I Couldn't Pass This Up. I Still Haven't Found Out About These Items

Can you figure out who is shown above without looking at the photo below?  If so, then you are much better than me. 

I bought this because I just couldn't resist.  Sure, I can't prove that it is real, but I've only seen about five different cards available in this format over the years. 

Why do I love this card?

1.  It shows everything I liked about baseball players in that era including great hairstyles.  Youngsters are wondering - did players had ears in the 1970s?

2.  The uniform is outstanding.

3.  He is wearing high socks that are just like the ones we wore in Little League.

4.  His glove is really old school.  It is so old, that it isn't even obvious what brand he is using.  That wouldn't happen today because the player would be losing an endorsement.

5.  He is on my favorite team even though he will appear on a Kellogg's card with a different team.

6.  Is he hiding his hand because his famous pitch is easily shown by the unique grip?

7.  It is about nine inches tall, so it looks much better than the small 1980 Kellogg's card that it was used in creating(?).   

Has anyone seen others? 

I Found This Card a Home - Mine

I love these well-loved cards.  I'm sure that I can come up with enough of these to get close to completing my 1972 Kellogg's set.

Not only is the card cracked, some of the plastic could easily be peeled off the card.

Sometimes when someone is completing a set, they search for upgrades.  I think I am going to take the damaged 1972 set that I purchased recently and keep replacing the cards with worse ones.

How Do They Make Baseball Cards / Kellogg's Baseball Cards?

I've seen a few items listed as proofs or part of the process used to make Kellogg's cards.  Does anyone know how this larger image is used in the production of the cards, if at all?

I've yet to find a Kellogg's or Xograph employee to talk about their history, but there certainly must be more information about how other companies produce their cards.  This card was produced by Visual Panographics since Kellogg's didn't use Xograph in 1973.   Without the 3-D effect, this card was probably produced in a similar fashion to Topps cards from the 1970s.

If anyone has a link on this subject, please forward it. 

1978 Kellogg's Baseball Card Backs - #13 - 15

Back for another look at some 1978 Kellogg's baseball card backs.  The writers in 1978 did a much better job of making things interesting.  This is much better than Black Friday shopping.

#15 - Jeff Burroughs

Burroughs was involved in a big trade from Texas to Atlanta where he hit 41 homers.  He was unhappy with the Rangers because as Kellogg's stated the Burroughs was "unhappy with the southerly breezes at the Rangers' Arlington Stadium."

Not on the card - he was traded for five players and cash.  Have other players been traded because they complained about the direction of the wind?

Not on the card - he was AL MVP in 1974.

Not on the card - Burroughs played for the Washington Senators in 1970 and 1971.  His last game was in 1985.  Do you know who was the last active major leaguer to have played for the Senators team that moved to Texas for the 1972 season?  How about the last active player who played for the Senators team that moved to Minnesota for the 1961 season.  Hint - both had Kellogg's cards. 

Players who were the last active players for the Milwaukee Braves, New York Giants and Kansas City A's also got onto a Kellogg's card. Any ideas?

#14 - Paul Dade

He was one of the earlier free agents in 1976.  He hit .291 in his first MLB season.  He was also a football star in high school.  

Not on the card - Dade only played until 1980.  He played in Japan in 1981 and then in the minors in 1982.

Not on the card - like lots of players, Dade had a Topps card in 1981 even though his last MLB game was in 1980.  

#13 - Chris Chambliss

I like his hobby - record collecting.  I bet he had some good stuff.

Because of his homer to win the 1976 AL pennant I remember him as a slugger.  He was AL Rookie of the Year in 1971.  

He was traded to the Yankees in 1974.

One of my favorite write-ups as it mentions that Chambliss has been a regular in the Yankee lineup, he just come to play ball and he has "carefully refrained from becoming involved in the controversial club house antics that have brought the Yankees so much publicity".  I think they intentionally left out the word negative before publicity.  

1978 Kellogg's Baseball Card Backs - #16 - 18

Back for a look at three more cards backs from the 1978 Kellogg's baseball card set.

#18 - John Candelaria

20-5 in 1977 - wow!  2.34 ERA - wow!  The first Pirate since Bob Friend in 1955 to win the NL ERA title.  I've got a lot of Bob Friend cards from the 1950s, but I never guessed he'd be mentioned on a Kellogg's card.  I bet Bob didn't either.  

Lew Alcindor is also mentioned since Candelaria finished second in career scoring in the Catholic school basketball league.

He won his first career game against Tom Seaver.  

This could be a record for the most players mentioned on the back of the card.  

He became the first Pirate to throw a no-hitter in Pittsburgh.  How could that be?

Not on the card - according to multiple sources, the first Pirate no-hitter was in Pittsburgh by Nick Maddox in 1907.

Not on the card - Bob Friend had a son who played on the PGA Tour.

