Corn Flakes Baseball Greats Display

I got this display a long time ago and I've yet to fill it with the 15 cards that belong in there.  I guess that will happen sometime.

I'm going to use this to display my 15 favorite Kellogg's cards.  I don't know which cards will be included, but I will come up with this list once I complete showing the 1972 All-Time Greats card backs.   

1972 Kellogg's All-Time Greats Baseball Card Backs - #14 Lou Gehrig

I mentioned previously that I wasn't able to chase these cards as a kid since we didn't buy the products, but there is more.  We started going to card shows in 1975.  These events were nothing like today's events.  In 1975 there might have been people selling newer cards, but I don't remember much about that.

What I remember is seeing stacks and stacks of old baseball cards everywhere.  Some people had albums and pages of some kind, but most of the cards were just in stacks on the dealer tables.  My normal $20 - 35 would certainly all be spent, but I don't think I ever bought a card newer than 1969.

Once a dealer was treating us like we didn't know our stuff so we asked him about a 1933 Goudey Lou Gehrig.  I wasn't going to spend all of my money on one card but when he told us $50 we debated for a while whether we should pool our money and buy it.  No, I was (and still am) too cheap to do that.  I rarely spent more than $2 on any card.  Instead I bought a bunch of cheap cards that probably had soft corners.

Back to the Lou Gehrig card, one of my favorites.

#14 - Lou Gehrig

Great photos on the front and back.  He died from a paralyzing disease which caused him to retire after the 1939 season.  His 2,130 games streak is mentioned too.

The career highlights start by mentioning Wally Pipp and his headache.   Gehrig played every day until asking manager Joe McCarthy to take him out in early May of 1939.  He stayed with the team all season, but he never played again. 

After his retirement he was immediately named to the Hall of Fame in a Special Election.  No vote counts are shown on baseball-reference.com.  Only one other player has been named to the Hall of Fame via a Special Election - Roberto Clemente. 

The card mentions Lou Gehrig day and Babe's 60-homer season when Gehrig took home the MVP Award.

One last Gehrig story.  About 30 years ago I had my hands on a Ruth/Gehrig ball and a ball from the entire Yankees team from one of those years.  How?  A friend's grandmother was a classmate and friend of Gehrig's from Columbia University.  It was cool to hold them knowing that they were authentic.  Those baseballs weren't going to leave that family, which is awesome.  I wonder if they still have them?  If they lived in my area I would certainly find out. 

Time for Kellogg's All-Time Great Card Backs - #15 Ty Cobb

I've always liked these card backs and these cards.  It doesn't bother me that they are the same cards as the 1970 Rold Gold cards except for the date stamp on the bottom.

I like that there is a picture, a bio, career highlights and career stats including World Series stats.  I don't like that there are not year-by-year stats and some demographic information about the players who all played long before my time.

#15 - Ty Cobb

Cobb was called the most feared player in the game.  A .367 career average, highest in history, will do that.  Add stolen bases, RBIs and even homers and that makes him dominant.

He used a split-hand grip.  I wonder if kids read about that in the early 1970s and then tried it out.

He led the league in hitting for 12 of 13 years at one point in his career.  In the "off" year he hit .371.  Baseball-reference.com now credits him with hitting .370 in 1916.  Tris Speaker hit .386 to stop Cobb's streak.  Cobb won 12 batting titles and he led the league in numerous other categories.

Cobb hit .401 later in his career without winning a batting title.  George Sisler hit .420 in 1922 to deny Cobb another title.

He managed the Tigers for six years without taking them to the World Series.  His last post-season game was in 1909 and he retired in 1928.

Not on the card but included on the regular 1972 cards -

Position - Outfield
Height - 6-1
Weight - 175
Hobby - being disliked?

Not on the card - when the first Hall of Fame class was voted in, Cobb had more votes than the other five elected - Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson and Walter Johnson.

Was Topps Paying Attention to Rold Gold Cards?

 The 1970 Rold Gold card set had great card backs, even including a photo of the player.  The 1972 Kellogg's All-Time Greats card shown below is identical other than the date at the bottom.

