Yeager.

Not on the card - Guerrero got into the 1983 set buy Yeager never got a Kellogg's card.

#47 Steve Garvey - "he is the modern day Lou Gehrig".  He led the team in batting in the 1981 World Series.

Not on the card - he probably led the team in haircuts too.

#48 Dave Parker -  Back to negative Kellogg's script.  He didn't recover well from knee surgery, ending up with his worst batting average in 1981.  He has great speed for a big guy to go along with a strong arm in the outfield.

#49 Mike Easler - the card mentions that he was with Houston, St. Louis, California, Boston and Pittsburgh already.

Not on the card - The stats don't show him playing in the majors with St. Louis or Boston.  In 1975 the Cardinals had him in the minors.  The Red Sox acquired him after the 1978 season and traded him during spring training in 1979.

#50 Dusty Baker - Kellogg's was surprised that his selection to the All-Star team was the first of his career.

#51 Rod Carew - Kellogg's says that betting against Carew hitting .300 is like betting against "Old Faithful" to erupt.  Indians Manager Dave Garcia says "Why is it that the ball looks like a basketball to Carew and a golf ball to everybody else?"

#52 Chris Chambliss - His first name is Carroll.  He was the 1971 AL Rookie of the Year.

#53 Tim Raines - "A world-class sprinter in baseball cleats".  He had his sights set on Brock's record 118 steals when the strike ruined that plan.  He had 50 steals in the first 56 games.

#54 Chet Lemon - He played high school football with USC/Tampa Bay star Ricky Bell.

Not on the card - sadly Bell died before reaching the age of 30.  He had a rare disease which caused him to die of heart failure.

Also not on the card - I love my Chet Lemon model glove.

Finally some good hobbies.  Easler is listed as enjoying Table Tennis and Bowling.  Chet Lemon likes Rock and Shell Collecting.  Chris Chambliss collects phonograph records.

Saturday, July 16, 2016

1982 Kellogg's Card Backs - #55 - #64

I hope that the Kellogg's card backs from 1982 are as interesting as the 1981 and 1983 that I've already shown.  The horizontal card back seems to work well.  Of course the print is small, which was fine when I was young but it's a bit challenging now.  Lots of text,  Yeah!  Let's see if the writers were positive or negative regarding the players this year.


#64 Eddie Murray - The Orioles gave Murray a five-year deal worth $1 million per year.  He made 1 error in 991 chances for a fielding percentage of .999.



#63 Vida Blue - A second mention of the 1981 players' strike.  He had a better ERA than Cy Young winner Fernando Valenzuela and runner-up Tom Seaver.

#62 Willie Wilson - he and George Brett had statistical drop-offs in 1981 after stellar 1980 seasons.

#61 Al Oliver - shoulder tendinitis caused him to be a DH all year instead of playing the outfield.  I didn't remember that about him.  He hit .300 for the sixth straight season and  "Only three things, Al Oliver will tell you, are certain - death, taxes and Al Oliver hitting at least .300."

#60 Cecil Cooper - "after looking at his career, two questions demand answers.  (1) How could the Red Sox trade him to Milwaukee for George Scott in 1976?  and (2) Why has he never won the Most Valuable Player Award?".  Nice text.  I didn't know that Tom Paciorek was runner-up in the batting title race in 1981.

#59 Mike Norris - "he changes speed more often than a Manhattan cabbie weaving in and out of traffic".  Nice.  He fields his position "like a human pitchback".  He won his second straight Gold Glove.


#58 Ken Singleton -   "one of the least publicized stars in the game".  Sure, he played in Montreal for three years.  Even though 35 years old, he expects to play a few more years since he's now in the AL with the DH.

#57 Dwayne Murphy - he's won two Gold Gloves.  He's one of the few players who progressed from Little League to American Legion ball and then to the major leagues.

#56 George Foster - "George Foster should change his middle name to RBI".  Nice way to start his bio.  In February he became a Met.  The back of the card has the Mets logo but he's pictured on the front as a Cincinnati Red.

#55 Bill  Madlock - he was a longshot to make it after being drafted by the Cardinals with the 268th pick in the 1968 draft.  He was drafted 99th by the Senators a year later.  He's already won three batting titles.  The Rangers traded him to the Cubs for Fergie Jenkins.  

Hobbies - Sports (5), Basketball (2), Automobiles (1 - Murphy), Racquetball (1-Oliver), Hunting and Fishing (1 - Blue)





Friday, July 15, 2016

PSA Consultant - Is That a Job?