Not on the card - I didn't know that he ended up playing for eight different teams.  

#17 - Mickey Rivers

Two cards in a row where the player's nickname is mentioned in the text.  He hit .326 in 1977. 

His base running is mentioned, but not how many steals he had.  He led the league with 70 in 1975 and he swiped 267 in his career.

Not on the card - he was traded by the Angels to the Yankees for Bobby Bonds. 

#16 - Jose Cruz

Jose likes swimming.  He had career highs in almost every category in 1977.  He is the eldest of three MLB brothers.  St. Louis continues to regret his sale to Houston.

Tommy Cruz played three games for St. Louis in 1973 and four games for the White Sox in 1977.

Hector Cruz also debuted in the big leagues in 1973 with St. Louis.  He played 11 games that season and stayed with the team until 1977.  He lasted in the majors until 1982.  

Jose was with the Cardinals from 1970 - 1974.  What about 1973?  Did the brothers play together?

In his debut Tommy pinch-ran in the 8th inning but he was replaced by Jose in the field.  Jose drove in the winning run in the 9th inning.

Hector didn't play in any of the games where Tommy played.  They couldn't match the Alou brothers who did for an entire outfield in a game.  Plus, two Alous got a Kellogg's card and only Jose Cruz got one for his family.  

Both families had the next generation make it to the majors - Jose Cruz, Jr. and Moises Alou.  Mel Rojas is a cousin of Moises Alou.

More Thoughts on the 1979 and 1980 Kellogg's Unopened Packs

I don't have lots of 1979 Kellogg's unopened baseball card packs, but I checked out a few of them today so that I could compare them to the pile of 1980 unopened packs that I have.

Kellogg's seemed to change their packaging process for these individual cards in 1979.  Below is a 1972 card.  Notice how machinery was used to create the grooves around the edge of the card.  Outside of the edges of the card's location there is a bit of a bubble.  It holds the card in place and makes the entire pack a bit thicker than it would be otherwise.

Here is a 1979 card.  The bubble seems to have disappeared but the edges are still grooved by some kind of machinery.  The 1979s are also now more a dirty, tan color than white.

Here is a 1980 card.  The same dirty, tan color from 1979 is used where there really is no extra space allotted for the card - no bubble.  Xograph also didn't use machinery to create any grooves in the packs in 1980.  That's probably why they don't stay sealed as well as every other year.

Without the grooves the two pieces of paper that make up the wrapper are more likely to have some separation.  Check out a side view of this card below to see how easily the  wrapper can separate.   Notice the left side of the card shown below.   This doesn't happen at all for any other year of Kellogg's cards.

They even had the grooves in the 1970 Rold Gold cards shown below. 

In the 1990s the company went to a process that is seen with modern products.  The pack is connected in the back

Here is the back of one of the cards from the 1990s.

Opening Sealed Kellogg's Baseball Cards

Since a few of the packs were badly damaged I decided to open them and see what these 1980 Kellogg's baseball cards look like when removed from the 38-year-old packaging.

I've seen a bunch of Kellogg's cards with a rip on the bottom right of the packaging as shown below. 

Now I know why I might want to avoid those cards with large rips.  The card itself if ripped to the right of STARS.  The card is also discolored near the bottom since the rip left the package partially open - probably since 1980.  

The Hernandez card is also ripped under the 'R' in STARS.  The package had the same look - a rip near the bottom right corner of the card.  

This Cey card didn't have a rip that extended to the card, but the bottom of the card has lost its white shine over time since it was not sealed on the bottom.  

I usually only see dirty, stained wrappers from 1980.  I would love to see some clean wrappers.  

A Busy Weekend

Yesterday a few of us journeyed to Madison, Wisconsin for the NCAA D-I National Cross Country Championship.  It was a long day, but it was worth it to be there for this great event.

On the way home we stopped to eat and after ordering I left to get my drink, leaving my son to pay.  Don't get me wrong here, he is in college where we gave him a credit card that he was going to use to pay.  It is my credit card, so I am really paying anyway.

He came over to the drink station without being able to contain his laughter.  When I asked why he just showed me the receipt and told me the discount was given because I was a senior citizen.  Now both of my kids have had non-stop laughter at my expense.  He's the story with my daughter - My Daughter Laughed at Me Too.

It turns out that Culver's gives this discount to those age 60 and above.  I'm not there yet, but it sure was fun for my son to laugh at the $0.83 discount.

Today I went to Rosemont for the card show.  I did buy a beat up 1972 Kellogg's set and only two other cards.

How are My 1982s Like My 1976 Kellogg's Cards #1-3

When I looked through my 1980 Kellogg's purchase from last week, I had about two dozen packs that I ended up opening because the packaging was so damaged. 

Check out the 1982 Kellogg's cards that I created by using these damaged wrappers and sliding in three of my favorite cards from 1982 - Bill Buckner, Chet Lemon and Bob Knepper. 

