Lots of Us Know Someone Who Didn't Get to See the Big Game

Something I wrote for myself in the summer and fall of 2016.  I hope everyone gets another change for another "catch" with that special loved one just like in Field of Dreams.

"Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright;
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;
But there is no joy in Mudville -  ........."

Thanks to Ernest Lawrence Thayer for the words above and allowing me to butcher his style with the words below.

In the Comiskey Park picnic area we used to sit and play,
eating Mazzone's italian ice and watching Carlos May;
We always went to give-aways, thanks for doing that;
I love the coffee mug,  I wish I still had the bat.

Trips to Wrigley Field were amazing; an adventure every time,
Riding the train and watching the lovable Cubs nine;
I was partial to outfielders chasing flies in the sun;
But you said Ron Santo was always your favorite one.

In the bleachers we basked in the sun - not yet in the stars,
Getting autos at the green gate and at the players' cars;
I'll always think of you when I go to grab my glove,
And whenever I heard the 70's song Radar Love.

You gave us Flash, your car and trips to Lake Pukaway;
You officiated many sports and coached baseball without pay;
The Sugar Bowl was fun and card shows were amazing;
CB radios in your car and in our room were always entertaining;

I wonder who you spoke with that last long night on the train;
All of us wish we had been there walking in the midnight rain;
I'd guess you talked about the trains, and the Cubs promising season;
You were probably mentioning your kids for so many reasons.

We last went to Wrigley Field way back when the lights were new;
I'll think about you the next time I'm there and I'll be missing you;
Neither Ernie or Ron remained with us to enjoy the day with the fans,
but I hope all of you are celebrating like only you three can.

I've driven down that street you walked that last day,
wondering what you thought that early morning in May.
There is still no joy in Mudville, since it is in Ohio.
It is still easy to envision your World Series victory smile.

When it came to the ninth Casey may have been at bat,
But you were always there for me doing this and that;
Thanks for everything that you were able to do;
There will be joy in Mudville, If I can be a brother like you.

There is no joy today, tomorrow more of the same;
We are deeply saddened, that you're out of the game;
Today one of my longest ever hug with our mother,
because she already misses you immensely big brother.
***********************************************************************

The Cubs had a parade yesterday; I didn't get to see it;

You did a lot for me I wish I did more for you

1970 Kellogg's Baseball Card Backs #16 - 18

So I skipped #19 - 27 for now since I haven't picked those up in a long time and I'd have to get them from storage or from another website.  I'll look at the others and get back to those nine later.

#18 - Rick Reichardt

Great to see a college graduate who also got a big bonus.  Two homers in an inning is great, but the stats show him hitting no homers in 1964.  It turns out that the card is incorrect.  He accomplished that in 1966.  Was it ever corrected?  I will have to check that one out.

#17 - Bill Singer

His no-hitter was in the minors.  I like his diverse hobbies - swimming, dancing and water skiing.

#16 - Carlos May


This is a beautiful car.  Well-loved.   Lee May of the Reds is his brother.

IT'S A FACT - Only six times in MLB history did a first basemen not record a putout in a game.  I'm not going to check to find more instances of that.  Big strikeout games would be easy to check.

Kellogg's Cards of Players Born in Alabama

Over 300 MLB players were born in Alabama.  Lots of them ended up on Kellogg's baseball cards.  Here is the list.

Hank Aaron
Tommie Agee
Lyman Bostock
Ollie Brown
Clay Carroll
George Foster
Ron Jackson
Cleon Jones
Carlos May
Lee May
Willie Mays
Willie McCovey
Don Mincher
Amos Otis
Ozzie Smith
Don Sutton
Andre Thornton
Billy Williams
Willie Wilson

That's a good group.  A lot of first-base/outfield types.

SportsCollectorsDaily Reviews the 1981 Kellogg's Baseball Card Set

The website sportscollectorsdaily.com continues reviewing Kellogg's baseball cards sets.  This article discusses the 1981 set and how it was only offered via a mail-in to the company for the entire set.  It also mentions how the set is easy to come by.  That's for sure.

The player selection is quite good.  Check it out if you don't have this set.


http://www.sportscollectorsdaily.com/1981-kelloggs-set/

Happy Birthday to Roy White - 1975 Kellogg's Card #1

Try finding a 1975 Kellogg's card of Roy White that is worth grading.  Ugh.

White appears in the 1971 set as well.  He played from 1965 to 1979 with the Yankees.  Amazingly, he was with the Yankees for his entire career, beginning in the minors in 1961.

