Monday, May 25, 2020

Bank Holiday Bonus - some oddball freebies

It's a Bank Holiday, which means a free day for me off work. In keeping with the theme of the day, here are some cards that were originally free giveaways.

This kind of baseball card is often referred to as an 'oddball' because they weren't issued by the main manufacturers, or sold in packs in stores. And some, as we will see, aren't even technically "cards".

All today's cards arrived in various joblots. I love it when oddballs turn up alongside the usual selection of junk wax from the main manufacturers.

Card Number 46: Post Cereal 1991; #10


Post aren't a well known breakfast brand in the UK. Originally set up as a rival to the Kellogg's company, they now sell the kind of crazy sugared cereal mocked mercilessly in Calvin & Hobbes cartoons. Back in 1991 they also gave away baseball cards.

I quite like this card. It's a decent close up photo of Tony at bat, ready to receive a pitch. The blue and yellow borders set the card off nicely.


The back is a bit dull. The card is copyright MSA, which stands for Michael Schechter Associates, who produced a whole load of promotional cards and items for various big brands.

Although MSA only had a licensing agreement with the MLBPA, they still used the Padres name on both the front and the back of the card. The pictures looks airbrushed, though. This was before the licensing agreements restricted the use of the team names to cards printed under a MLB license only.

Card Number 47: Duracell Power Player, 1993; #14



Duracell is a well known brand of battery in the UK, so no explanation needed.

This is cool card with Tony sliding into base. You can see the picture has been photoshopped to take out all the detail on his shirt, though - not just the word Padres but the pinstripes too.

The MLBPA logo is on the front of the card, showing its semi-official status. They still use the team name, though.


The back is colourful with a little headshot and a nicely laid out stats chart. Here we see this is another card produced by MSA.

And finally, a card that isn't really a card.

'Card' Number 48: Fantastic Sam's Disc, 1988; #18

Due to an error in counting, I had two cards numbered 48, which I only discovered months later, so this card has now been relocated and renumbered as #515



If you want to see it in full, then check out my post from 2 December!

So, those are my Bank Holiday Bonus cards. I hope you enjoyed seeing these oddballs.

Total: 47/394

1 comment:

  1. Cool to see you had the day off as well. Here in the states we celebrated Memorial Day, which honors the people who died while serving in our armed forces. Do you celebrate the same thing or something different?

    As for the cards... I love oddballs. I actually jut purchased a set of MSA discs from the 70's.

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