Does Anyone Buy From the Big e-bay Sellers?

Does anyone buy Kellogg's from the large ebay seller sites?  I've seen lots of items ending with really high values and Buy It Now items that are quite high.

Is it worth my time?  A few years ago I bought a few large Kellogg's lots from one of these sellers and it worked out well, but I haven't done that since.

New Kellogg's Article online

Check this out at the thenationalpastimemuseum.com.

TheNationalPastimeMusuem.com Article About Kellogg's Cards

It's a nice look at some things that happened with Kellogg's cards.  It also mentions some odd things about players featured on these cards.

Is There a Kellogg's Expert Somewhere?

I don't pretend to know everything about Kellogg's cards.  I would love to find someone who does.  I started this blog to put information in a central location primarily for my own use.

Once my learning about these cards slows I am planning to create an ibook on the topic.  Does anyone see that being a worthwhile effort? 

1972 Kellogg's All-Time Greats Unopened Packs / Factory Sets?

I've got the 1970 Rold Gold factory set and I think I have all of the individual packs except one of the Babe Ruths.  When I sorted through them this week I was surprised to see that I have no unopened cards from the 1972 Kellogg's All-Time Greats set.

Does anyone have a factory set from 1972?  Does anyone have an unopened pack?  Please send along a photo so that I can post it here.  I'd like to see if the 1972 pack looks different than the 1970 pack.

Are there any cards from 1972 in individual packs that have the 1972 date or did they only change the date for the 1972 mail-in offers?

To Open or Not to Open?

I'm getting close to an extra set of 1972 Kellogg's cards.  I got lucky at a card show with this lot so now I want to finish the set.  The set is in really nice condition, something that I usually don't care much about.  Since 52 cards are nice, I might as well get a Mays and a Torre that match - nice, bright, white borders that are sharp on these flat cards.

Mays won't be cheap of course so I will probably take my time getting that one, but Torre should be easy to obtain.  I could probably go online now and get one for a few bucks. 

I have two unopened packs with Torre inside.  If either pack were discolored or flawed in any way I would just open it.  Of course that isn't the case with these nice packs.  Should I open one and risk that the card might not be as nice as the other 52?

If you have opened a pack how has that worked out? 

Questions For Collectors of Unopened Packs

I've got a few days off so I've been trying to sort my unopened packs and put them in Card Saver IVs.  I needed to order more of these holders; I should have done that last week so that I could use my time effectively this week, but I didn't plan to spend time on these cards this week. 

Here are my questions regarding the unopened packs. 

1.  I've seen some, not many, that are curled like regular cards.  Have any of you seen lots of them that are curled in the envelope?

2.  What do you think of condition?  I have packs that have tears, stains, writing, and total discoloration. 

3.  Would you play less for packs where the envelope wasn't perfect? 

4.  Would you even collect packs with flaws?

5.  Which years do you find the most flawed unopened packs/envelopes?

Finally Updated the Sidebar - 1972 Kellogg's Unopened Needed

I'm still down one Macbook.  On a positive side, I've gotten my 1972 Kellogg's unopened needs down to 10 cards.  I think that I mentioned this before, but I finally got around to updating my blog list.

No commons in this group.  I hope I can get at least a few of them before the National next year. 

I am hoping to get going on the unopened 1977 set as well.  I've picked up some recently and I might have around 40 different from the 57-card set.  These should be a lot easier to obtain, especially since the set has very few big stars.  I will try to put a list on the blog.

Two Weeks Goes By Fast

I've been so busy and without my Macbook that I didn't even realize that I hadn't posted in a while. 

Today I went to a card show in Rosemont, IL.  I almost went to one in Ohio yesterday, but the timing didn't work out while I was in town. 

I picked up a nice 1972 Kellogg's Clemente, a 1974 Gibson and a bunch of 1971 cards in VG-EX(?) condition.  I don't have a great skill at grading cards, but these were not cracked, had decent corner and decent, but not great colors.  Alas, no new variations but at least I got two upgrades.

Over Thanksgiving I will try to combine two broken Macbooks into a functional one while I await a new one from work.