I found out that his high school, Centennial in Compton, CA,  has produced more than 10 major league players.  Even more surprising is that eight of them found their way onto a Kellogg's card.

Many of these guys played at Centennial together.

Al Cowens

Mitchell Page

Don Wilson

Lenny Randle

Lonnie Smith

Reggie Smith

Wayne Simpson

Here is a Non-Kellogg's 3-D Football Card That I Can't Find

I really like these Stop n' Go/Doty Enterprises cards from 1979 and 1980.  The sets are small and the cards are a bit thicker than Kellogg's cards.  They still are prone to curling but I don't have enough of these to know if they are also likely to crack.  Does anyone know more about this?

I heard that these were distributed in Texas and places around there.  The sets focused on players from the local teams and not just the stars of the league.  I don't see them in Illinois.  I certainly don't see the only Bear in the sets - Walter Payton.

They certainly spent lots of time on the card back.  Lots of text to read.  I like that.  That's probably why I like the Sportscaster cards so much.  

Payton is part of the 18-card 1979 set.

The 1980 set contained 48 different cards.  If they had followed Kellogg's formula of having lots of future Hall of Famers, maybe they'd have continued for 14 years like Kellogg's did.  Seven Cowboys and seven Houston Oilers are featured in the set.  Other teams featured frequently include San Diego (5), Atlanta (3), L.A. Rams (8), Pittsburgh (5) and San Francisco (4).

The 1979 set contained four Cowboys and six Oilers in the 18-card set.

Who Kept Up With Hank Aaron on MVP Votes?

Stan Musial got MVP votes in 18 seasons.  He did that in 21 years.  In one year he was in military service and the other two he didn't get any votes.

Ted Williams also got MVP votes in 18 years.  It took him 22 years but he missed three of those years due to military service.  The only year in which he didn't get any MVP votes was 1952 when he played six games before reporting for military due.  So, ever year in his career he got MVP votes.  Somehow he got votes even when playing only 37 games in 1953.

Those two didn't get a regular Kellogg's baseball card.  The most years with MVP votes for players on a 1970 - 1983 Kellogg's card is 15.  That list includes Pete Rose, Frank Robinson and Willie Mays.

With Hall of Fame voting in the news I find it difficult to compare players based on statistics at different times and possibly in different leagues.  MVP and Cy Young voting gives some indication of how a player was valued at the time he played.  This doesn't work for players before 1931 since MVP voting rules were different back them.

I'm going to see which position players have the most Kellogg's cards and the least years with MVP votes.

Post #660 - What Does That Number Mean?

As a child in the 1970s the number 660 had lots of meaning.  First, those of us who followed baseball knew that Willie Mays finished his career with 660 home runs.  Topps card #1 from 1973 Showed Ruth (714), Aaron (673) and Mays (654) and their career home run totals.  They were certainly anticipating that Hank Aaron would break Ruth's record.

Aaron hit 40 homers in only 120 games to end the season with 713.  That led to another one of our favorite cards as a kid - 1974 Topps card #1 - it declared Aaron as the new all-time home run king.  I remember watching him hit #715 with a lot of my family.  I know there were enough people in the room that I was forced to sit on the floor in front of the television.  I also remember that the big color television was broken so we watched on a small set that was placed on top of the 200-pound paperweight.  Is that part of a "you might be a redneck if..."?

Unrelated by interesting - I just noticed that Hank Aaron received MVP votes every year from 1955 to 1973.  13 times he finished in the top 10 of the voting.  I've got to find out if anyone had more consecutive seasons with MVP votes.  That is longer than most players' careers.  Any ideas?

The serious card collectors knew the number 660 for another reason.  From 1973 to 1977 that represented how many cards were in the Topps set.  I didn't learn until years later that 660 was the number because 132 were on a sheet and 5 sheets x 132 equalled 660.   Since no one in my circle had ever seen or heard of an uncut sheet that meant nothing to us.

Unopened Kellogg's Sets - I Finally Got an Old One...Almost

It's not officially a Kellogg's set, but I finally got a 1970 Rold Gold Baseball card set in the original mailing envelope.  Here is the picture from the auction.

The same cards are in the 1972 Kellogg's All-Time Greats set.  They only differ by the year designations on the back.  I haven't seen a 1972 Kellogg's All-Time Greats factory envelope.  Is it different?

I do see these sets frequently on ebay.  From any set prior to 1979, I see this one the most.

As a kid I wasn't able to convince my mother to order any mail-in deals until the Sportscaster cards came out in the late 1970s.  That was only manageable because I had a paper route and I caddied.

Updates on Kellogg's Factory Sets - Anyone?

