The Last of the 1981 Kellogg's Card Backs - #09-01 This Has Been Much More Fun Than I Imagined

Wow.  I rarely finish anything I start that quickly.  It's great to be done with all of the fine print on this set.  I do like that Kellogg's spent the time writing down something about each player.

As a kid I immediately read the back of the card.  Since the late 1980s kids immediately look at the back for the card number and then they immediately look at some kind of price guide to see what the card is worth.  Ick!

#09 Jim Rice - it seems like almost every player in the set was injured in 1980.   Kellogg's called Boston's 83-77 record "poor".  He is active in raising funds for children's cancer research.  Not on the card - calling that record poor proves that the writer didn't follow Chicago's teams.  Rice's charitable days continued long after he retired from baseball.

#08 George Brett - hobby - surfing.  Dude!  Nice to have a card back them mentions him with Babe Ruth, Roger Maris and Ted Williams.  But ever better - he's listed as one of the game's most eligible bachelors.  Not on the card - my wife would trade me for him in an instant.   Brett had 118 RBIs in 117 games.  Only 64 times in MLB history has a player gotten to 100 RBIs and had more RBIs than games.  Can you name the four players who have done this since Brett did it?  Hint - two of the four happened in 1994 and might not have happened in a full season.

#07 Bucky Dent - it is mentioned that the first MLB game he saw was a game he played in.  I know there others like that.  He was the 1978 World Series MVP but he's more known for his playoff homer against the Red Sox.  Not on the card - even though I grew up watching him play for the White Sox I no longer can call him Bucky Dent.  Instead he's always got the name that Red Sox fans gave him - Bucky F-ing Dent.

#06 Nolan Ryan - struck out Cesar Geronimo for #3,000 in 1980.  Not on the card - Bob Gibson struck out Geronimo for his 3,000th in 1974.

#05 Mike Schmidt - he was the MVP of the season and the World Series.  Not on the card - He repeated as MVP in 1981 and added a third award in 1986.

#04 Al Oliver - he used to have personalized license plates that read "AL HITS".  Now that he has surpassed 2,000 hits he predicts he will surpass 3,000 in seven more years.  He is the only player wearing number 0.   Not on the card - now 16 players have worn that number but none as long as Al did.  He only played five more years and he ended up with 2,743 hits and a .303 average.

#03 Reggie Jackson - tied for the league lead with 41 homers.  Not on the card - Reggie said that if he played in NY he'd have a candy bar named after him.  In 1978 he got the Reggie Bar.

#02 Jim Palmer - nothing exciting to report.  Injuries and three Cy Young Awards.  Not on the card - he won World Series games 17 years apart.

#01 George Foster - nothing exciting to report here too.  Not on the card - he was on seven Kellogg's cards and twice he was card #1.