Back to the show.  The highlight was talking to a dealer from Wisconsin who was more collector than dealer.  He had lots of Kellogg's cards including a 1970 Unopened football set and a large stack of unopened Kellogg's baseball cards from 1970 and 1975.  He has been mentioned in a few articles on Kellogg's cards a dozen years ago.  I will try to track them down and add those articles here.   

A Rough Day with My Macbook

The Macbook is school-issued, so I had them check it out today.  No luck fixing it.  I was able to get the data from the hard drive, but the Macbook is done.  I will need to check to see if they can get me another one because I certainly can't afford something that nice.

Stay tuned. 

1975 Kellogg's Baseball Card Backs #34 - 36

Coaching has kept me busy but today is my first day of the off-season.  I'm ready to read more Kellogg's card backs to see what they've got to add.  I've read all of these as a kid, but I haven't read them in years. 

Back for a few more 1975 Kellogg's baseball card backs.  I started this a while back.


#36 - Mike Marshall


For younger readers, this is Mike Marshall the pitcher.  The Dodgers also had a slugger named Mike Marshall beginning in 1981.  Their careers overlapped by about four weeks.  The pitcher was a Met at this point.  In the old two-division format, teams only played division foes in the last month, so these two didn't face each other. 

Enough of that, let's see what the card mentioned.

He won the 1974 Cy Young Award, setting records for most games and innings for a relief pitcher.  He was originally a shortstop and he spent four minor league seasons at that position.  I didn't know that.

He is seeking his doctorate and he teaches at Michigan State in the off-season.  Not surprisingly, his hobby is chess.

Not on the card - he got that Ph.D. in kinesiology from Michigan State. 


#35 - Ralph Garr


He won two minor league batting titles.  He won the 1974 NL batting title. 

Not on the card - He hit .306 during his 13-year career.

He attending Grambling College and the card mentions that he's "One of the few Grambling College athletes not to the enter the National Football League.

Not on the card - that is certainly written poorly.  Since I'm not much of a writer, I can usually spot stuff like this. 

His nickname - The Road Runner - is one of my favorites.

Not on the card - when he was on the White Sox they'd always play the cartoon sound from the Bugs Bunny Show - meep-meep. 


#34 - Lou Piniella

His picture on the back shows his grumpy, managerial face.  

A great trade brought Lou to the Yankees in 1974.  He hit over .300, had 70 RBIs and was strong in the outfield.

He was drafted by the Pilots in the Expansion Draft.  The card doesn't show him playing for them.

He was traded by the Pilots to the Royals just before the Pilots played their first game in 1969.  He was the 1969 Rookie of the Year for the Royals.  

Here's something you won't see on the backs of other cards - "He currently operates a motorcycle shop in Kansas."

Kellogg's Venezuelan Cards - MLB Players - #5 - Last One

Here's the remainder of the set and where they ended up.  I will be glad to be done trying to confirm birthdays. 

A few days ago I saw a set for sale on ebay. 


37 - Omar Malave / Carlos Moreno
Malave - played 25 seasons; never in the majors
Moreno - something doesn't match on the card with signing date and date-of-birth.  I think he played in the minors for four seasons.

38 - Kelvin Escobar / David Davalillo
Escobar -  12 years in MLB; 101-91 record.  Baseball-reference calls him "Kelvim". So does everyone else.
Davalilo - five seasons in the minors

39 - Jackson Melian / Ronald Caridad
Melian - 20 seasons, none in MLB
Caridad - eight seasons in the minors

40 - Pedro Castellano / Daniel Agli
Castellano - 51 games with Colorado over three years; birthday is a day different from baseball-reference.com.
Agli - eight seasons in the Italian League

41 - Edwin Hurtado /  Igor Oropeza
Hurtado - 8-9 record in three MLB seasons;  birth year is off by six years
Oropeza - four seasons in the minors

42 - Tomas Perez / Jairo Ramos
Perez - .240 average over 12 MLB seasons
Ramos - played 16 seasons in the minors and other leagues over 25 years

43 - Oswaldo Olivares / Cesar Vargas
Olivares - 16 minor league seasons
Vargas - not found on baseball-reference.com

44 - Carlos Lopez / Temis Liendo
Lopez - two minor league seasons
Liendo - one year in the minors