I still don't see factory sealed sets from 1970 - 1978 much on ebay.   Where else should I look?  At card shows I rarely see any kind of Kellogg's sets.

The envelope pictured below once held a factory set but now it just hold some of the panels.  I've gotten a few like this after some decided to sell and/or grade the best panels in the set.

Where does one factory sets besides 1970 Rold Gold, 1973 Kellogg's Baseball and 1979 - 1983.  The last five years are easy to find and quite affordable if you look around.

I don't even know what a factory set looks like from 1972, 1974 - 1976.  Are they just envelopes like the one above or are they the envelope inside the box like the newer sets?

Does Anyone Have a Checklist of the Autographed Cards Inserted into Kellogg's Cereal Boxes?

Kellogg's inserted autographed cards into some boxes of cereal around 2006 -  2008.  Does anyone know where I can find the complete checklist?

The cards shown below were produced by Upper Deck in 2008.  There is also a Jerry Rice in this set.

2006 or 2007 autographed cards include Hank Aaron, Troy Aikman, David Robinson and Kristi Yamaguchi.

I have no information on the complete set.  Who else was included?  Are there non-autographed cards at all?

Factory Rejects From 1978 Kellogg's Baseball Packs?

I picked up a lot of unopened Kellogg's single-card packs last week.  As I mentioned before, the 1979 and 1980 packs are just not put together to remain unopened.  The 1978s have a great wrapper as do most of the other years.

I've seen many unopened cards through the years but the 1978s that I saw last week were lacking in quality control.  Check out these Bucky Dent and Mike Schmidt cards.

Check out the right side of this card.  It looks like there is not much of a right border.  That's because the card has been cut shorter there.

To confirm that the cards are cut shorter and not just off-center I added another 1978 card below.  The left edges are aligned and on the right it shows that the Schmidt card is certainly lacking the border on the right.

I've seen off-center cards but not cards that were cut too small.  Has anyone else seen this issue?  Did these packs get pulled before being inserted into cereal boxes?  

SportsCollectorsDaily.com Reviews the 1980 Kellogg's Baseball Card Set

The website SportsCollectorsDaily.com has been reviewing the Kellogg's Baseball cards sets in chronological order recently so I knew that the 1980 set would come up for review soon.

http://www.sportscollectorsdaily.com/1980-kelloggs-set/

They always do a good job.  They don't talk about factory sets or unopened packs at all.  It's just about the individual cards.

1973 Kellogg's Blank Backs

I don't see blank back Kellogg's cards often but when I do they are usually 1973s.  I don't know the story behind that but I certainly don't pay a premium for these cards.  Usually the Hall of Famers are not for sale and if I do see them they are expensive.

Sorry, but I was too lazy to take the cards out of the holders for these folders.

Does anyone know how these entered the hobby in 1973 and not in other years?   There sure isn't a lot of Kellogg's card information available.  

Search Function Finally Added

I added a search function on the right of the screen so that one can find mentions of a player, team, year, city, state, country, etc.  I hope that helps someone.

Who Did This to Pie Traynor's Kellogg's Baseball Card?

Any why?  I've seen people write or type their names on the back, write a new team name on there or scribble a new position on a card.  This one I haven't seen.  Does anyone know what was used to do that?  It is well done too.

As a kid in the 1970s I assumed Traynor was one of the best players even since Kellogg's, Rold Gold and Topps told me that.  Now I hear that he's one of the worst players in the Hall of Fame.  Which is it?

Players on Kellogg's Baseball Cards Who Were Born in Arkansas

Seven players born in Arkansas made it onto a Kellogg's baseball card.

Brooks Robinson and Don Kessinger stayed Arkansas for high school.

Willie Davis, Rick Monday and Ellis Valentine went to high school in Los Angeles.

Lou Brock went to high school in Louisiana.

Alex Johnson wen to high school in Detroit.

Kessinger and Monday were teammates in Chicago for a few years.  Too bad Brock wasn't with them.  

Brock and Brooks Robinson are both in the Hall of Fame.

I'd Forgotten About the First Free Agent and His Kellogg's Baseball Card

I've read the Curt Flood story many times and watched the MLB Network's video about how his court case changed baseball.   Then it is common knowledge that Andy Messersmith and Dave McNally became the first free agents.

This story about Catfish Hunter slipped my mind - Hunter Declared a Free Agent in 1974!  That happened on this day in 1974 and I probably read about it the next day before doing my paper route.
More about the paper route at the end of this post.

The A's didn't properly honor his contract so he was granted free agency.  As the story above mentions, he cashed in with the Yankees.

