This is a Great Book for Storing Cards

I really like this format - four cards per page.  I don't yet own the basketball book, but it looks to be the same size as this one.

The set doesn't have 100% star power, but it isn't bad.  Patrick Roy as card #1 is a great place to start.
I will check out who is in and who is out in the days ahead.

Can you tell that I am lazy today.  Working all day and coaching two sports in two different locations made it a rough day.  Tomorrow should be easier.

1976 Kellogg's Card Backs - Card Numbers 04 - 06

Here are the next three cards from the 1976 Kellogg's baseball card set.  This is one of my favorite sets, but it is also one that looks bad if the white border is faded.

04 - Randy Jones

I'm focusing on the card backs, but the R. Jones on the front stands out since most players just have their last name.  All of us kids knew who the card depicted without the "R.".  There were three other active players named Jones in 1975 - Cleon, Robert (Bob) and Odell.  That didn't matter to us.

Throws right and bats left - I love that.

When he as 8-22 in 1974 the Padres scored two or less runs in 17 of his 40 starts.  Only R. Jones and T. Seaver won 20 games in 1975.

Not on the card - R. Jones finished second to T. Seaver in the C. Young voting.  R. Jones won the C. Young in 1976.  In both years he finished 10th in the MVP voting.

05 - Jim Hunter

Most of the guys listed sports as their hobby.  Hunter was a big hunter/fisher.  That was part of an earlier story about his free agency.

The word free agency isn't mentioned on this card but it does say "His historic, money-making transfer from Oakland".  He had 30 complete games while winning 23 times.

Not on the card - I would have appreciated him more if he played in the NL.  While I went to a lot of White Sox games, I don't think I ever saw the Yankees as a kid.  Why?  We usually went to games when the tickets were given to us, when there was a give-away at Comiskey or when we had "straight-A" tickets from Chicago Public Schools.

Not on the card - They were called "straight-A" tickets but they also gave them out for perfect attendance.  It helped having a bunch of sisters for the "A's" and parents who wouldn't let me stay home - ever!

06 - Clay Carroll

Carroll should be hanging out with Catfish Hunter in the off-season - hunting and fishing were also listed as his hobbies.

Did they always list the position as Relief Pitcher for these guys?  I've got to check up on that.

His 37 saves are an NL record.

Not on the card - the White Sox logo is on the card.  A variation exists with the Reds logo.

1976 Kellogg's Card Backs - Card Numbers 01 - 03

I decided to start at the beginning this time instead of the end of the set.  Why?  No reason.

Since I found lots of these cards in cereal boxes I really like these ones.

I like the card backs, especially the card numbers which are must easier to read than in some years.  It's great that there is a picture on the back too.

01 - Steve Hargan

There is plenty of discussion about how these two cards ended up leading off the set.  It is also wondered why they weren't distributed in cereal boxes.  I'll stay away from that now and just talk about the card backs.  

Not on the card - After eight seasons in the majors Hargan ended up in the minor leagues.  Topps didn't even include him in their 1973 and 1974 sets.  He worked his way back up to the big leagues, Topps cards and a Kellogg's card.  On top of that he's card number one!

02 - Claudell Washington

Washington ran track in high school instead of playing baseball.  He needed less than two minor league seasons to get to majors.  

Not on the card - Wikipedia mentioned that he hit the foul ball that Ferris Beuller caught on his day off at Wrigley Field.  I check a video and then the box score online to confirm this.  It all checks out.  The video I saw was reversed since Harry Caray mentioned Lee Smith was pitching and the video showed him throwing left-handed and Washington batting right-handed. 

Not on the card - he was an all-star at age 20.

03 - Don Gullett

He went 15-4 in only 22 starts in 1975.  He missed two months due to a broken thumb suffered by a line drive.  He also missed time in 1970 with hepatitis.

Not on the card - His career record of 109-50 gives him the seventh highest career winning percentage.

Also not on the card - even after missing two months, he finished fifth in the 1975 Cy Young voting.

