A New Twist on My 1971 Baseball Variations?

I got a few new variations today and a few upgrades.  When I buy a cheap lot online I don't even look to see if I need the variations until they arrive.  This was the case with the six 1971s that were delivered today.

The Alex Johnson shown below on the left was not an upgrade, but it was a variation that I needed. 

The new version is in horrible condition.  That's okay by me.  I didn't notice anything else about it until I added it to the other cards in my not-yet-completed master set.  The damaged one doesn't have "1970 Xograph" on the back - it just has "Xograph".  It also has the CA logo instead of the Angels logo with the outline of the state of California.  

The picture above is not a mistake.  I flipped both cards over (horizontally so that the front is still properly facing up) and found that the one on the left is printed with the picture on the bottom left while the other one has the picture on the top right.  I have at least 300 damaged 1971s and all of them show the picture on the top right. 

Does anyone else have any examples like this? 

If you've been reading my blog, I've got nothing better to write about than to look at stuff like this.  If there are variations of everyone like this, then I will never finish this master set and I will wish that I never noticed this oddity. 

More 3-D Cards in the 1968 Topps 3-D Style

I haven't been paying attention to new releases so I'm probably way behind most of you on this.  I normally would try to get these cards, but it might take a while since they seem to be a lot less plentiful than recent inserts in the 1968 Topps 3-D style.


Here is the 2017 Topps Heritage checklist -

683D-AR Anthony Rizzo, Chicago Cubs
683D-BH Bryce Harper, Washington Nationals
683D-BP Buster Posey, San Francisco Giants
683D-CC Carlos Correa, Houston Astros
683D-CK Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers
683D-CS Corey Seager, Los Angeles Dodgers
683D-DO David Ortiz, Boston Red Sox
683D-GS Giancarlo Stanton, Miami Marlins
683D-JA Jake Arrieta, Chicago Cubs
683D-JD Josh Donaldson, Toronto Blue Jays
683D-KB Kris Bryant, Chicago Cubs
683D-MBU Madison Bumgarner, San Francisco Giants
683D-MM Manny Machado, Baltimore Orioles
683D-MT Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels
683D-NS Noah Syndergaard, New York Mets

Current ebay prices are way beyond what I'm planning to pay so I will probably only get these cards if players careers take a nosedive.  

A 14-Time All-Star? 17-Times, 18-Times?

Warren Spahn was supposed to be the answer to the last question about not playing in All-Star Games. 

Here is his card from the 1991 All-Star set.

Normally this card seems to show both images at once as can be seen above.  When I moved it around I got the images shown below.

Most of the cards can be tilted so that just one image shows.  I had a challenge with this card and then I gave up.

Here is what the back of the card mentioned.

He didn't win his first game until age 25.  That's not standard for 300-game winners.  Not many win their last games at age 44 either.  

He had two no-hitters, was named to 14 All-Star teams.

Not on the card - 

He did military service for three seasons - 1943 - 1945.  He was awarded a Purple Heart.

Baseball-reference.com lists him with 17 All-Star team appearances and I thought I got a count of 18 when I checked the Sean Lahman database, which still isn't functioning on my Macbook.

Where does 17 come from?  In three different seasons, Spahn was on the roster for both All-Star Games that were played that year - 1959, 1961 and 1962.  There were also two All-Star Games in 1960.  

Baseball-reference.com places a star next to the year whenever a player has been an all-star.  So, it shows 14 for Spahn.  That's the mistake that Kellogg's must have made here, even though the site didn't exist before the year 2000.      

My Macbook is almost 100% Functional

I'm almost back to having everything I need to get back to fun with my posts.  I was doing some analysis today and I found out that there was a player who sat on the bench during 10 different All-Star Games.

This player did play in other All-Star Games, but there were 10 times that he didn't.

Did he invite family and friends to travel to the game to watch him sign autographs?

Did he know in advance sometimes that he wouldn't be playing?  Did that bother him?

Can you name this player who also appears on a Kellogg's card?

And I Don't Even Like This Set

I'm still talking about the Kellogg's basketball set from Raisin Bran.  Why?  Here is what the factory set looks like.  Have I covered all possibilities for this set?  I hope so.

It looks like the cards are in a package that contains all 18.  I'll probably end up picking that up sometime.  I won't be opening this factory product.

More Kellogg's Basketball Set?

How many ways did they market this set? 

I don't own one of these, but I will probably look out for this in bargain boxes when I go to a big card show.  I'm guessing that around $2.00 is what I might pay for one of these.  Of course, I will need to get it since I want one of everything that I can afford.