Kellogg's started producing his 1975 cards with the A's logo on the back.  Later they switched it to the Yankees logo.

Most checklists mention that the team logo on the back is the difference on the card.  Sure, that will help one find a variation, but that's not all.  The sketch of Hunter has the NY cap and the entire paragraph has been re-worded to fit the Yankee deal into it.

Was the term "free agent" ever used in this context on a baseball card before this one?   Time to do research.  Merriam-Webster found the first use of the term "free agent" in 1955.

Based on the details in the story about Hunter and the last day of hunting season, Kellogg's certainly got his hobbies correct.

I can't pass up the great story of that Christmas on the paper route.  I was tall for my age and my younger brother wasn't.  We split the payment collection by blocks.  One of the elder customers on my block only knew me.  When it came to a Christmas gift I think that I got a calculator which was fine.  That wasn't what made the walk home so much fun - his gift did that.  I got to bring my brother, who was about to turn 10, a coloring book and markers.  40+ years later and he still gets kidded about that.

Kellogg's Cards of Players Born in Mississippi

There have only been five players born in Mississippi to get onto a Kellogg's card.  They seem to be mostly similar ages so I'm going to check and see if they crossed paths at some point before the big leagues.

George Scott was born in 1944.  He attended high school in Mississippi.

Bill Melton was born in 1945.  He attended high school in California.

Frank White was born in 1950.  He grew up in Kansas City, MO near the site where the stadium was located - the team was the K.C. Athletics.  His high school isn't listed on baseball-reference.com because he didn't play baseball in high school.

Dave Parker was born in 1951.  He attended high school in Ohio.

Chet Lemon was born in 1955.  He attended high school in California.

Three of them (White, Parker, Lemon) appeared in the 1981 set.

Parker and White made their debuts in 1973 one month apart.  Lemon and White played their last game in the same week of 1990.

1970 Kellogg's Baseball Card Backs #28 - #30

Here are three more card backs.  I read them for the first time when I do the post so I have no idea what to expect.

#30 Tim Cullen


It isn't common to see a guy go from one team (Washington) then to Chicago and back to the first team.  Remember, this is before free agency.

IT'S A FACT - both of Cullen's teams were in that game.  Each team had three guys caught stealing and the White Sox had one picked off.  Cullen pinch hit and got a walk.  Hansen was 3-for-8 with 2 RBIs.

Not on the card - in both trades (Feb. 1968 and Aug. 1968) Ron Hansen was part of the deal for Cullen.

#29 Willie Stargell

He's listed as 210 pounds and baseball-reference.com goes with 188.  

Another listing that mentions bad records - most consecutive strikeouts in two games.  

Not on the card - he ended up playing almost 40% of his career games at first base.

#28 Mateo Alou

He's M. Alou on the front because his brothers are in the majors.  That's better than being Re. Jackson or Ro. Jackson in a later set.  He's more commonly known as Matty.

Hobby - skin diving.  Is that big in his birthplace, the Dominican Republic?

Not on the card - Matty played 1,667 games while Felipe was in  2,082 and Jesus got his way into 1,380 games. That's 5,129 games.  That doesn't even could son/nephew Moises who played in 1,942 games.  Can any brothers top that amount?

Questions About 1979 - 1980 Unopened Kellogg's Baseball Cards

All of the 1979 and 1980 unopened Kellogg's baseball cards that I found are in horrible shape.  The packs are faded and they barely remain sealed.  The 1978 seal is great as it is more than just glued, but the 1979 and 1980 cards must have been sealed with some cheap glue.  I hope it wasn't George Constanza's fault.

Help!  I might give up on ordering these cards in the future.  Does anyone have nice, clean 1979 or 1980 Kellogg's cards in their individual wrappers?  Are the wrappers firmly sealed?

1970 Kellogg's Baseball Card Backs #31 - #33

Here are the next three cards.  Let's see if there are any more great hobbies listed.

#33 Dick Allen

Another trade mentioned on the back of the card.  Notice that on the front they still show him dressed in a Phillies uniform.  Topps would have airbrushed him into a Cardinals uniform.

The card mentions two brothers in professional baseball.

Not on the card - both of his brothers made it to the big leagues.  Ron played seven games in 1972.   Hank and Dick Allen were both on the 1972 White Sox while Ron played for the Cardinals.

#32 Reggie Jackson

Reggie's hobby was already cars after just two full seasons.  That's still a big thing for him today.

The text mentions his homers and strikeouts.  He tied the single-game record with five strikeouts and he set the record for most strikeouts in consecutive games with seven.