Update - I went to another card show today since last week was uneventful and starting next week I will be too busy coaching to go to shows.  I bought five Kellogg's cards - a Gullett, a Hargan and two Washingtons.  That was a nice surprise.

Drafted by the Red Sox 50 Years Ago

On this day in 1967 Carlton Fisk was drafted by the Red Sox.  He was the fourth pick in the first round.  Ken Singleton was drafted just before Fisk.

The story of the number one pick in the secondary draft is more interesting.  Pete Varney was drafted first by the Astros but he didn't sign.  Varney was the number one pick in 1971 by the White Sox and did sign.  Here is Varney's draft history from baseball-reference.com:

• August 24, 1966: Drafted by the Kansas City Athletics in the 1st round (1st pick) of the 1966 amateur draft (August Legion), but did not sign.
• January 28, 1967: Drafted by the Houston Astros in the 1st round (1st pick) of the 1967 amateur draft (January Secondary), but did not sign.
• June 6, 1967: Drafted by the Houston Astros in the 3rd round of the 1967 amateur draft (June Secondary), but did not sign.
• June 5, 1969: Drafted by the Washington Senators in the 2nd round of the 1969 amateur draft (June Secondary), but did not sign.
• June 4, 1970: Drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the 2nd round of the 1970 amateur draft (June Secondary), but did not sign.
• January 13, 1971: Drafted by the Atlanta Braves in the 1st round (20th pick) of the 1971 amateur draft (January Secondary), but did not sign.
• June 8, 1971: Drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the 1st round (1st pick) of the 1971 amateur draft (June Secondary).

He ended up playing 69 games from 1973 - 1976.  His draft career (1966 - 1971) lasted longer than his major league career (1973 - 1976).

Why did he choose to not sign all of these times?  Maybe because he was attending Harvard and playing football and baseball there?  He went on to coach baseball at Brandeis for 34 years, retiring recently.

The Cubs picked Alec Distaso with the first pick which didn't help those 1970s teams that I grew up watching.  He played two games for the 1969 Cubs and his career ended a year later due to elbow injuries.  Wikipedia mentions that he was a career police officer and he passed away a few years ago.

Here are the players drafted in that first round who also got into a Kellogg's set.

#03 Ken Singleton (Mets)

#04 Carlton Fisk

#17 Von Joshua

No one from subsequent rounds ever appeared on a Kellogg's card.  This January draft was not as large as the June draft.

Is Kellogg's a Major Card Set?

I really like the story found in the link below.  It includes all of my favorite things - baseball, baseball cards, Kellogg's, data and analysis.

http://blog.philbirnbaum.com/2013/06/hitters-who-never-appeared-on-baseball.html

The author is tracking down players with the most career at-bats without getting onto a baseball card. Think about who that might be before you read the article.

Hint - it's not Pete Rose.

Does This Look Better Than a Sealed Kellogg's Baseball Card Factory Set?

I've gotten a few of the baseball factory sets that Kellogg's produced.  I was never fortunate enough to order one myself.

Whether looking at a sealed box or the plain wrapper that is inside, neither makes a great display item to a non-collector.  The 1991 Kellogg's hockey set sure took a different approach with their mail-in set.

This album is great.  It certainly would have been amazing to have seen Kellogg's try this with their baseball and football card sets.  Has anyone made anything like this for their sets?

Not only did Kellogg's give their hockey fans this treat, but the album had enough room for many more cards than the 24 included in the set.

Kellogg's also included a letter apologizing for taking so long to get the cards to this consumer.

The bottom half of the letter even states the same thing in French.  That's the way things go in Canada.

More about these cards in the future.

Did Canadians Get a Better Deal?

From 1970 to 1983 if Kellogg's put a card in a cereal box it was always one card by itself.  For some of the newer stuff I'm not so sure.  After getting today's cards I'm not so sure.  

In this 1991 set, Kellogg's cereal lovers in Canada received two cards in these packs.  Notice that the Sakic is the back of the seal and the Olczyk is on the front.  