The card provides lots of career highlights and summary information since they skipped yearly statistics.  I always liked the statistics, but it was nice to read something about these players who I never watched play the game.  

In 1971 Topps added a picture to the back of their baseball cards for the first time.  Did they get this idea from the Rold Gold cards?  Whey did Topps abandon the idea again until 1993?

Kellogg's then added photos to the back of their cards in 1971. 

The Spectrum of Unopened Kellogg's Cards

Yesterday in the mail I got a few packages.  I didn't get to check out the cards, but here are the main ones.

These did not come from the same seller.  The cards couldn't be more different, but they are both in the original wrapper.  Both are also lacking the 3-D coating which is good in some ways because they won't be cracking.  They are also not susceptible to curling.  So, they really aren't 3-D cards at all.

Do I love them?  Absolutely. 

They have something else in common - neither was issued in the United States.  One is from Canada and the other is from Puerto Rico. 

Some Card Organizing to Do Once School is Out

All of the cards on my table need to get organized, but I never seem to finish.  If I don't finish in the next month I will be too busy coaching track to get it done.  At least being unorganized means that I am continually getting new Kellogg's cards. 

I really should get organized and sell off things that I don't need so that I can afford some other stuff.  I just never seem to find time for that. 

I'm going to make one goal - get my want list updated so that I can at least post what I am trying to find.  That means going through everything, especially the 1971 variations - I know that I need a bunch of them and condition doesn't matter to me on those.

Now I need to get a new car.  I haven't done that in 10 years. 

Happy Birthdays

52 MLB players have birthdays today.  Since Ty Cobb is one of them, I thought that this day might be near the top of the list for most career hits for players born on a day.  Wrong I was.

Cobb had about 31% of the hits for players born on 12-18.  Bill Skowron was second with 1,566.  Roy Howell is the only other player on the list who got onto a Kellogg's card.  Howell is fifth on this list with 991 hits.  This group of players has over 13,000 hits.  I have no idea if that is a lot.

Four days during the year have over 20,000 career hits by players born on that day. 

06-15 - 56 players; Leader - Wade Boggs (3011), Billy Williams (2711), Brett Butler (2375);

10-30 - 66 players; Leader - Ed Delahanty (2597);

12-20 - 57 players;  Leader - Cecil Cooper (2192); 10 players over 1,000 hits.

10-18 - 63 players; Leader - Willie Horton (1983)


What does all of this mean?  Nothing.  I just decided to check it out instead of just mentioning that today is Ty Cobb's birthday.

What Other Things Do You Collect?

I saw this in my room today.  It is totally unrelated to Kellogg's cards, baseball cards, Sportscaster cards and Kenner Starting Lineups - all things that I collect.

I collect items from the PGA Tour Western Open.  This event is now known as the BMW Championship, a Tour Playoff event.  In years when the event is in the Midwest I caddie in the Pro-Am the day before the tournament.

When I was a teen, I caddied in this event in the days when professional caddies weren't allowed to work the tournament.  Two of my brothers also had the honor of being selected to caddie in the Western Open.  

Besides the ticket, player badges, patron passes and a few other newer items, I have a bunch of event used scorecards, a flag from the green and a few other promotional items and programs.  I am looking for other items that exist from this event.  

The main charity to benefit from this tournament is the Evans Scholar Foundation.  As an Evans Scholar alum, this has always been something that I've been interested in learning more about.  I am reminded of this during this week every year as my students hear from colleges about their applications.  I was awarded my scholarship during this week when I was a high schooler.

The scholarship is named for golfer Chick Evans who started it.  I am also always looking for Evans stuff, but that is more difficult since he played his best golf beginning before World War I.  Evans died before I became an Evans Scholar so I never got a chance to meet him or thank him.  

Do anyone of you have collecting interests outside of regular sports cards and Kellogg's cards?  Is it specific and is there a reason for it?

To Buy or Not to Buy?

Sometimes I just throw a bid on a lot of Kellogg's cards and then ignore the auction.  Recently, I ended up with three different lots of Pete Rose Kellogg's cards in this manner.  Do any of you buy Pete Rose cards?  

