Does Anyone Make Collecting Goals for the Year?

 I enjoy reading goals that collectors have for next year on the collecting boards.  Sure, lots of the sites focus on cards that are not in my price range.  Heck, lots of Kellogg's cards that I need are not in my price range.  

One of my goals is to finish some Kellogg's sets in their individual wrappers.  I will probably never get close to 1970, 1971 or 1975, but I think I will make an effort on the rest of them.

For 1979 I will try for variations, but for now any version will do fine.  

Football sets will have to wait as well.  The 1970 set might be possible someday, but the 1971 Football set will not be on my radar at current prices.

I still haven't seen any of the the 1970 Rold Gold cards in individual packs, so that won't be on my list.

1981 - 83 don't seem to be possible either.  

That leaves the following - 

1972

1973

1974

1976

1977

1978

1979

1980

I completed the sets from 1978 and 1980.

I would like to finish the ones that I am close to completing.  

1979 - I have at least one variation of every player except for Ross Grimsley.  I didn't know that or I would have probably looked for that card.  I will start looking for this one today.  

1977 - I only need five - Bostock, Cey, Fidrych, Lezcano, Koosman.  That should be possible.

1976 - I only need five - Washington, Carroll, Luzinski, Carew, Simmons.  Getting the Claudell Washington will probably be a challenge.

1974 - I still need more than half of this set.  I have 24 and I need 30 including most of the big names.  This is one of my favorite sets, but getting these packs can't be a priority since I think that the big stars will be out of my price range, if I even find them anywhere.

1973 - I only need five - Ryan, Palmer, Hunter, G. Perry, Seaver.  How do I keep needing five from these sets?  This one might be difficult since I need all stars.

1972 - I only need four - Seaver, Rose, Gibson, Mays.  Ouch.  Another small number, but another one that might be out of my price range.

#10 on My List of Favorite Kellogg's Sets

 Everyone seems to know the story now about how the 1971 Kellogg's Football and Baseball cards were only found in cereal boxes.  There was no offer on the box to buy a factory set.  That has made them a challenge to find in nice condition but that is not why they show up here on my list.

Constantly seeing cards like the three 1971s shown on the top of the picture below has soured me on this set even though it is the most valuable one.  I have the football set in nice condition, but I haven't been seeking the 1971 baseball set in top condition yet. I am focusing on the variations in any condition I can get.  

The Killebrew and Brock pictured are better to look at, but they still have condition issues.

I am not much of a graded-card collector, but when I saw this Rick Monday, I had to buy it so that I could compare other 1971s to it.  It was refreshing to get a clean, colorful version of a 1971 Kellogg's card.  I'll have to check, but I've probably gotten about 10-20 nice ones, but the graded ones come by accident when I've bought a lot of cards.

Flat cards also seem to be a rarity with the 1971s.  

There are so many errors and variations in this set.  The backs look nice when clean, but mostly I find old, faded backs.  It seems like 90% of all of these cards have been in toy boxes for years.

At card shows, dealers rarely have many of these in nice condition.  Only 1971s and 1975s seem to be difficult to find in nice condition at larger card shows.

#11 on My List of Favorite Kellogg's Baseball Card Sets

 I spent a lot of time with the 1979 Kellogg's variations because it is a fun, cheap thing to do.  I am still not done with it.  That was not enough to move this set up higher on my list of favorite Kellogg's sets.

I like the color of the cards that have a bright, white border and a bold, red Kellogg's name.  Yaz shows those colors.  

There was another printing that looked like a completely different set.  The bright white is now an off white and the Kellogg's name and stars are now in a dull orange. 

The Sutter card with the orange coloring is also quite thicker card stock than the red version, which seems to be the thinnest card stock to date (1981 will match it).  

This orange/off-white version of the Kellogg's cards is found in the factory sets.  I don't know if any of those found their way into cereal boxes.  None of my unopened packs show the orange coloring.  Can anyone confirm this?

This orange coloring and card thickness is quite similar to the 1979 Stop N Go football set  In both instances it is difficult to imagine that the designer wanted the names to look like that in orange.

1979 Kellogg's also began the demise of the sealed pack.  As shown by the photo below, the 1979 and 1980 packs didn't have the same sealing used in prior sets.  These two pieces were cheaply glued together and they separated easily.  I guess they didn't plan on people keeping them unopened.  They were correct in my case - I didn't keep any of my Kellogg's cards unopened.

