My Favorite Kellogg's Set - Why I Love the 1981 Set

There are a lot of positives with the 1981 Kellogg's Baseball card set.  I like the 66-card set size and I think Kellogg's did a good job of picking the stars of the day.  There are 22 Hall-of-Fame players and Pete Rose.  There were probably only about seven cards that featured players who didn't have long, productive careers.  Most notably in that group would be Joe Charboneau.

I like the change to a bigger card as well as the bright, yellow colors.  In 1979 and 1980 it was difficult to really get a feel for the uniforms since the cards were so small.  I really like how this design accentuated the photo and minimized the borders.  I think Kellogg's got lazy in 1980 since they had no competition with Hostess.  Remember, 1981 also brought in Fleer and Donruss cards.

I didn't like the cards being exactly 3.5 x 2.5 inches because their thin stock made it difficult to put them into nine-pocket pages.  I prefer the cards a bit smaller than regulation baseball cards.

This set is easy to find cheap, so enjoy a great set with great images from 1980.  The big negative for me is that these cards were not found in cereal boxes.  One had to purchase the set from Kellogg's.  I didn't do that.  When I collect all unopened packs I only need to work on 1970 - 1980.

The image is so much bigger that the brand of bat can even be seen.

My Favorite Kellogg's Sets - Why I Love the 1980 Set

I've covered the 1970s and now I will cover the 1980s before I rank the sets.

The 1980 set has great coloring, but like lots of the Kellogg's sets, the color can fade and look dull if not protected.

I've seen a lot less curling in the 1980 sets probably due to the smaller size.  I prefer the slightly larger Kellogg's cards to these thinner ones.

Player selection in 1980 starts well with 20 Hall of Famers and Pete Rose.  My quick count could be off by one or two on that.  Lots of stars who are short of Hall of Fame careers too  - Garvey, Lynn, Hernandez, etc.

Oddly, Kellogg's took no chances on Rookies from 1979.  John Castino and Rick Sutcliffe won the awards and no players who got votes got into this set.  Sutcliffe was 17-10, probably enough to get into the set but no other rookies had strong seasons.

 

My Hopes for the National Card Show

I usually spend more than one day at the National but this year one day is all I've got planned.  I rarely find much there in terms of Kellogg's cards.  In the past I've picked up lots of cheap 1980s stars, a 1971 Football set and the Babe Ruth display from 1972 (or 1970?) that I'd always wanted.

My big goals this year and the challenges with that goal.

1.  Find the few 1972 and 1973 Unopened Kellogg's cards that I need.  I've never seen anyone with more than a few unopened packs at any show.

2.  Find a few of the six-card packs from 1970 that I don't have.  I'm trying to get a pack with each of the 75 cards on top.  I think I've gotten around 40 so far.  These do show up at least since dealers can make some money off of them.  Prices vary greatly.  I doubt that I'll be buying the Clemente that I need.

3.  Find any factory sets that I need.  I've got 1978 - 1983 and 1973.  I don't see these at all either.

4.  Any cereal boxes or other advertising card that I don't have.

5.  Any Japanese Kellogg's baseball cards that I need.

I don't own this box, but I saw it was for sale a few months ago.

I'm Planning to Go to the National on Saturday

It looks like I will be able to get to the National Card Show in Atlantic City on Saturday, August 6th.  I hope to talk to some people about Kellogg's cards.  If you see any unique Kellogg's cards please take a picture for me.

What would I consider unique?  Sheets, advertising posters and cereal boxes are on my want list.  So is the football ruler that I've seen available on ebay a few times.  

I will be at the National for only about six hours so I'm going to need to use my time effectively.  I hope to see some of you there.   

Perry vs. Perry

On this day in 1973 Gaylord Perry and Jim Perry faced off as starting pitchers in a game for the only time in their careers.  That was quite a surprise for me to read.  Why?

1.  These guys played a long time and started a lot of games.  Gaylord started 690 times in 22 years and Jim had 447 starts in 17 years.

2.  When were they in the same league?  Jim only pitched in the AL.  Gaylord was in the AL for nine years.

What happened when they faced each other?  Gaylord Perry was the losing pitcher for the Indians.  My favorite radio announcer, Ed Farmer, was the winning pitcher for the Tigers.

Since this was the first year of the DH, the brothers didn't bat against each other in the game.  They never batted against each other in their careers.

They both appeared in the 1970 and 1971 Kellogg's Baseball Card sets.  That was it for Jim who played his last game in 1975.  Gaylord appeared four more times including the 1991 set.

 

Happy Birthday to Tony Armas Sr.

He was just Tony Armas to us as kids, but since his son played dad is now Tony Armas Sr.  Jr. played from 1999 - 2008 and dad played from 1976 - 1989.

Sr. has a brother, Marcos, who played 15 games for Oakland in 1993.  In 33 plate appearances Marcos had one homer, which also accounted for his only RBI.  I never heard of him before.

Tony Sr. hit 251 career homers.  I was surprised that he hadn't hit more.  That just shows how I knew much more about the NL than the AL.  He only exceeded four hundred at-bats in seven seasons - 1980 - 1986.  That certainly kept his numbers down.  Did he have injuries?  I don't know that one.  Wikipedia states that he was on the disabled list 12 times accounting for 302 missed games.  That kept his career homer totals under 300.

He led the league twice in homers and he surpassed 100 RBIs three times.  He had 76 RBIs in the strike-shortened season of 1981.  He would have had a good chance at 100+ RBIs that season as well.

Armas is included in the 1982 Kellogg's Baseball card set.  I'm surprised he didn't get into the 1981 and 1983 sets since he was a big star beginning in 1980.

Billy Williams Spot on the All-Time Home Run List

My favorite player when I was ten was Billy Williams of the Cubs.  He finished his career with 426 career homers.  Miguel Cabrera tied him this week for 48th place on the all-time list.  That was quite a surprise to see because I sure thought that Williams was high on the list when he retired.  Time to check on that.

Here is a question that I have yet to check for an answer.  How many guys with 426 (or 400) or more homers have never led the league in homers?  Williams never did.

Stan Musial and Willie Stargell are 30th.  Every player up to #48 passed Williams after he retired including Carl Yastrzemski.  That's 17 guys already.

#19-29 includes five more guys who moved ahead of Williams.

#10-18 includes five more.

#1-9 includes another five.

That's 32 guys, most of them who didn't play until Williams retired in 1976.  He sure looked like a star when he was 17th on the all-time home run list.  #17 now is Mickey Mantle with 536 homers.

I guess I'm old.  That's fitting after yesterday.  I was running a track race and after finishing one of the timers stopped me to ask me my age and he said "we were betting how old your were".  Ouch.  Time to either do a jigsaw puzzle, work on the garden or do another post at 4:00 am.