I realize that there are differing opinions about whether he should be in the Hall of Fame.  I'm not 100% certain where I stand on this so please try to reply only regarding his Kellogg's cards. 

Over 2,314 Hits But Not More HIts Than Games Played

Harold Baines had 2,866 hits in 2,830 games.  He had 1,062 walks.  There were a lot more names than I expected on this list (through 2016).  There are a few different reasons for this.  Let me give it a shot, in order by most hits.  Here are the top 20 in this category with Mathews having 2,315 career hits and being 148th on the all-time hit list through 2016. 

Rickey Henderson - 2,190 walks;
Barry Bonds - 2,558 walks
Omar Vizquel - 1,028 walks; he was H> G until age 41 when he became a defensive replacement
Brooks Robinson - 860 walks; he was H > G until his last three seasons - his averages were poor
Tony Perez - 925 walks; he was H > G until playing part-time from the ages of 42 - 44
Rusty Staub - 1,255 walks;  the first guy way under (-235); part-time play from age 37 - 41
Rabbit Maranville - 839 walks;  he hovered near even during his career and lost a bit at the end
Luis Gonzalez - exactly equal with 1,155 walks;  some part-time play in his last season
Reggie Jackson - 1,375 walks;  way under (-236);  season high in hits was only 158
Steve Finley - 844 walks; his last two seasons dropped him under - part-time play?
Joe Morgan - 1,865 walks
Ozzie Smith - 1,072 walks; .262 average;  some years batting 8th
Dwight Evans - 1,391 walks
Chili Davis - 1,194 walks
Lou Whitaker - 1,197 walks; one season hitting .233 got his G > H
Carlton Fisk - 849 walks;  a few week averages with the White Sox (.231, .238, .221, .241)
Paul Konerko - was H > G until his last season when he didn't play full-time
Jim Thome - 1,747 walks
Dave Concepcion - 736 walks; .267 average; his first few seasons he had low averages and less ABs
Eddie Mathews - 1,444 walks;  low averages his last four seasons - part-time play too?

Eddie Mathews ranks 24th in career walks with 1,444.  Henderson, Bonds Morgan, Evans, and Thome are way up on the walks list. 

Some of the guys are on this list since they walked so frequently.  Some are on the list because of their batting average and their ability to get lots of walks. 

Others are on the list because at the beginning of their career they'd get in lots of games but they wouldn't play the entire game.  That limited their chances to add to their hit totals.  Some guys got onto the list by playing into their 40s and being used in a part-time role. 

I'm still not impressed that Baines isn't on this list, because of the top 148 players in career hits only 20 are on this list. 

Miles and Miles and Miles

I am running a one-mile race tomorrow.  Since I've gotten the Layman database re-loaded onto my macbook I can get back to the searches that I like to do.

It turns out that there have been very few MLB players with the first names of Miles or Myles.  I found two up until 2016 - I really need to update the data now that I've restored it.  I found five players with a last name of Miles.

None of these players got onto a Kellogg's card.  So, I went the extra distance and attempted to find someone who had a Kellogg's card.  Nope.  I got desperate and used the Spanish word Milla.  Hey, that will work.  Felix Millan will have to do.  He is in the 1976 Kellogg's Baseball card set.

I will try to get back to the cards.  Millan was also included in the 1974 Kellogg's set.

Update - I ended up racing someone named Miles.  Since my qualifying time wasn't very fast I ended up running with lots of kids between the ages of 12 and 16 along with some old guys instead of being with the 17 - 30 year-olds who run fast.   I ended up far in front by the end of the race with a time around 5:18 - 5:20.  Unfortunately, the FAT system screwed up and had me at 5:27 and not even winning my heat.  It was a good starting point to try getting myself under 5:00 by the Summer.

Kellogg's Sheets and Proof Sheets

Does anyone have uncut sheets of at least 18 cards?

This sheet doesn't contain the entire set.  There are six rows of 15 cards, but there are only five different cards per row.  So, there are 30 different cards here.  Lots of Hall of Famers on this sheet including Harold Baines. 