I am guessing that there are less unopened packs from 1979 because the wrappers separated naturally.  Even if you planned on keeping them unopened, the cards decided otherwise.

The variations exist with the color scheme, the registered symbol (in a few different places), statistical differences, logo differences and text differences.  Ugh.  

Not only did the seals easily separate, the material used must have changed because they were easily discolored too.  The two shown below look better than most that I see.

Even with all of that, I am still chasing the variations, and unopened pack variations. 

#12 On My List of Favorite Kellogg's Sets

 It might surprise some that the 1975 Kellogg's baseball sets is not one of my favorites.  Why?  I didn't get a lot of these as a kid for some reason.  The ones I did keep didn't maintain their color as well as Kellogg's cards from other years.  That can't even make up for a nice selection of players in the 1975 set.

I think that a nice, colorful, uncracked 1975 Kellogg's card is one of the most amazing cards that they've created.  I've seen far too few 1975s that look like that.  Instead, I tend to see the cards shown below about 90% of the time. 

Not only do these cards seem cracked, discolored borders are common.  The cards also seem to lose that shine easily.

Matlack, Bench and White are challenging to find without cracks.  

Sure, nice 1975s are expensive.  It makes sense because both at big shows and online most of the ones for sale don't look that good.  It is easy to find nice Kellogg's cards from every other year except for 1971.

Factory sets don't seem to be around much for 1975s.  That's not a surprise, because in years when dealers had access to factory sets, cards in nice condition survived in large quantities.

Is this anyone's favorite set?  Why?

#13 on My List of Favorite Kellogg's Sets - Missing Memories

I like the 1982 set for its pictures.  I don't see as much cracking or curling in this set either.  My favorite memory of this set is the Bob Knepper card that someone at home put behind a magnet on the refrigerator - it stayed there for almost a full year.  Maybe I will stick one on the refrigerator at my mother's house today and see if I get any comments.

So, why is it so far down on my list?  I was collecting cards a bit during this time.  I don't have any other attachment to this set since I was in college at the time.  For a long time I got the 1982 and 1983 sets confused.  No one has ever confused the 1981 Kellogg's set with any other one.

I actually opened more boxes of Kellogg's cereal than anyone I know in 1982, but I got no cards to show for it.  How?  In exchange for meals in college, I worked the breakfast shift in a cafeteria that served about 300 - 400 people per day.  When I started I was told that my looks were better suited for the backroom than the serving line.  So, I ended up working on the dirty dishes as well as restocking the popular cereal containers.  I can still smell the Cap'n Crunch, the most popular cereal at the time.  Did any of you have similar jobs?

Ten years later in graduate school one of the administrative assistants told me she was having a garage sale and that her son had some cards to sell.  I bought Kellogg's sets from 1979 - 1983 I think.  That was good because most of my collection at the time ended at 1980.  Before COVID I was able to pick up factory sets from 1979 - 1983 without paying too much.  

Does anyone collect factory sets?

#14 on My List of Favorite Kellogg's Sets - Everything is Too Small

 When I was younger I didn't like this version of Kellogg's cards because the card size was smaller than most years.  Now I dislike it because the font on the back is too small.  I like to read the card backs, but these are getting more difficult each year for me.  Ugh, don't get old.

Those are my first thoughts about the 1980 Kellogg's set.  

Other negatives for me include the poor process of putting the cards in the packs.  Not only did the seal on the two-piece pack not work well, it also caused lots of the cards to discolor on one side of the back.  You might want to check your cards to see about this.  The left edge of the Fisk card has a bit of discoloring, but many are far worse.  

Some packs look okay, like the three below, but most that I've seen are not up to par with the other years.

This video shows how some of the packs look.  

Player selection is okay.  20 Hall of Famers.  It looks like there were 38 HOF players in the 1980 Topps sets, not counting league leaders, record breakers, etc.

I seem to see less cracks in these cards.  Maybe the smaller size helps.

There are More 2011 Topps Lineage 3-D Cards?

I am home this week.  When looking through my miscellaneous cards I found this 3-D card.  I didn't realize that it was a 2011 Lineage 3-D card until I checked out the back.

It looks like the other cards from the set, but it is missing name on the front.  

I found out that these were a special numbered parallel set called Lineagraph- numbered to 99.  The backs mimic the 1968 3-D set put out by Topps.  There are also 1 of 1 red back parallels - I wouldn't mind finding one of those, but that will never be a big deal to me.  

