In terms of milestone cards on this blog, this is probably the kookiest.
Card Number 700: Kraft Home Plate Heroes, 1987; #44
This card was originally part of food packaging - most likely a famous Mac'n'Cheese packet. The original Kraft Dinner, as serenaded by Barenaked Ladies in their song, If I Had a Million Dollars. Back in 1987, someone very carefully cut along the dotted lines and voila, created a baseball card!
As you have probably guessed, I am a fan of oddball cards like these. In one way they recapture the essential essence of trading cards - even down to being part of the packaging that would usually get thrown away. (The first cigarette cards were printed on the cardboard stiffeners inserted to prevent the packets from getting crushed. How many ended up in the bin?) Great care has been taken to preserve something that is quite literally garbage. One person's trash is another's treasure... quite literally.
For comparison purposes here are the other milestone cards on my blog.
#100 - DonRuss "Tony Gwynn Tribute", 2015; #4 (June 2020)
#200 - Topps, 2000; #468 (July 2020)
#300 - Pinnacle. 1996; #336 (August 2020)
#394 (my blogging target) - Topps, 1985 All Star Card; #717 (October 2020)
#400 - Pacific Invincible Seismic Force (running photo variant), 1999; #16 (October 2020)
#500 - Topps Rookie of the Week, 2006; #22 (November 2020)
#600 - Topps Power Boosters, 1996; #1 (February 2021)
Total: 700 cards
1987 is around the time I started collecting baseball cards. I don't ever remember these on the side of Kraft Mac N Cheese, although they obviously were. Granted I was 9 years old at the time.
ReplyDeleteThe oddball cards are a lost art in sports card collecting.
Some Kraft Mac n Cheese sounds delicious right now.
ReplyDelete