As I said yesterday, I have not yet sent in a card for grading.  Even if I were to do so, how would I decide to rule out cards that won't be good enough for grading?

Is there someone who could look at a stack of my cards and tell me which ones are worth grading?  How much would that job pay per hour?  Or per card?  Would those people get paid only after the cards are graded?

Are any of you good at this?  What do you think?

Do any card shops provide a service like this?  Does anyone at all?


No, I don't have this card.  I did hold it at the National last year, or the year before.

Thursday, July 14, 2016

PSA Cards - 1970 and 1983 - What a Difference

I've still not submitted any cards to a grading service.  I do have some that I purchased in sets or other lots.  Today I looked at PSA's site to check out some of the population reports.

Here are the stats from 1970 Kellogg's cards from PSA's Population Report.

28,591 cards were graded so far by PSA

  4,140 grades of 10 (14.5%)
16,469 grades of 9 (57.6%)
  6,135 grades of 8 (21.5%)

The top three grades account for about 93.6% of the graded cards.

The top five graded cards are Mays (847), Seaver (749), Rose (746), Jackson (716) and Banks (673).

There are only 18 Carlos May cards with a grade of 10 and only 16 Rich Reichardt's with the highest possible grade.

In 1983 the stats are quite different for Kellogg's cards

2,450 cards have been graded by PSA

   946 grades of 10 (35.6%)
1,123 grades of 9 (45.8%)
   304 grades of 8 (12.4%)

The top three grades account for about 96.8% of the graded cards.

Only four cards have been graded more than 100 times - Brett, Rose, Ryan and Schmidt.  The lowest number of graded cards are Vuckovich (9 submissions) Templeton (12), Baines (15) and Horner (15).

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

How Would You Rank the Kellogg's Sets?

When I rank the Kellogg's sets I'm not taking into account availability, price or condition.  Of course my rankings could change by next month.

What is your order?  Do you consider the size of the cards, the size of the sets, the inclusion/exclusion of your favorite players/teams?  What else goes into deciding your favorites?

I'm only looking at the 14 sets from 1970 - 1983 including the 1972 All-Time Greats.  I'm going to count them down from #14 to #01 (my favorite set).





Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Congrats to Rod Carew and Tony Gwynn

I wasn't planning on being home until the game started today but I managed to get home for the national anthem and the MLB ceremony.  Congratulations to Rod Carew and Tony Gwynn's family on the honor bestowed on the players.

Carew sure got himself onto a lot of Kellogg's cards but Gwynn missed out.





Monday, July 11, 2016

My Favorite Kellogg's Sets - Why I Love the 1983 Set

The 1983 Kellogg's baseball card set drops down to 60 cards after being a few cards larger in 1981 and 1982.  Kellogg's also got away from the blue color scheme of most years and they went with a white/grey color.


Once again there are 20 Hall of Famers along with Pete Rose.  But, there were about 10 guys included in the set that weren't big enough stars to warrant being in the set.


Kellogg's missed another chance to create a card of Andre Dawson.   He was a Rookie of the Year, runner-up for MVP, won three Gold Gloves, was stealing about 30 bases per year and he was hitting over 20 homers a year.


Dawson can't complain much since 1982 AL Rookie of the Year Cal Ripken didn't get into this set.   Wade Boggs was third to Ripken in the ROY vote and he didn't get a card.  Runner-up Kent Hrbek got a card somehow.   NL runner-up Johnny Ray also got a card even though ROY Steve Sax didn't.


Sunday, July 10, 2016

Shutout at the Flea Market Today

I saw lots of memorabilia and cards at the Rosemont, IL flea market today.  If you get the chance to go, I'd say it is worth the time.

I didn't buy anything from my main interests - Kellogg's, Hostess, Sportscasters, Starting Lineups, track and field items and Western Open golf items.  I saw some hostess cards, but no panels.

I didn't see any Kellogg's cards.  The last few times there I picked up at least a handful each time.  I saw cards from all major sports, lots of packs, plenty of Starting Lineups and even some vintage cards.

What did I buy?  I bought a 1987 Fleer Baseball factory set that wasn't sealed and a 1993 Topps Baseball Vending Box from Series 1.  They were so cheap that I was expecting nothing from them.  The Fleer cards were all perfect except for one.  You guessed it, the Bonds.  It had two bad corners even though no tother cards did.

The Topps vending box was fun to open.  I didn't buy many cards that year so I don't remember all of them.  The conditions were fantastic.  With only 398 cards in Series 1, I was bound to get some doubles.  I think that the only star card that I got doubles of was Jeter's draft pick card.  That was nice.