Time to see if these numbered to 99 are affordable.  

More Topps 3-D Cards - Topps Lineage 3-D

 I picked up a what was described as a 25-card lot on 2011 Topps Lineage 3-D cards recently.  I was quite surprised to find that there were 25 different cards - the entire set actually.  I think that I already had most of the cards, but this was a nice way to complete the set.

I do like the Topps cards that are based on the 1968 Topps 3-D set.  I will need to do more research into what other sets include some of these cards.   

I have the 2012 insert set that was a Topps Archives insert.  This is the 15-card set with Ruth, Mays, Clemente, etc.

I don't have any of the 2017 Topps Heritage inserts.  These were the ones that were inserted two per hobby box.  They started out expensive and I don't think that has changed much.   Here is the checklist for that one.

Rizzo, Harper, Posey, Correa, Kershaw, C. Seager, Ortiz, Stanton, Arietta, Donaldson, Bryant, Bumgarner, Machado, Trout, Syndergaard,  

Has anyone ever seen any of these at a decent price?  I'd like to get one, but is it possible to get one for $20?

Are there other Topps cards based on the 1968 Topps 3-D cards?

#15 on My List of Favorite Kellogg's Baseball Card Sets

 Okay, I guess this would be my least favorite set at this point - 1983.

The color scheme doesn't work great, especially when looking at a bunch of them together.

There are a few other reasons that I put this set 15th.  I don't have memories of finding them in cereal boxes because I was in college.  Second, they must have been placed in cereal boxes without a wrapper since they I haven't seen one offered in the wrapper ever.

Based on the 1982 Rookie of the Year voting, Kellogg's didn't do a good job with their selection of younger players.  Cap Ripken and Wade Boggs finished 1-3 but Kent Hrbek (2nd) is in the set.  Steve Sax won in the NL and Ryne Sandberg finished mid-pack, but runner-up Johnny Ray got into the set.  

Tony Gwynn played in 54 games and hit .289, but he didn't receive any ROY votes or a Kellogg's card.  Garry Templeton was the Padre in this set.  

Kellogg's did a good job showing colorful uniforms.  I am wondering though if a lot of the players are shown with practice jerseys.

1983 was another year without an Andre Dawson Kellogg's card.  1983's Cy Young Award winners were surprises and neither had appeared on a Kellogg's card - John Denny and Lamar Hoyt.

Is This Kid You?

 Some kids in 1975 were probably quite disappointed to pull a Jon Matlack card from a cereal box.  Why?  They probably wanted a player from their team or maybe a big star like Reggie Jackson, Rod Carew, Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Steve Garvey, Tom Seaver, etc.  

No disrespect is intended toward Matlack who had a great career and four different Kellogg's cards.  He was Rookie if the Year, an all-star more than once and he shared an All-Star Game MVP award in his 13-year career.

I still need Matlack and Bench without cracks.  If you want them with a crack I can certain trade those guys, but I need some nice ones for my sets.

No, I am not trying to pump up the price on this card.  I don't have a box full of them waiting for the right time.  If 1983 Fernando Valenzuela Kellogg's cards ever get popular I'd be set for life.

Stay tuned tomorrow to see where 1975s fit in among my favorite Kellogg's sets.

Cards Shows Are the Same Everywhere?

I visited my daughter yesterday and made a stop at a card show in Green Bay.  Other than a bunch of tables that focused on Packers stuff, it was just like the shows I see around Chicago - lots of new auto/patch/relic/??? cards that I know little about.  5000-count boxes with new cards were prevalent as well.  I don't go for those either.

I didn't see many Kellogg's cards, but I did get these two, which look a lot better in person.  Sorry, I was too lazy to scan them today.

I rarely purchase graded cards, but if 1971s or 1975s look great and are affordable, I might be interested.  I have no plan to collect graded sets, but maybe someday I will change my tune.

I spent another dollar on a Dan Hampton rookie card that was quite off-center.

I went to a show today near Chicago.  I go to this site frequently, maybe five times a year.  I was surprised to see about 10 empty tables.  Most of the other tables had displays that seemed the same as the last time I was at the show.  

I spent $2 on some Sports Illustrated for Kids cards, mostly depicting track and field athletes.

I assume that there will be more shows next weekend and then after that not much for a while.