I picked up a sheet from  1981 sheet on ebay.  It didn't cost much and I think they are still being offered.  They are obviously not proof sheets.  Other than having documentation, how does one determine if a sheet is just an uncut sheet or if it a proof sheet.

A few years back a bunch of proof sheets were auctioned off and I grabbed the images.  I hope that I can find them on one of my backups. 

Proof sheet or not, I still like these either way.  Does anyone have any of these?  Which ones?  How did you acquire it?

1978 Kellogg's Baseball Card Backs #01 - 03

Time to forget about the fact that I have no car and it now takes me about 80 - 90 minutes to get to work.  Let me finish a glimpse at the back of the 1978 Kellogg's baseball cards.

I've been having problems getting these cards without cracks, especially the Schmidt.  I seem to have problems getting Mike Schmidt in any Kellogg's set.

#03 - Mike Schmidt

I really love the old Phillies logo.  Schmidt didn't win his fourth consecutive HR title but in four full seasons he won three and tied his career high in 1977 without winning the title. 

Not on the card - he ended up with eight HR titles in his career.  

He was one of only eight players in the 1900s to hit four HRs in a game.  He was the only NL player to do it in four consecutive at-bats.

Not on the card - I was keeping score of that game in one of those old brown little league / softball score books.  I wish I still had it, even though it was a mess.  

Not on the card and probably not on Steve Carlton's - Steve got a no-decision after giving up seven runs in 1-2/3 innings.  The Cubs led 13-2 at one point with Rich Reuschel pitching.  The Phillies won 18-16. 

Not on the card - Jim Lonborg got his only NL and last career save.  He had four saves in 15 seasons.

Not on the card - Schmidt didn't homer until the fifth inning.  He then added homers in the 7th, 8th and 10th innings.  Like Rennie Stennett's 7-for-7 game, both Rick and Paul Reuschel were victims of Schmidt's bat.   

Not on the card - Schmidt homered the next day late in the game off of Paul Reuschel.   After a travel day he connected against John Candelaria.  The next day he got another one off of Doc Medich.   

02 - Bucky Dent

How's shark fishing for a hobby.  He must have clauses in his contracts like George Brett.  Even batting last he had a career high of eight homers. 

He was traded by the White Sox for Oscar Gamble who had a big year in Chicago in 1977.


Not on the card - Dent was also know for his HRs or should I say HR singular.  In 1978 he homered in a tie-breaker game 163 against the Red Sox to give the Yankees a lead on their way to keeping the Curse of the Bambino.   He had only 40 career homers in 12 years, but Red Sox fans still call him Bucky F*ing Dent..

#01 - Steve Carlton

The picture from the front disappeared.  I will add it at some point.  

He had his lowest ERA in five seasons on his was to 23 wins and a  second Cy Young Award.  Those seven earned runs in the Schmidt game moved his ERA 0.18 higher than it would have been.  

Not on the card - he won two more Cy Young Awards.  

Smith and Baines - Chicago Connections

Baines batted seven times against Lee Smith.  He was 2-for-5 with two walks and no RBIs or homers.  Both spent lots of time in Chicago so I was very interested in their selection to the Hall of Fame today by the Today's Game Era Committee.  I was also surprised to see that they were teammates in Baltimore in 1994.

Baines was on the Hall of Fame ballot for five years.  He never received more than 33 votes - 539 ballots were cast that year.  That's barely 6% of the vote when 75% was needed for induction.  He was dropped for not getting enough consideration.

Smith was on the ballot for the maximum 15 years.  He got lots of consideration each year wth his range of votes being between 150 and 290.  That range varied be

tween 30% and 50.6%.

Why the difference?  Baines accrued solid numbers since he played so long, but he managed 384 career homers without ever getting more than 29 in a season.  He exceeded 100 RBIs in three of 22 seasons.  He led the league only once in one category - slugging percentage.  Baines had MVP votes in four seasons.  He finished 9th, 10th, 13th and 20th.