Why do they get two cards when I only got one with each box of Sugar Frosted Flakes (If you are younger, I think you only know them as Frosted Flakes)?  Is the exchange rate two hockey cards = 1 baseball card.  

NAFTA didn't come into play until 1994 - does that matter?  Just kidding, please don't reply with a summary of NAFTA and why it does or doesn't apply to this situation unless you can relate it to Kellogg's cereal.  If you haven't heard of NAFTA maybe it's time to start have a sugarless cereal and do some reading.

What do these two cards have in common?

Some Nice Reading From 1973 - And a Huge Disappointment

I was reading about a 1973 National Card Show held in Chicago.  I was enjoying the story until it mentioned that the show was held at a hotel in Burbank, IL.  Why did that ruin the rest of the story for me?

I was really into baseball cards already by 1973 and I would have loved to go to an event like this.  I also rode my bike everywhere in those days.  Why did that matter?  Well, I lived less than two blocks from Burbank, IL and since it's not a big place, this hotel had to be within three miles of my house.  Without looking up the hotel, I am most certain that it was within two miles of my house.

I'm still disappointed that I didn't know more about this.  Unfortunately, the older kids in the neighborhood didn't start reading Sports Collectors Digest until about 1974 or 1975.

Here is a part Gar Miller's 1973 book about baseball cards that I read about on a Net54baseball.com forum.

  
It might take a while to stop thinking about what I missed, especially the next time I'm in the old neighborhood.

1991-92 Kellogg's Hockey Cards - Produced by Score

I picked up some of the 1991-92 Kellogg's hockey cards a while back.  I recently purchased an entire set with the binder that was provided.  What follows is the text that Beckett.com uses to describe this set.


This 24-card standard-size set was produced by Score as a promotion for Kellogg's Canada. Two-card foil packs were inserted in specially marked 675-gram Kellogg's Corn Flakes cereals. The side panel of the cereal boxes presented a mail-in offer for the complete set and a card binder for 5.99 plus three proof of purchase tokens (one token featured per side panel). Card fronts have player action photos enclosed in a small red border, player's name in white reverse-out lettering, and team logo in bottom portion of the purple border. Card backs, also in purple, red, and white, carry the card number, Kellogg's Limited Edition Collector's Set logo, biography, statistics, and player profile in English and French.

I don't collect hockey cards much, so I don't recognize this card.  It does look different than his regular card from the Score set of that year.  I hope that all of the 24 Kellogg's cards are unique.  

Kenner did that a few times with Starting Lineup cards where the only difference was the Starting Lineup logo on the card.  Once they were so lazy that they didn't even change the card numbers on the back.   

Finally Got to a Card Show Today

It was nice to get to a card show today.  Sad news that the long-time promotor passed away since the last show occurred there.  He was quite a nice guy.  I had forgotten that he was a teacher for 38 years in this area.

I spent 15 minutes at the show because I didn't see a lot that I wanted to look at today.  There were plenty of old cards, new cards, wax boxes and fancy new insert cards.  I just didn't find much to look at in the way of Kellogg's cards, hostess boxes, Sportscaster cards and odd things that I like to check out.

I was surprised to see a Stop-n-Go football card set from 1980.  I also saw a few 1992 All-Star sets. One dealer had a great number of 1970 Kellogg's cards in really nice condition.  I didn't buy any because the prices took into account how nice they looked.

It's nice to get to a show, especially when it is only 10 minutes out of my way.  Maybe I can find another one soon.  There seem to be only three consistent shows in the Chicago area now and I've found that this is the only one I like attending.

Kellogg's Card Set - Not From Cereal

How does this Lenny Wilkens fit into Kellogg's sets?  In 2007 Kellogg's produced this card and used it to promote a few of their products.

The artist, James Florentino, is listed on the back of the card.  His website mentions that he created seven cards for this promotion.  I haven't seen a checklist but by looking around it seems that the set includes Wikens, Troy Aikman, David Robinson, Kyle Busch, Kristi Yamaguchi, Hank Aaron and Peter Jacobsen.