Finally Making a Dent in an Unopened Kellogg's Set

The 1976 Kellogg's set has always been one of my favorites since those came out when I was pulling them from cereal boxes before doing my paper route.  I finally made a dent in my unopened set with a purchase of the 16 cards shown below.

It also was my first significant purchase in a long time.  I found a few other things recently, so maybe things are looking up.

With that purchase, I now only need six cards for the set.  Here is the list.

When I started this set I was going with the assumption that cards 1-3 (Hargan, Washington, Gullett) could not be found in packs.  I even posted about it  (Fake 1976 Unopened Packs).  Since that time I've probably seen Gullett's available in the package about five times, Hargan maybe three times and Washington once. 

I remember the Washington auction because it was a lot of maybe 15-20 unopened packs from 1976 and there were two Washingtons.  I bid aggressively, but didn't win.  If you did win and want to trade the extra one, I now have extras of both Hargan and Gullett. 

Does anyone remember ever getting one of these cards in a cereal box in 1976?  I have no memory of that and I don't remember anyone trying to complete a set that year. 

Unopened Kellogg's Cards - Does Anyone Get Them Graded?

I mentioned recently that I finally made a purchase on ebay last week.  Here are those cards.

I bought the cards because of the Don Sutton.  Being the last card in the set, even my unopened version of Sutton needed an upgrade.  This Sutton isn't perfect, but it works for me.

Getting a Cub and a White Sox card certainly made this purchase even better.

Unopened 1978s seem more plentiful than either 1977s or 1979s.   Unlike unopened vintage packs, there is little temptation to open them since it is known who is included.  The temptation got to me with the Kellogg's Upper Deck basketball packs and a few of the 1970 Kellogg's six-card packs.  

Since I've yet to send anything in for grading, that didn't tempt me either.  Have any of you opened a Kellogg's card to then send it in for grading?

1970s Topps Rivals - Kellogg's & Hostess

I have some of my Hostess cards from the 1970s as well as some of the three-card panels.  I never collected full boxes like the one below.  Now, I prefer the full boxes because I get the memories of both the cards and the treats that I ate way too often during those years.  

 Some of these 1975 complete boxes are easy to find online and they are not that expensive.  Other boxes can cost a lot more money.  

Does anyone collect these boxes?  Before COVID I got 45 different full boxes.  I have 22 duplicates that I hope will help me get a few more different ones.  

Kellogg's Proof Cards / Benanti Collection - Have You Ever Seen One That Wasn't Included in the Set?

I have this Rusty Staub card, which is a 1970 Kellogg's baseball card.  Well, it is a proof card.  Has anyone seen other examples like this where the player wasn't included in the actual set for that year?  I know it has happened with other card sets, but what about Kellogg's?

This card came from the Benanti collection.  Beckett was auctioning off parts of that collection many years ago.  The family had many more items headed to Beckett auctions but for some unknown reason they pulled the items back.  The general consensus was that their first few auctions didn't net them the dollars that they expected.

Did the Benanti collection ever go to another auction house?  Did any more proof cards show up?  If you've seen anything, let me know.  I'd love to see more unique Kellogg's items. 

Card Shows and Online Shopping - Nothing Worked This Year - How About Trading?

 I haven't really been able to drop things from want lists this year via the normal channels.  Time to try another approach.  Does anyone want to trade?

Yes, everyone needs Clemente, Ryan, Rose, etc.  How about getting rid of some of these cards that I need?  I have my full want list on the side of my blog, but here are some of the less expensive cards that I seek.

1970 - Singer, Powell, Epstein, Alou, Cullen, Lolich, McLain

1972 - Stargell

1973 - Blass, Blyleven, Brock, Carew

1974 - Fisk, Santo, Palmer

1975 - Bench, Matlack, Brock, Grimsley, Hunter (A's), Garr

1976 - Bench (really, I am not in Cincinnati; I am in Chicago)

1977 - Fingers, Jenkins, Campaneris

1978 - Schmidt (like Bench, I cannot get his cards)

1979 - Yastrzemski

1980 - Carew

1981 - Ryan, Brett, Henderson

I have some Bruce Sutter cards to trade, but the above is not available for trade.

Rosemont, IL Card Show Today

 I attended the show today and I had unlimited time, so it was quite enjoyable.  Sure, I only stayed two hours, but that allowed me to do everything that I wanted to do.

These small purchases add up to being the most cards I've picked up in a long time.  