I doubt that I will try to get one of each 1971 Kellogg's card in top condition.  That's outside of my pay scale.

1991 Kellogg's Billy WIlliams

Since I have a few of these cards out, I wanted to see if I could get a picture of them that showed both images.  I thought I did a good job getting both images to appear, but upon closer inspection there is some overlap.

I took the picture yesterday morning before I ran a half marathon.  Today I'm a bit too tired and lazy to try to perfect the picture.  The one on the right shows the big 'C' that corresponds to the picture on the left.  Oh well, close enough for me.

Maybe I will try this again with a few of these 1991 Kellogg's cards that are not in the wrapper.  Or maybe I should stay away from running so far?

1979s - Now I Need Three From the First Print Run

Thanks to Lee C. from Chicago who sent along the Puhl and Bonham cards.  I now only need Brett, Yaz and Lopes.  I highly suggest reading the comments that Lee makes on my posts.  He certainly has a lot more knowledge about Kellogg's cards than I do.

For those who don't pay attention to the variations, I get that.  I just need something to do that is affordable yet still keeps me involved in building sets.

"Make Like a Tree... and Get Out of Here"

My freshmen don't like when I use that phrase.  I hope that the title made you think about one of my favorite movies - Back to the Future. 

I just found out that Kellogg's produced some Back to the Future cards in 1985.   Based on the article below, they might have only been available in Canada.  Does anyone know more about them?

Here is the article - https://www.beckett.com/news/back-to-the-future-trading-cards/

Does anyone have these cards?  I'd really like to find them.

My New Project -- On Hold Until My Kids Can Help Do This

Back to the card set that I purchased recently.

Remember, this set had been pasted onto something.  The fronts look great and the colors are amazing.  So, I figured I would use it to add to something that I already have.  Do you remember that I have the item shown below?  

I'm going to find a nice, clean way to put those cards onto this display.  I have no skills with this, so I will rely on my kids to help accomplish this.  Look for the completed project soon.

Topps 1968 3-D Cards Story

I don't think that I've linked to this story about Topps and their 1968 3-D cards.

Another Old 1968 Topps 3-D Article

Will This Work For Protecting a Curled Card or Will It Crack?

People have tried to flatten curled cards without much luck.  Putting them in top loaders on under books hasn't been mentioned as a good idea.

What about a thick card top loader?  The picture below shows a card in a thick top loader.   It doesn't flatten the card fully.  I'll leave this for some time and see what happens.

Does This Mean I have A(nother) Problem?

The basketball packs each contained two cards.  I sure wish Kellogg's had thought of that in 1970. 

Since there are 18 cards in the set, does anyone know if the collation/distribution of these cards allowed for the possibility of getting each player in a pack with each other player?  Also, can each combo occur twice, one with each player on the front?

This might be a fun way to collect some really cheap cards.  It also might take some time to find all of the combinations since no one really does much with these cards. 

More as I progress or give up on this idea.

I Know What I Will Do With This Set

Check out this set of 1970 Rold Gold cards.

The backs are certainly as good as the fronts.  

I know what I am going to do with these cards.  More later in the week or next week.

I Bought This Just For the Packaging

I didn't buy the 1970 Kellogg's cards cut from the boxes, and this purchase wasn't a great consolation prize.  I just wanted the binder because I already have all of the 18 cards in this set.

The cards in this set don't seem to be very popular, including the Larry Bird and John Stockton.  Let me know if you'd like to trade for a set.

Here is the checklist.

1.   Kenny Anderson
2.   Clyde Drexler
3.   Waymon Tisdale
4.   Horace Grant
5.   Kevin Johnson
6.   Karl Malone
7.   Larry Bird
8.   John Stockton
9.   Doug Smith
10. Mark Price
11. Hakeem Olajuwon
12. Charles Smith
13. Bernard King
14. Tim Hardaway
15. Spud Webb
16. Mark Macon
17. Scottie Pippen
18. Gary Payton

Unique Kellogg's Items on ebay

There is an auction ending soon.  Wow!  The auction is for small cards cut off the back of Kellogg's cereal boxes.  That's not a big deal except that there are 116 cards with lots of stars.  They are also all from 1970.

I'm probably not able to afford this one, but I haven't seen anything like this.

Has anyone seen many cards like this?  I got a few from 1978 and that's it.

Can anyone even come up with a checklist of which cards were available each year?  I've only gotten a few unopened boxes so far.  I guess I should check out the ones that I see online to get some idea.

Update - this item sold for $333.