I did the same thing with my 1976 Kellogg's cards #1, #2 and #3.  I cropped the pictures so that the rip in the package isn't even noticed - 1976 - #1, #2, #3 Fakes.  As can be seen in the full pictures from 1976, the wrapper is totally cut across one side. 

It seems like only in 1980 did Kellogg's use a two-piece wrapper.  It didn't work, so maybe that is why they didn't use a wrapper after 1980. 

Kellogg's Cereal Box Backs - Has Anyone Summarized These?

I've got a few of these, but I haven't been keeping track of which ones very well.  That will be a goal of mine over the holidays.  Now I just have to hope that I can find them.  

The two 1977s above show different cards.  Now I want to find out how many different boxes existed.  Since the cereal boxes came in different sizes, I'd want to know about that too.  If you look closely at the 1977s it is apparent that they are not the same size.

Has anyone cut the cards, especially if the box is in bad shape?

Let me know what you've got.

1978 Kellogg's Baseball Card Backs - #19 - 21

Snow already.  Ick.  I need to spend some time thinking about 1978 Kellogg's baseball cards so I can forget that our temperatures are 15 degrees below normal.

21 - Dave Rozema

Rozema had a great season for a guy who was a non-roster pitcher in the spring.  He season was called a one of those "Horatio Alger" seasons.  Huh?

An injury to Mark Fidrych opened to door for Rozema.  

Not on the card - writer Horatio Alger wrote stories that typically were "rags-to-riches" stories.  I didn't know that as a teen in 1978, but I learned about it 40 years later.    

20 - Hal McRae

After three years of hitting over .300, McRae "fell to" .298.  He has been the most consistent DH since the league adopted the DH rule in 1973.  

Not on the card - he played over 70% of his career games as DH.   

Not on the card - another player with a Kellogg's card who became a manager.  How many are there?

19 - Ellis Valentine

Sorry for the blurry card.  This is really what it says.  

Kellogg's pronounced the Expos to have the best young outfield with Valentine, Andre Dawson and Warren Cromartie.  Nothing else interesting is on the back so I won't be re-scanning the back.

Not on the card - Valentine was with Montreal until being traded in 1981, Cromartie stayed until being granted free agency in 1983 and Dawson left for the Cubs in 1987.   Valentine never reached MVP status but the other two did.  Yes, Cromartie was MVP in the Japanese league.   

1978 Kellogg's Baseball Card Backs #22 - 24

Time to check on three more of the 1978 Kellogg's baseball cards. 

#24 - Ron Cey

Kellogg's decided to lead of the paragraph by reminding us that Cey hit .190 in the 1977 World Series.  They did mention that it certainly didn't take away from his great regular season.  He did hit over .300 and had a grand slam in the NLCS.  

Cey played in his fourth all-star game in 1977.

Not on the card - in 1981 he did win the World Series MVP Award.  He played in two more all-star games.  

Not on the card - the Cubs gave the Dodgers no one good for Cey.  The Cubs traded Cey to the A's for Luis Quinones, best known in my house (and probably only known in my house) because I caught his first career homer.

#23 - Willie McCovey

Willie had some great hobbies - reading and motion pictures.  That wouldn't leave him many guys to talk to in the locker room.  I like how the text is on the right since McCovey has stats from 1959 - 1977 on the back of the card.  

The 1966 stats have SanFrancisco listed differently than the other years.  Was this ever corrected?  I didn't see any corrected ones on ebay. 

Kellogg's sees him as a HOF-er.  He's 39 and has bad knees.  What else could he do?

Not on the card - he played almost 180 games over the next three seasons to get past 500 homers.

Willie passed away on Halloween of 2018.

#22 - Lenny Randle

Randle ended up being traded during spring training after getting into a fight with Rangers manager Frank Lucchesi.  The team suspended Randle and then traded him to the Mets where he had a great season.  

He is mentioned as an Arizona State alumnus.  

Not on the card - he got a degree from ASU and he played football along with baseball.

1978 Kellogg's Baseball Card Backs - #25 -27

Back to the 1978 countdown.  This one is taking a while.  I hope to get distracted again from this process when I go to the big card show in Rosemont this weekend and have something to report.

At some point it must be difficult to find things to say for Kellogg's.   This must be true with Seaver and Carew, who are both regulars in the Kellogg's sets.

#27 - Tom Seaver

Seaver has a birthday in a couple of days.  

They certainly had something to write about this year on Seaver's card.  He was traded mid-season in what Kellogg's called a controversial trade.   He ended up 21-6 anyway.  

He is now the #10 pitcher on the all-time strikeout list.

Not on the card - the Mets didn't get any stars for Seaver, they also traded Dave Kingman that day and their team was poor for a few years following these deals.