Why did I stay only two hours?  I enjoyed spending time at many tables, but I don't collect new cards much or Pokemon cards at all, so that allowed me to skip a lot of booths.  There was a better variety of displays than usual.  Besides the old cards, there was lots of pennants, oddball cards, etc.  I enjoyed looking at lots of that stuff, but I didn't see any miscellaneous Kellogg's stuff.

The crowds were quite large.  It seemed like there was lots of buying going on around the room.  The autograph section of the room was crowded, but I didn't go to that area at all.

I was surprised to get this Roberto Clemente card.  I've only see any of these cards at the National.  Sure, I've found them on ebay, but they don't show up at a decent price often.  This one is still in the original wrapper.  

The 1959 White Sox team card drew me to a 50-cent box.  Odd, since I am a Cubs fan.  In that box I found a bunch of the Kellogg's cards shown without top loaders.  Boog Powell and Denny McLain seem to be hard for me to find in nice condition.  

I found another stack of 1976s that I bought for $1 each.  A few of these cards, like Eckersley, have backs that are off center.  The front looks fine, so that is enough for me.  

One dealer had a huge lot of 1975s and they were mostly without cracks.  I was prepared to overpay a bit, but he didn't have Jon Matlack or Johnny Bench.

I posted a while back about the 1976 Mike Hargrove and its print marks  - 1976 Mike Hargrove Print Marks.  Someone wondered how I had so many of this card.  Well, as usual, I came home with two more of them today.  Hard to pass up in nice condition for under $1.

I have yet to check to see which variations I have for the 1976s.  I think the only one I need is Kaat, and he wasn't found today.  

The experience today makes me want to go to another show before the end of the year.  I will have to check the schedules.

Did any of you attend the show?

Additions to My Collection This Year - Card Show Next Week?

 Today is my first Saturday off since the Spring and I looked at what I purchased during the year.  Ugh.  Other bloggers have mentioned how Kellogg's prices have increased since COVID.  That happened with all cards for a while, but Kellogg's cards haven't really dropped back down in price.  

Part of me says that it great because I have a lot of Kellogg's cards.  My kids would say I have way too many of them.  But, I want to get more to find some of the variations and oddities that I don't yet have in my collection.  Current prices are keeping me from getting more cards.

When looking at what I've picked up, it wasn't even worth taking pictures.  Here is the complete list from the last six months - 

8 unopened 1972 cards, no stars.

2 sets of 1991 Leyendas, plus an extra Clemente.

1974 Ed Goodson - needed to replace a damaged one

1974 Nolan Ryan - VG 

1998-99 - 1 pack of the Upper Deck Kellogg's basketball cards.

3 unopened 1979 cards, no stars.  All wrappers are badly damaged like most of the 1979s

1 - 1992 Jim Rice unopened.  Yes, I really bought this card.

That's about one purchase per month.  Ouch.  Before COVID I was probably buying a few things every week.

There is a show in Rosemont, IL that I plan to attend next weekend.  I rarely find anything I want theres, but it is usually fun to check out the show.  

I Finally Went to a Flea Market - It Has Been a Few Years

 The flea market that I prefer opened on Sunday and I was able to check it out.  Between COVID and a golf course job, I hadn't been to this place in a few years.

I enjoyed a nice walk through the place, even though it was windy and cold.  Lots of people were selling cards and even some Starting Lineups.  I picked up a few sets (1986 and 1987 Topps) because they were $3 and they looked to be in great shape.  

The $3 bin also had a couple of basketball sets from the junk wax era, but they had Jordans as well as a few cheaper insert sets so I grabbed them too.

That price led me to grab a few other smaller sets.  I didn't spend a lot of time checking the sets before buying them because if they didn't take the Jordans, they certainly didn't take out other stars.  

One 400-count box was labeled on the side as some football set that I didn't want.  When I put it down I noticed that they wrote Schilling on the side.  I opened it to find only Curt Schilling cards - 400 of them.  No rookies, but probably a nice lot for someone.  Who in Chicago kept all of those cards of Schilling?   Does anyone want to trade for a box full of Schillings?

Dime Boxes and True Value Cards

 I only found one Kellogg's card, the Eddie Murray card mentioned yesterday, in a search of dime boxes at a local show.  I am usually too impatient to go through a box for 10 minutes at a show.  The last time I did this a lot was when I bought a VIP pass at the National.  Since I was at that event all day, I eventually found time to look at these bargain bins.