Is Anyone Planning on Attending the National This Year?

The National is in Cleveland this year at the beginning of August.  This is a perfect time for me to attend since it is after summer school is over and before Fall sport coaching begins.  I'm hoping to attend on Wednesday and Saturday.  

I've attending the shows in Cleveland before.  It's always been a good event.  I haven't found lots of Kellogg's cards but I've always found a lot of oddball cards and good prices.  

Here is the website - http://nsccshow.com/.

I know that it is early to plan, but with teenagers at home, coaching during the Spring and everything else in life, thinking about a great card show keeps me going as we keep getting temperatures under 15 degrees around here.

This Story is Better Than Anything I Would Write Today

Here's a nice story about Kellogg's cards.  Be sure to encourage him to collect Kellogg's cards.



https://shlabotnikreport.wordpress.com/2017/10/17/kelloggs-cards-vague-ramblings-about-goals-and-stuff/

1979 Kellogg's Baseball Card Variations Again

I'm getting closer to figuring out the different print runs.  And I've sorted all of the 1979s that I can find here.  Here's what I now need.

For the first print run I only need five cards.  This run has all cards with the Registered trademark in the scarf.  I need George Brett, Carl Yastrzemski, Davey Lopes, Terry Puhl and Bill Bonham.

As others have explained, the second print run has the Registered trademark below the scarf on 58 cards (Rau and Monday have none) and no Registered trademark near the team logo.  I have one Phillie variation in this print run.  Bowa can be found with either team logo.  I assume the other Phillies can be found with variations here.

I also found two unopened packs of Tom Seaver from print run 2 that have the two different Reds logos.

I'm missing 17 of these from print run 2 - if they all exist.  Some of my unopened packs from print run 2 have the Registered trademark next to the team logo.  So, my guess is that there is no difference for these cards in the second and third printing.  So far I've found Zisk, Driessen, Seaver, Chambliss, Griffey and Almon.

The third print run added the Registered trademark next to the team logo so that it now appears on 43 different cards.  I have all of these and seven team logo variations.

I have an opened factory set with the thicker card stock and orange lettering.  I will call that the fourth print run.  These 60 cards match the third print run - 43 Registered trademarks next to the team logo.  I guess that this makes sense.

I picked up an opened factory set a few weeks ago.  I was happy to see that the thinner stock with red letters was there instead of the thick stock and orange lettering.  It was the third print run as well.

This Card Surprised Me - Are There Others Out There?

Kellogg's cards were not taken as action shots at all.  It seems like great care was taken to get an image of the player that was acceptable.  With other older cards that wasn't always the case.  Can anyone find another Kellogg's card where the player might want another photo?  

I found one in the 1978 set.  Check out the Rick Reuschel card that is now on my home page.

And here is the Reuschel card by itself.  Don't they normally at least get the guy with his eyes open?

Maybe Reuschel was asked about his 22-0 loss to Pittsburgh before this photo was taken.  In the game he got one out and gave up eight runs.  I don't want to give him too much credit for getting an out because it was a sacrifice fly by Dave Parker.

This was a memorable game since Rennie Stennett went 7-for-7.  Stennett also got a hit against Rick's brother Paul.  Rookie John Candelaria got his eighth win for the Pirates.  

For those who follow baseball today - the game still only took two hours and 35 minutes.  

Kellogg's Unopened Sorting

I finally completely organized my unopened Kellogg's card packs this morning.  There were a few surprises as I work toward a goal of completing a few unopened sets this year.

As a young collector I always was a type collector, even though I didn't know what that was at the time.  I always wanted a card from every type of set.  That's why I have an 1889 (?) Old Judge card among other old stuff.

With Kellogg's cards I am the same way.  I've completed the 1978 and 1980 unopened sets.  From 1970 to 1980 I have varying amounts of unopened cards from each set.  There are two sets that I've got no unopened packs - the 1972 ATGs and the 1975 set.

Is it possible that the 1972 ATG set used the exact same card as the 1970 Rold Golds for Pop Tart boxes and then changed the copyright line for factory sets?  I have a bunch of 1970 Rold Gold unopened packs.

Are 1975s that difficult to find or are people hoarding them since these cards are difficult to find in nice condition?

No pictures since I've got nothing from these two sets.


UPDATE - all I have to do is ask?  Hours later there are a bunch of unopened 1975s on ebay now.  I guess I should talk bout getting more of the 1994 Clementes which I don't see frequently. 

The 1975s are going to have to go to someone else.  I'm not a big fan of buying one at a time.