This was a mail-in offer.  I've seen six different cards available online.  I've not see a Peter Jacobsen card.  Too bad, because that's the one that I want most.

Lots of work on the back.

The certificate of authenticity is included separately.  Is that useful? 

January 20th History

"It was 20 years ago today....." as the Beatles would say.   Curt Flood passed away on this day in 1997 at the age of 59.

I've written before about Flood's impact on the game, especially relating to free agency and player salary scales.  If you don't know much about this history check it out online.   I'm off to coach my second sport of the day.  More tomorrow.

SportsCollectorsDaily.com - 1983 Kellogg's Baseball Cards - Will They Cover Other Sets?

The latest story on sportscollectorsdaily.com discusses the 1983 Kellogg's baseball card set.  Here it is:

http://www.sportscollectorsdaily.com/1983-kelloggs-set-final-vintage-issue/

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The cards were back in cereal boxes after being mail-in only in 1981 and 1982.  One would think that the 1983s would be the easiest ones to find in unopened packs since they are the most recent.  No, I never see them available, but factory sets are easy to find at a good price.

I want the individual, unopened packs.  Where are they?

1970 Kellogg's Baseball vs. 1971 Kellogg's Baseball - PSA Numbers

Over 29,000 1970 Kellogg's baseball cards have been graded by PSA.  When it comes to 1971 that number is much lower - only 11,265.

In the 1971 set only 1,011 (9.0%) of the cards have been graded as 10s and 8,967 (79.6%) have been graded as 8 or higher by PSA.  The 1970 set currently contains 14.5% of the graded cards as 10s and 93.4% graded 8 or better by PSA.

Not only are there far fewer 1971 graded, they are less likely to be 10s.  The numbers for 1971s certainly must be a lot less than 1970 since one would be more inclined to grade the 1971s since they are much more valuable.  Most know that since Kellogg's didn't offer factory sets via mail-in in 1971 the cards are less plentiful.

I should check the numbers for the other grading services.  Do they list things like the proof card of Glenn Beckert?

For 1971s since there are only 1,011 cards graded as 10s, that is roughly 13.5 copies of each of the 75 cards.

Only eight 1971 Kellogg's baseball cards have at least 20 copies graded as 10s.  They are Roberto Clemente (25), Willie McCovey (21), Sam McDowell (25), Mike Epstein (23), Pete Rose (22), Lou Brock (21), Tommy Harper (20) and Amos Otis (21).

A few cards from 1971 hardly have any grades of 10.  Card #1 of Wayne Simpson has only two grades of 10, while Manny Sanguillen and Chris Short has six grades of 10.  In 1970 only two cards had less than 20 PSA 10 copies.  

SportsCollectorsDaily.com Reviews Another Kellogg's Baseball Card Set

Today sportscollectorsdaily.com reviewed the 1982 Kellogg's baseball card set today.  Check it out.

http://www.sportscollectorsdaily.com/1982-kellogg-baseball-card-set/

Another year where the cards are only available via a mail-in offer.  Yuck!  I want my unopened packs.  I might decide to make some for my favorite cards from these years.

After they review the 1983 set it would be nice if they continue and check out the Kellogg's issues that followed.

Has Anyone Read This Book?

I was back on SportsCollectorsDaily.com to see if they had any other articles on Kellogg's cards.  I found an article that discusses a 2016 book by Brian Powell.  It looks to be interesting.

Never Cheaper By the Dozen by Brian Powell


I checked ebay and Amazon to see if I could buy a cheap copy of this book.  Nothing.

Has anyone read this book?  If so, did it shed any new light on the 1971 Kellogg's cards or did it tell the same story that has everyone chasing that year of 3-D cards even if they don't collect Kellogg's cards?

Most of the cards mentioned are before my time so the stories might not be as memorable.

1970 Kellogg's Football Card Backs

The Kellogg's football card backs had many different styles depending on what positions were played and what statistics were available.  I plan to look at each card in detail soon.  In the meantime, here are a few of the options used on the backs.