Baines had a great reputation with the White Sox and he's still a big part of their organization.  I happy for him, but is this smaller committee going to compare future nominees to Baines?  That puts a lot more guys in and I'm okay with that. 

Lee Smith was at one point the all-time career leader in saves.  I was all for his entry into the Hall of Fame because he was a league leader.  He led the league in saves four times,   In all four of those seasons he finished in the top-10 in the Cy Young voting - he finished 2nd (to Tom Glavine who I'd not been a fan of since he actively spoke during the 1994 strike), 4th, 5th and 9th.  He also got MVP votes in four different seasons, finishing as high as 8th. 

Baines had a card in the 1983 Kellogg's baseball card set.  Here is an image that I took for an uncut sheet of 16 cards.  Smith was just a bit too late to get included because he first led the league in saves in 1983.

1978 Kellogg's Card Backs - #04 - 06

I've been struggling with car issues all week.  I'm also trying to buy a new car but the events that have transpired could certainly work their way into a sit-com somehow.  I need this break so it's time to check out the next three card backs from the 1978 Kellogg's baseball card set.


06 - George Brett

George listed his hobbies as horses and surfing.  I imagine that was an issue with contract negotiations.

He already has a career average of .308.  And, of course, he already has injuries.  

Wow, he struck out  only 24 times in 564 at-bats.  

He is the younger brother of Ken who also got himself into a Kellogg's set.  

Back to the strikeouts.  Only 24 players since WWII have batted that many times in a season and struck out less than 25 times. Nellie Fox did this 12 times and no one else managed to do it more than three times.  It has only happened six times since Brett did this and two of those times it was Tony Gwynn.

05 - Al Cowens

Cowens was teammates with Brett for six seasons.  He preferred to keep his hobbies standard for MLB players - hunting and fishing.

He was a top candidate for AL MVP.  I didn't remember him having such amazing stats.  He played in all 162 games in 1977.  His 112 RBIs is a team record.  

He has been recognized as having great range in the outfield to go along with a strong arm.

Not on the card - he was a Gold Glove winner in 1977.   Dwight Evans, Fred Lynn and Dwayne Murphy kept him from winning another Gold Glove Award.  

Not on the card - he was second to Rod Carew (100 RBIs and .388 average) in the MVP voting.  He never got MVP votes in any of year.   Cowens never exceeded 78 RBIs or an average of .295 in his 13 seasons. 

04 - Ken Griffey

Griffey listed his hobby as drawing cartoons.  I wonder if that is still a hobby of his.  

Like Brett, Ken's first name is also George.  Also like Brett, Griffey hit over .300 for the last three seasons.  He narrowly missed the 1976 batting title when Bill Madlock went 4-for-4 on the last day of the season.

Not on the card - he just Ken Griffey from my childhood, not Ken Griffey, Sr.  He had a career .296 average, 2,143 hits and 200 stolen bases in his career.  

Not on the card - he bested Junior in steals and career average, but Ken Griffey never led the league in any batting category like his son did (HR, RBIs, Runs and a few others).  

How Many Is Too Many of a Kellogg's Card?

I mentioned that the lot of 1980 unopened packs included 128 cards of Claudell Washington.  I actually have two Kellogg's cards from 1983 in larger numbers than that - George Brett and Fernando Valenzuela.  I ended up buying an entire box of each of these two.  Why?  My answer - one low bid and I found out a few days later that I was the only one dumb enough to get 600 or so Fernandos.  I doubt that I will ever count them.  Why?  My wife's answer - !*Y$!*$&!&!%&#!%%.

From cereal boxes I think the most I've gotten was about five Steve Carlton's in 1978, three of them at once.

Have any of you gotten large numbers of a single card without really trying to do so?  How did that happen?

Too Busy To Post Much - And That is Good

I finally recovered my data from my old computer.  Now I'm going to spend the evening cleaning it up and getting all of it on my new computer.  Even though everything is no longer 100% accurate, it will be great to have that as a starting point to inventory and create my want list.

1978 Kellogg's Baseball Card Backs #07 - 09

I've finally gotten to the first page of the binder for this set. 