I picked up a bunch of oddball cards from the 70s and 80s including a few Hostess cards and some True Value cards. 

I've gotten these cards before, but it was either just one card or an unopened pack.  The Reggie Jackson card above was part of any entire pack.  I hadn't even opened one of these so I didn't even know how many cards were in this pack.  The photo below shows the three cards that were included in the pack.  

There are 30 cards in the set, so I probably have a good number of them now.  No complaints about opening this pack and getting a Cub and one of my favorite former Cubs.  

I told my wife that I don't ever remember these cards being issued or how they were issued.  She wasn't surprised and she responded by quickly showed me a honey-do list that has gotten longer all of the time.  You can bet that if Home Depot, Ace Hardware or Lowe's ever produces a card set that I will never mention it at home.

One of These Is Not Like The Others - 54, 57, 60, 64, 66, 75

One of these things just doesn't belong.  I couldn't remember if this song came from Sesame Street (it did), The Electric Company, Zoom, Ray Raynor & Friends or some other show from my childhood.  The question for today is which of these doesn't belong?

If you are a serious Kellogg's card collector, you probably know that these are the number of cards in the different Kellogg's card sets from 1970 to 1983.  

Which one doesn't belong?  That would be the 1982 set with 64 cards.  All of the other numbers are divisible by three, which means nothing here, but it also means a lot.

I picked up a Kellogg's card today from a ten-cent box.  I do know lots of the card numbers by heart because the sets are small, but that's usually for the older sets.  When I picked up the card below I automatically knew the card number because this is the one Kellogg's card that is not like the other.  It's not that it doesn't belong, but it is definitely a card on its own.

As I work on damaged Kellogg's sets and newer (1979 - 1983) sets, I place them in nine-pocket pages.  How does the Murray card differ from every other Kellogg's card?  

Kellogg's did us a favor with the 54-card sets (1972, 1973, 1974) since that is exactly 6 sheets (or three if double-siding the cards).  None of the other sets were perfectly built along those multiples. 

The 75-card sets (1970, 1971), the 57-card sets (1975, 1976, 1977, 1978) and the 66-card set (1981) all have three cards in the last nine-pocket pages.  The 60-card sets (1979, 1980, 1983) have six cards on the last sheet.

Not 1982.  Eddie Murray is stuck on his own sheet, which I can't justify, so he ends up on the back of the last sheet (cards 55 -63).  That makes it easy to remember him as card #64.

Do You Have Any Good Starting Lineup Stories?

https://uk.hasbropulse.com/pages/starting-lineup 

Wow!  Starting Lineup figures are coming back after 21 years.  I collected them from 1988 to 1994.  The baseball strike slowed my collecting a bit in 1995, but then I kept going until about 1998.

I like them opened or unopened but they take up too much space.  For many of the ones that became the equivalent of junk wax, I opened them to save space.

My favorite story involves my brother.  He found two basketball figures that he wanted but he only had enough money to buy one.  What did the quick-thinking teen do?  Before buying one he placed the other one in an Easy Bake Oven so that no one else would find it.  Toys R Us was a great place.

In 2001 Albert Pujols made his debut.  Are there any other active players in pro sports who've been around that long?  That guy who just un-retired from the Bucs began his career in 2000.  I think there are some hockey players who've been around that long.  Probably a few NFL kickers or punters too.  

It took until 1990 or so, but I completed the 1988 set when I got a Mike Boddiker figure.

Did anyone collect those?  Do you still have them?  

Did Anyone Order Kellogg's Factory Sets or Anything Else from Cereal Boxes?

We pulled lots of toys, stickers and cards from cereal boxes throughout our childhood.  I've even gotten a few things recently, but not too often any longer.  Eating cereal as a kid involved reading everything on the cereal box including the mail-in offers.  

Someone from my neighborhood ordered a 1974 Kellogg's factory set, but that was never going to happen at my house.  After asking in the early 1970s, I think I gave up after a few years.

Why did I stop pestering my mother?  I worked really hard at that point on getting her to let me order a popular Hot Wheels pair of cars.  I really wanted the Snake and Mongoose cars that maybe were only available through a mail-in offer.  Maybe a Hot Wheels collector can tell us more about this since I didn't see anything online.  None of my efforts got me those cars even though the price was maybe a dollar.