Since Calvin Hill was a running back he has statistics for running and receiving.

Linebacker Harry Jacobs has only interception statistics.  Tackles and sacks weren't recorded.  Sacks became an official statistic in 1982.

Hall of Famer Merlin Olsen gets nothing for statistics.  He had an interception for a touchdown in 1962.

Paul Warfield was a wide receiver but his looks different than Calvin Hill's.  I remember him running reverses but they don't bother listing his rushing statistics since he only had done that four times before 1970.

Don't Try This At Home With Your Kellogg's Baseball Cards

I've opened ten packs of 1970 Kellogg's baseball cards in the last few years.  They still have great color and look as new as they did in 1970.  Unfortunately some of the packs were a bit curled when I purchased them.

This doesn't look too curved.

So what mistake did I make?  I put the cards in top loaders.  Of the seven packs that I opened I now have a few cards that have cracked.

 Lots of questions come to mind.  To describe the level of curvature I still need to come up with a scale.  More on that later.  These weren't curved much but it was noticeable.   Now I feel the need to check all of my cards in top loaders to take cards out that are not flat.  I did buy lots with some curvature so this could take a while.

Were these cards going to crack anyway or did I cause this?

Should I put them in nine-pocket pages and store them standing up like I do lots of my Kellogg's cards?

Should I stop collecting Kellogg's cards?   Nah.

 Like the Harrelson, this Laboy was the first card in the pack.  The top left corner was damaged before I opened this pack.  Are top cards more susceptible to crack after opening?

The big questions relate to the PSA numbers that I've been discussing this week.  I've seen many comments online and ebay sales with Kellogg's cards that have been graded but are now cracked.  How does that impact the numbers that PSA releases?  No one is going back to them to get those cards regraded (down-graded I'm sure).

I've also been told that PSA will grade cards that are curved.  Well, that make me fearful of buying any graded Kellogg's card except 1973s since I wouldn't know if the card had a curl to it when it was slabbed by PSA.  If the cards that I place in a top loader, which still allows the card to curl a bit, can crack then a slabbed card would seem to be more likely to crack.

PSA Comparison 1970 Kellogg's Baseball vs. Football

There have been 29,040 1970 Kellogg's baseball cards graded.  With 75 cards in the that is an average of 387 submissions per card.  As far as cards graded as 10s, that is about 56 per player on average.

For 1970 Kellogg's football cards there have been 17,383 cards graded.  With 60 cards in the set that is an average of almost 290 submissions per card.  As far as cards graded as 10s, that is over 53 per player on average.

I was surprised to see how many of the 1970 Kellogg's football cards have been graded relative to the baseball ones.  There is also a similar disparity in the number of PSA 10 cards in the football set.  There are a bunch of cards with 25 or less 10s - Butkus (20), M. Garrett (12), C. Garrett (20), Alworth (20), Bell (15), Nobis (22) and Meador (24).  I'd like to see where location on a sheet impacts the grades.

1970 Kellogg's Baseball PSA Part Two

Here are a few more things that I found with the 1970 Kellogg's baseball card set.

Why is there such an interest in Carlos May's card?  Only 18 of them have been graded as 10s.  That's 8 percent of the cards submitted (225).

 I haven't submitted any cards to PSA but I do own a few from different purchases.  The May above isn't one of them.

There are actually two cards that have less 10s than May.  One is the Bob Gibson error (IP is blank) which has only two 10s.  The other is Rick Reichardt whose card has only been graded as a 10 16 times (8.4% of 190 submissions).

Only two other cards in the set have a lower percentage of 10s than May and Reichardt.  Roberto Clemente and Pete Rose fall into this category because their cards are worth grading even if they might not be possible 10s.

Lots of differences in the brightness of colors on cards 1 - 2 - 3 in the 1970 Set.

Jimmy Wynn (26.2%) and Mickey Lolich (27.9%) are the only cards that graded as a 10 more than 25% of the time.  Lolich remains the leader in the PSA 10 category with 110 so far.