I also bought about 30 match books from the 1930s.  These were mostly of baseball players, but there were also a few football and hockey players.

This was my first trip there this year.  I hope to get back again soon.

Saturday, July 9, 2016

My Favorite Kellogg's Sets - Why I Love the 1982 Set

The 1982 Kellogg's baseball card set has 64 cards.  Certainly a strange number when using nine-pocket pages to display these cards.

The set includes 23 Hall-of-Fame players plus Rose of course.  What about the rest of the cards?  Most of the next tier stars are included and there are a few cards that certainly seem like commons today - John Castino, Bob Knepper, Neil Allen.

I like that Kellogg's went back to a slightly smaller card.  These cards fit easily into plastic sheets.  I also like the bright, blue cards.  The uniforms show really well on these cards.



 

Friday, July 8, 2016

My 493rd Post - Sorry Fred McGriff It Isn't About You. Who Is It About?

Fred McGriff finished his career with 493 homers.  This post isn't about him because (a) he didn't get a Kellogg's card and (b) he's not Lou Gehrig who also had 493 career homers.



27 players are ahead of McGriff and Gehrig on the all-time home run list.  Only nine of those players made it onto a Kellogg's card from 1970 - 1983.  One made it into a 1990s set.  Can you name all ten players?

Thursday, July 7, 2016

My Favorite Kellogg's Set - Why I Love the 1981 Set

There are a lot of positives with the 1981 Kellogg's Baseball card set.  I like the 66-card set size and I think Kellogg's did a good job of picking the stars of the day.  There are 22 Hall-of-Fame players and Pete Rose.  There were probably only about seven cards that featured players who didn't have long, productive careers.  Most notably in that group would be Joe Charboneau.

I like the change to a bigger card as well as the bright, yellow colors.  In 1979 and 1980 it was difficult to really get a feel for the uniforms since the cards were so small.  I really like how this design accentuated the photo and minimized the borders.  I think Kellogg's got lazy in 1980 since they had no competition with Hostess.  Remember, 1981 also brought in Fleer and Donruss cards.

I didn't like the cards being exactly 3.5 x 2.5 inches because their thin stock made it difficult to put them into nine-pocket pages.  I prefer the cards a bit smaller than regulation baseball cards.

This set is easy to find cheap, so enjoy a great set with great images from 1980.  The big negative for me is that these cards were not found in cereal boxes.  One had to purchase the set from Kellogg's.  I didn't do that.  When I collect all unopened packs I only need to work on 1970 - 1980.



The image is so much bigger that the brand of bat can even be seen.





Wednesday, July 6, 2016

My Favorite Kellogg's Sets - Why I Love the 1980 Set

I've covered the 1970s and now I will cover the 1980s before I rank the sets.

The 1980 set has great coloring, but like lots of the Kellogg's sets, the color can fade and look dull if not protected.

I've seen a lot less curling in the 1980 sets probably due to the smaller size.  I prefer the slightly larger Kellogg's cards to these thinner ones.

Player selection in 1980 starts well with 20 Hall of Famers and Pete Rose.  My quick count could be off by one or two on that.  Lots of stars who are short of Hall of Fame careers too  - Garvey, Lynn, Hernandez, etc.

Oddly, Kellogg's took no chances on Rookies from 1979.  John Castino and Rick Sutcliffe won the awards and no players who got votes got into this set.  Sutcliffe was 17-10, probably enough to get into the set but no other rookies had strong seasons.






 


Tuesday, July 5, 2016

My Hopes for the National Card Show

I usually spend more than one day at the National but this year one day is all I've got planned.  I rarely find much there in terms of Kellogg's cards.  In the past I've picked up lots of cheap 1980s stars, a 1971 Football set and the Babe Ruth display from 1972 (or 1970?) that I'd always wanted.

My big goals this year and the challenges with that goal.

1.  Find the few 1972 and 1973 Unopened Kellogg's cards that I need.  I've never seen anyone with more than a few unopened packs at any show.




2.  Find a few of the six-card packs from 1970 that I don't have.  I'm trying to get a pack with each of the 75 cards on top.  I think I've gotten around 40 so far.  These do show up at least since dealers can make some money off of them.  Prices vary greatly.  I doubt that I'll be buying the Clemente that I need.

3.  Find any factory sets that I need.  I've got 1978 - 1983 and 1973.  I don't see these at all either.

4.  Any cereal boxes or other advertising card that I don't have.

5.  Any Japanese Kellogg's baseball cards that I need.

I don't own this box, but I saw it was for sale a few months ago.