Once I had some money thanks to a paper route and my job as a caddie, I was able to get Sportscaster cards from a mail-in offer.  (https://runforesportscastercards.blogspot.com/).  I am still working on that set since I stopped subscribing long before the Bird, Magic and Gretzky cards appeared.

From Wheaties boxes I pulled two instant wins for Michael Jordan basketballs around 1990.  I still have both of those, although one is a bit used.  

Did you get the Snake and Mongoose cars from a mail-in offer?  Did you get anything else that took some bargaining with your parents?

UPDATE from my mother - The younger kids did order Frosted Flakes cereal bowls and spoons from a mail-in offer.  She still has some of those.  Just more proof that my younger siblings got all the good stuff.  (No, I dared not say that to my mother so I can only vent here about it).

Are Kellogg's Prices Not Coming Back? How About Trading?

 Sure, when I make a duplicate set I always end up needing the most expensive cards.  I won't list all of those here, but I always need Mays, Clemente, Rose, Ryan, etc.  

I have lots of extras to trade.  Are you looking to complete some sets or extra duplicates of your favorites?  Here are the cards that I am in most need of to complete sets in nice condition.

1.  Sure, like everyone else I'd love to get 1971s in nice condition but I am not willing to pay those prices.  I am currently working on off-condition cards so that I can get all of the variations.  I have no idea how many of my 1971s are in nice condition.  If I had to guess, I'd say only 15 - 20 of them are damage-free.

2.  1975s - I need Jon Matlack and Johnny Bench as upgrades.  I also need Brock, Hunter (A's), Grimsley, Garr, Buckner and Evans.

I've got a great collection of cracked Matlacks from 1975.

This card looks okay, but just like when buying Kellogg's cards online, it can be difficult to detect cracks.  One is obvious on the top right, but the card has other issues.  

3.  1974s - Goodson, Fisk, Palmer, Santo, Gibson.  The Gibson seems to be damaged frequently since it is card #1.

4.  1976s - Bench, Morgan, Jackson, Munson, Seaver

5.  1977s - Campaneris, Fingers, Brett, Jenkins, Foster, Norman, Garvey, Bostock, Carlton

6. 1978s - Schmidt, Luzinski, Carlton

7.  1979s - Yastrzemski, Reggie Jackson, Eckersley

8. 1980s - Carew.

9. 1973s - Kaline, Carew, Brock, Carlton

10. 1972s - Stargell, Lolich, Sanguillen, Wagner (All-Time Greats)

I have so many cracked cards that I also work on damaged sets.  There are lots of those that I am looking for as well.  Do you build sets that are cracked / damaged?  

Some of my favorite cards are in my damaged binder.  I might be able to make complete damaged sets from 1970 - 1980 since I have so many damaged cards.  Hard to believe, but I ended up with a lot of 1973s that are damaged.  They look like they spent a few years in someone's toy box.

I might go to the National.  Maybe we could trade there?

What is the Least Amount of Cash You've Brought to a Card Show?

 Today I went to a card show on the way to visit my mother.  I had $13 in my pocket.  $1 went for admission to the show and $3 was spent on a 1970 Kellogg's Denny McLain.  

I doubt than many of the 40 or so dealers at this show would take credit cards or PayPal.  That's okay because I didn't plan to be at the show for a long time.  I still haven't bought any 2022 Topps cards so I didn't look to see if anyone even had a cheap box like Opening Day since I was so short on cash.

Driving away from the show I realized that I've never been to a show with less cash, even in 1976.  As a team in the mid-1970s I was fortunate enough to go to a few cards shows a year in the Chicagoland area.  I would save paper route money and caddie money for these shows.  I remember having $35 at the first show I attended.  That went a long way, especially when a 1954 Topps Al Kaline in great shape was $2.

Why did I only have $13?  My ATM card was canceled because our bank was bought recently.  I probably have a new card somewhere and I guess this gives me the impetus to find it.  I need to figure this out before the next show.  

I Finally Got One; I Don't Ever Expect to Get Them All

 Today I picked up my first 1975 unopened Kellogg's packs.  I see these packs less than any others.  

You can see the top left card is Fergie Jenkins.  I didn't make a major effort with this picture since it is difficult to get these packs to show up well in photos.  The others are Jorge Orta, Gregg Gross and Ken Brett.  

Only 53 more to go to get the entire set.  I can't imagine that I will ever pursue the set since the cost of getting them could be used to buy a VG-EX set of cards from the 1960s.  

Does anyone collect these in the wrappers?