09 - Tom Johnson

My first thought on getting this card was - "who?".  He had 16 wins and 15 saves in 1977.   The St. Paul native also stayed nearby by playing for the University of Minnesota.

His 16 wins all came in relief last year, which is probably why he was not well known.  Johnson's success allowed the Twins to give up Bill Campbell in the re-entry draft.  Here is some information -- Baseball-Reference - Re-Entry Draft

Not on the card - in 1976 Campbell had 17 wins, all in relief, to go along with 20 saves.  The "re-entry draft" was really free agency.   The Twins certainly took a chance letting Campbell go after 1976 since Johnson had four career saves at that point.  The plan seemed to be good since Johnson had a great season in 1977.  

A shoulder injury ended his MLB career after the 1978 though he did pitch in the minors until 1980.

Campbell had a great season with Boston in 1977, leading the league with 31 saves.  He pitched another 10 years in relief, but he never got more than nine saves in a season.  

08 - Rich Gossage

It was surprising to read that Gossage led the Pirates in strikeouts in 1977 since he only pitched 133 innings.   151 K's is impressive in 133 innings.  John Candelaria won 20 games but only managed 133 K's in 230+ innings.

Gossage played out his option after the 1977 season and he was in the re-entry draft.  The Yankees signed him after the 1977 season.  The Yankee logo appears on the back of this card. 

Not on the card - Gossage's 1977 Topps card shows him on the White Sox and his 1978 card depicts him as a Yankee.  Does he have other Pirate cards?  I found that he has at least one Hostess card, even if it has a poorly airbrushed hat.

07 - Lou Brock

I like how they decided to write on the side of the card since Brock had played so many seasons.  Brock has now passed Ty Cobb in career stolen bases, and Kellogg's mentioned that Brock is destined for the Hall of Fame.  

Not on the card - stolen bases at all in the stats.  I've mentioned this before.  

Not on the card - Brock finished with 938 stolen bases.  Cobb is now credited with 897 steals.  Stat updates from the earlier days of baseball have been fairly common.  Baseball-reference.com shows Billy Hamilton with 914 steals - this is Hamilton who played from 1888 - 1901.

1978 Kellogg's Baseball Card Backs #10 - 12

Back for the next three cards in the 1978 set.  There have been some nice card backs in this set so I hope the trend continues.

#12 - Dan Meyer

Meyer mentions handball as a hobby.  I don't remember seeing that on any other cards so far.  He had a solid year with the Mariners after being selected in the Expansion Draft.  

He was signed as a second baseman but he also played first base and left field.  

Not on the card - I would never have pictured him playing second base.  In his career he played in 952 games in the field (including DH).  He played 1B, 3B, LF, RF, CF and DH but he never played any games at 2B.  

#11 - Dave Winfield

How are those hobbies - art, fashion and reading?  I will need to check his other cards to see what he mentioned.  He listed the same ones in 1977 and two of them in 1980.

He is a star who never played in the minors.  He had lots of career bests and led the Padres in almost anything.

Winfield was a basketball and baseball star at the University of Minnesota.  I didn't know that he was also a star pitcher with a 13-2 record.

He was drafted by the Atlanta Hawks (NBA), the Padres (MLB), the Utah Stars (ABA) and the Minnesota Vikings (NFL).  

#10 - George Foster

Foster is celebrating his 70th birthday today.  I wonder if he will play any records?

In 1977 Foster became the first player since Willie Mays in 1965 to get 50+ homers.  His RBI total of 149 was the most since Tommy Davis had 153 in 1962.  

He was traded from the Giants to the Reds.  

Not on the card - that trade in 1971 was for Frank Duffy and Vern Geishert.  The Reds got 11 seasons, mostly amazing out of Foster.  Duffy lasted until the end of that season and ended up in another bad Giants trade where they got Sam McDowell for Duffy and Gaylord Perry.  Geishert only played in the majors in 1969.  

Kellogg's said that "Foster finally convinced the Reds he was the answer to their lingering left field problem."  What does that mean?  He did play some of each outfield position for a few years, but in 1977 he played 143 of his 158 games in left field.

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.