Oddity on the card - check out the 1968 stats under BB.  The number isn't aligned with the other numbers in that column.  

#26 - Larry Bowa

It's always great to see the older Phillies logo.

Bowa has a string of defensive records.  He has a "magic glove".  He created a record by making only nine errors in over 150 games at shortstop.

Not on the card - he won how many Gold Gloves?  Only two.  Bowa played from 1970 - 1985.  Ozzie Smith won all of them from 1980 - 1982.  Here are the winners from the 1970s.

1970 - Don Kessinger

1971 - Bud Harrelson

1972 - Larry Bowa

1973 - Roger Metzger

1974 - Dave Concepcion

1975 - Dave Concepcion

1976 - Dave Concepcion

1977 - Dave Concepcion  

1978 - Larry Bowa

1979 - Dave Concepcion

Shortstop has always been a key position in baseball and Kellogg's recognized that.  All the Gold Glove winners got into a Kellogg's set except Roger Metzger.  

#25 - Eddie Murray

Murray had a great rookie season and he missed only one game on his way to Rookie of the Year honors.  

I like that the card mentions his high school by name - Locke High.

Murray was mostly used as a DH.

Not on the card - in his career he played DH 573 times, 1B 2,413 times along with six games at 3B and three games in the outfield.

My Monster Box Count Might Be A Few Off

It's nice to know that small shows can be worth going to sometimes.  It was great to walk into a show where every booth had someone selling who I didn't see at the local monthly show.  

When organizing the cards from the weekend I also made an attempt at counting the packs while also be careful since these packs are quite flimsy.  As is typical with the 1980 Kellogg's wrappers, none of the packs are perfect or even close to it.

Most packs also have the card number written on the back, even though the player name is certainly easy to spot.  Sure, the card number is difficult for me to see even without the wrapper, but did someone really need to write the number on almost every card?

When I bought the box I assumed that there would be about 1,000 individual packs.  I was quite off on that one.  There were 1,655 packs.  I already had a lot of 1980s so even though I am quite excited to get these cards, I sure would love to get 1979s for my want list and the variations that I don't have yet.

I expected no stars and I was partially correct.  There were no cards of Mike Schmidt, Bert Blyleven, George Brett, Steve Carlton, Jim Palmer, Nolan Ryan and Rod Carew.

There were also no Ross Grimsley, Ron Guidry, Lee Mazzilli and Fred Lynn.  I would certainly wonder how that happened other than the Grimsley which poses different issues since it is card #1.

Tom Seaver (5) and Dave Kingman (2) only appeared out of the pack.  I guess the Kingman card was popular in Chicago at some point.  

There was one card each of Willie Stargell, Reggie Jackson, Carl Yastrzemski, Dave Winfield and Johnny Bench.

That means lots of cards of the other 43 players including Pete Rose, Jim Rice, Carlton Fisk, Fergie Jenkins and Phil Niekro.  That's an average of over 40 cards per player, but it didn't work out quite like that.  

In 1978 we didn't know about double-printed cards int Topps sets.  That would have explained how I kept getting Pete Rose and Mike Lum.  In this 1980 set there are a few cards that I could use to wallpaper my room.  Unfortunately, Pete Rose shows up a lot less times than the average.

What will I ever do with 128 Claudell Washington cards, even in Chicago?  As my wife said, what will I do with any of this stuff?  I guess I will need to buy some holders for them since I like to store these in Card Saver IVs to keep the paper intact.

If anyone has some of the other cards in the wrapper and wants to swap a few let me know.

I Saw This At A Card Show Today...........

....and now I see it on my table.

For those who are trying to dump lots of Kellogg's cards check with me.  I like stuff like this even though it doesn't command the big bucks.  I rarely sell stuff, but some day I' going to need to get to that since I buy stuff that I don't always need.  

When I saw the box above I was quite surprised.  Yeah, I saw lots of damaged wrappers which automatically led me to know that the packs would all be from 1980.  When I was told that the price was 2 for $1.00 I quickly tried to guess how many cards were in the box.  Before I could even get an estimate, I was given such a good price for the box that I bought it without looking at a single card.

I expected to see the worst players in the set, but I was okay with that too.  There were 68 cards not int the packages and another 26 where the package was extremely destroyed.  Can you guess how many sealed packs were in this 3,200 count monster box?







These were easy to sort because they were mostly in order already.  That was good and bad.  It was bad because there weren't many surprises.

49 different players are included in this lot so there are certainly a few stars.  More stats tomorrow after I clean up this pile before the cat jumps on the table.  Let's just say that I've got lots of cards available for trade.  

Too bad this is the absolute worst year for Kellogg's card wrappers.   I've mentioned before that these wrappers didn't stand the test of time.  Their two-piece construction was prone to separation.  Luckily, a high percentage of the packs seem to be firmly sealed.