Not on the card - Reggie said "I was reminded that when we lose and I strike out, a billion people in China don't care.  He also said "fans don't boo nobodies".

#21 Randy Hundley


He set records for most games as a rookie catcher as well as the most games in a season for a catcher.

Not on the card - The 1960s Cubs were known for not resting their players.  From 1961 - 1971 Billie Williams and Ron Santo played more games than any MLB player.

1970 Kellogg's Baseball Card Backs #34 - #36

Here are three more card backs.  As you can see I have no issue with cards that are "used".

#34 Jim Fregosi

Jim Fregosi is listed as having been on Los Angeles and California.  As a young kid I didn't realize that those were the same teams.  I knew him as a 1970s player.  I was surprised to see on baseball-reference.com that he had MVP votes every year from 1963 - 1970.  He had none from 1971 to 1978 and he never played more than 107 games in any of those seasons.

To the card back - nothing exciting on there.  He was a five-time all-star in the 1960s.  

Not on the card - he was also an all-star in 1970. 

#34 Ray Culp

I don't remember Ray Culp much as a player since he retired in 1973.  Forget about that.  I just found out that we might have a winner in the Hobby category.  He actually admitted to someone that his hobby is Racing Pigeons.  I will ignore his all-star appearances in both leagues and focus on that.

Not on the card - it looks like pigeon racing had a long history in the Culp family.  He might still be involved today but I didn't find anything.  I did find lots of details on the racing and selling of these birds.

#34 Tim McCarver

 Tim McCarver listed Bridge as a hobby.  I never learned to play that card game.  I like that is October, 1969 trade is listed on this 1970 card.

Not on the card - they usually like to mention all-star game appearances and McCarver played in two of those games.  His Cardinal teams won two of those three World Series titles.

1991 Kellogg's Baseball Cards in a Corn Flakes Commercial

I was looking for a Sportscaster card commercial on YouTube and I ran into this 1991 commercial for Kellogg's baseball cards.  There isn't a lot of time in the ad spent on the cards but I figured it was worth keeping the link around.

1991 Kellogg's Corn Flakes Commercial

Here is a link to a previous post about the 1970 Kellogg's football cards and a commercial.

1970 Kellogg's Football Card Commercial

Here is a Different Kellogg's Baseball Card Panel

This panel must come from a sheet like the one I showed a few days ago.  This one differs because the back is blank.  Does anyone know where these originated?

Why do I ask so many questions to the readers?  There isn't much information online about Kellogg's cards.  

I can say that this certainly was cut from the bigger sheet.  Someone probably decided to get Jackson and Carew who were shown below the bottom row shown here.  

What's Up With These 1981 Kellogg's Baseball Card Panels?

I see these panels frequently on ebay.  They are usually two-card or four-card panels.  I purchased one a few years ago.

There seems to be no perforation between the cards, so it is not part of an opened factory set.  Does anyone know how these came about?

What Else Did I Collect in the 1970s?

Besides the Kellogg's cards I chased Topps cards, Sportscaster cards, Wacky Packages and Hostess cards.  I don't have any cards with a Choc-o-diles product.  Why?  I never heard of that product or saw it around when I was a kid.

As a kid I usually kept the three-card panel together but lots of my cards were from Twinkies individual packs so I cut them - poorly.

Now as a collector I am interested in getting the complete boxes like these.  They are great display items.  

Do I Have Too Many Kellogg's Baseball Cards? Look What I Found!

I was spending a little time trying to organize cards that I have purchased since the National this summer.  They'd just been sitting in a box in my room.  To do that I needed to set up a table in my room again since it was used for something else lately.

I had to move a few miscellaneous posters to get the table in place.  I decided to check out some of the posters and I found this:

A nice 1983 uncut sheet that I had forgotten about.  I must have purchased this before starting the blog or I certainly would have written about it.  I can't remember how I got it or how much it cost.

This sheet contains 30 of the 60 cards.  Now I need to find the matching sheet.

Japanese Card Sets - Front and Back

I know that I sent a link that shows these cards, but here are pictures of the fronts and backs in case you see them available.  I have yet to get any of the Japanese Kellogg's baseball cards.  I will add those images when I can do so.

I've also added this so that I can better recognize these cards that I rarely see.  I've now got 17 different cards from these sets.

2007 Set

This set has a dark border on the front and the back.  They were made by Upper Deck and it looks like an Upper Deck card.

2008 Set

Topps produced these cards.  They look just like an insert I got a few years ago.

2010 Set

Back to Upper Deck in 2010.  The cards differ from 2007 since they have a light border.

If someone has the 2009 images please send something along so that I can add it to this page.