1973s and 1974s Along With Another 2020 Goal

I finished organizing my Kellogg's cards from 1973 and 1974.  The 1973s were easy to do since I rarely get any of them.  What also makes them easy to organize?  No cracks.  I have some with edges that have lost their luster or rounded corners like 1970s Topps cards, but that is less prevalent than the problems I have with Kellogg's cards from other years.

I've always liked the 1973s and I will continue to do so.  I did get cards from a factory set and it is a low risk purchase since the cards can't be cracked. 

The 1974s were the first set that I finished as a kid who was addicted to Sugar Frosted Flakes.  I did it by eating lots of cereal and trading with friends.   I don't remember how long it took to finish the set.  It was probably at least a year.

After sorting my 1974s I realize that I am still in the same place as last year.  I can't seem to find cards 1 - 10 without major cracks.  That is now near the top of my goals for 2020.  I am going to actively seek these cards via trade, purchase, etc.

There is one problem with my plan.  Nolan Ryan is card number 8.  Sometimes I think I might as well buy the entire set rather than spend $20+ on the Ryan card.  I am going to track that next year and see what set prices are like as well as Ryans that are not graded. 

1974 Kellogg's Cards #01 - #09 - PSA

I mentioned that I picked up a few low-numbered Kellogg's cards over the weekend.  It seems like the first nine crack more than the others.  Was it due to more people storing them in nine-pocket pages? 

I decided to check on PSA to see if there are any noticeable differences in 9s and 10s. 

Here is a breakdown of 10s from PSA. 

#10s for a card        #cards in the set that fall into that range

10-19                       3    Monday (#02), Fisk (#05), Santo (#07)
20-29                       3    Gibson (#01),  Coleman (#03), Ryan (#08)
30-39                       4    Campaneris (#04), Luzinski (#09), Otis (#17), Allen (#33)
40-49                       6
50-59                      12
60-69                       5     Palmer (#06)
70-79                       3
80-89                       5
90-99                       4
100+                        9

Of the 54 cards, 12 different ones have had 50-59 10s.  All of the other stars in the set have more 10s than Palmer except Blyleven who has the same number - 64. 

Palmer is the only aberration.  I imagine it would be difficult to decide if a regular card were good enough to send away for grading.  It seems much worse to figure out if a 3-D card should be graded.  I would probably need to consult with someone who has an eye for that if I ever decided to try getting a card graded. 

1974 Kellogg's Baseball Card Backs #40 - 42

Back at it again before I get too tired out tonight.

#42 - Cookie Rojas

Of course I still call him Cookie Ro-Jazz since that is how my brother said his name.

Movies make for a different hobby than the usual sports.

Not on the card - I would never had known that he got MVP votes in three different seasons including one with Philadelphia.

#41 - Sparky Lyle

The back of his card actually mentions the oddity of him always being groomed as a relief pitcher.  It mentions that he has not started a game in the majors.  I think I mentioned that in a previous post.

#40 - Chris Speier

Not many guys have three consecutive vowels in their name.  Let's not count the guys like Meyer where the y is definitely a consonant.  It's been a long time since fourth grade, sorry.  I will address this in a future post.

He was a starting shortstop at age 20.  He's said to be one of the best hitting shortstops in the game. 

Not on the card - he played a long time (1971 - 1989) for a guy who never hit 15 homers or 71 RBIs again.  

He was an all-star in 1972, 1973 and 1974.