Lets gloss over the dullness

I'm on to the last remnants of the most recent joblot of cards from eBay. I think all the cards I've posted from this parcel have been 'oddities' in some way and these are no different.

If you have ever opened a junk wax era packet of Topps cards you will have found some little promotional cards that you could collect and send away for more cards. These mailaway cards were advertised as "glossy", and, while they definitely had a slight shine to them, they just weren't very interesting.

Card Number 701: Topps All-Star Collector's Edition, 1987; #2

I am fairly certain this photo was taken at the same time as the All Star card in the flagship set for 1987. Compare the background and also Tony's right sleeve with the white undershirt sticking out.

The back is very boring.

These cards could be bought in six small units or ordered as one big set of sixty. It does make me wonder if some of those sets were more popular than others if kids couldn't afford the full set in one go.

Card Number 702: Topps All-Star Collector's Edition, 1988; #38

This is another familiar-looking photo, but I can't find the card it reminds me of. It's possible that I just have a lot of cards where Tony looks like this.

The back is equally as dull.

Card Number 703: Topps All-Star Collector's Edition, 1989; #58

Again, this is a deja vu photo. It's very similar to the photo used on Tony's base card in 1988.

However, I think this might be from a different game because the fans in the background look different and there also seems to be different equipment on the bench of the dug-out in the background.

All I can say about the cardback is at least Topps varied the colours they used each year.

I wonder what the kids who sent off their pocket money and tokens to Topps thought of these cards when they arrived in the mail. I hope they felt they were getting their money's worth. The photos are nice and big, but the cardbacks are beyond boring.

Total: 703 cards

Karefully Kut Kraft (Kard #700)

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!

This card image was licensed from the Player's Association rather than Major League Baseball, through Michael Schechter Associates, who specialised in this sort of promotional material. The lack of a Major League Baseball licence explains why Tony's hat is heavily airbrushed. 

The cardback is... well, it would have been the inside of the box.

I think that scan might be upside down. How coud you tell?

Kraft printed two players on each box, but mixed and matched them a bit, so pairings exist of Tony with a few other players, including George Brett from the Royals and Jim Rice from the Red Sox. I'm sure someone is trying to collect all the different pairings of all the cards. There are 122 listed on Trading Card Database. 

So, although you would know which players you were getting when you picked up the box, it wouldn't be as easy as just looking for two players you didn't already have. You might end up having to buy a dupe of one player to get the other one you didn't already have. That was a bit of marketing kunning from Kraft, there.

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

Classic reminders of the baseball card bubble

How do you get a license to produce baseball cards without getting a licence to produce baseball cards? Get a licence to produce a tabletop game... that's composed of baseball cards. That's what Game Time did with their Classic Baseball game during the explosion of interest in baseball cards during the late 80s.

The first Classic cards were produced in 1987. 100 cards were shipped with the game and the company then sold expansion packs containing more cards. Tony had a card in the original set, which I blogged about here.

Classic released two more expansion sets in 1988, and the cards were sequentially numbered on from the original game. 

Card Number 698: Classic Baseball (blue expansion set), 1988; #220

This photo is at a slightly odd angle but features what looks like a batting cage and a prominent advert in the background for Jack in the Box resturants.

The back isn't particularly inspiring. There is a bit of player data, but the majority of the space is saved for the questions that would be used as part of the game. There is also a space for an autograph.

Trying to reverse engineer what the game looked like, I'm guessing it was a bit like Trivial Pursuit and questions were in different categories. That's an interesting factoid about Hall of Fame pitcher Warren Spahn.

Game Time carried on producing expansion sets each year for a few years into the early 90s. Having a limited checklist meant that only a few players from each team featured. However, Tony had a card in the 1990 set as well.

Card Number 699: Classic Baseball, 1990; #17

The three expansion packs released by Game Time in 1990 were different sizes - 150 cards, 99 cards, and 50 cards respectively. This card is from the first set released. Tony's brother, Chris Gwynn, was also in this set of cards.

With it's hot pink scribbles, I don't think the designers could make this card could look more like it was from 1990 if they tried. It's a great bunt photo of Tony, which makes it a bit special. I'm blogging this in quick succession to another bunt photo on an oddball card.

The trivia questions on the back includes a reminder of a time when Montreal had a baseball team. 

The Lou Brock Award is still given out every year. I have to admit, I hadn't heard of it. Vince Coleman won it six times in a row in the 1980s. No wonder he was labelled "the thief" on a baseball card. 

Given the restrictive monopoly on licenses for baseball cards at the moment, I'm surprised nobody has used a similar loophole to produce baseball cards that are ostensibly part of a game. That could be a way for another company to produce baseball cards that aren't really baseball cards.

In terms of this blog, I am tantalisingly close to blogging my 700th Tony Gwynn card. However, I am taking some much-needed time out next week. I'm also planning to watch some more games in the UEFA European Championships (which is another reason my blogging has been erratic of late!) 

I will be back blogging in early July to reveal card number 700 and also the few remaining cards in my yet-to-be-blogged folder. See you next month!

Total: 699 cards

Store exclusives part 3 - Hill's

Unlike K-Mart and Woolworth's in the previous two posts, I have no memories attached to Hill's Discount Department Stores. They were a USA-only chain and had disappeared by the first time I went on holiday to the USA. Wikipedia tells me that Hill's started in the 1950s and lasted until 1999 when it was bought out by another company that then ceased trading not long after.

Card Number 697: Hill's Team MVPs, 1989; #16

This is a solid card front, although the picture initially looked like it had been airbrushed. You can just about make out the beginning of the word 'Padres' under Tony's elbow though. The disembodied hand with the catcher's glove in the lower right corner is a fun additional touch. The frame lay out is very nicely designed, particularly the ribbon with Tony's name on. 

The back is simple and effective. If you're going to show a stylised baseball field, then do it in green like this.

Tony had a difficult season in 1988 after winning the batting title in 1987 with a .370 average. He struggled with some injuries early on in 1988 and missed the All Star Game - it was the only All Star Game he was not selected for from 1984 to 1999. Even so, he ended up the Padre with the most hits, most RBI and stolen bases, although he stole less than half the number he had nicked in 1987.

Hills did another set the following year of 'Hill's Hit Men' but Tony wasn't included in that set. So, from my perspective this card means I have another complete run. 

I'm sure someone somewhere has done a project cataloguing all the small standalone sets that were sold during the baseball card boom of the late 1980s. Fleer usually produced a few sets each year, and Topps were producing sets like this for several different retailers. These sets offer something a bit different for collectors and they also act as a reminder of shopping before the Internet when there were these things called shops.

Total: 697 cards

Store exclusives part 2 - Woolworths

After posting my first post in the series on store exclusives yesterday, I discovered Fuji had blogged about store exclusives last week! But he's going to get a surprise in this post...

Woolworth's was a very popular store when I was kid. Known as "Woolies" in the UK, they were famous for having a large pick'n'mix confectionary display. In a lot of places, Woolies was one of the bigger shops and the only place to buy records and CDs, kid's clothing and toys, as well as a range of hardware items. 

Many stores also had cafes and when I was very little my Mum used to take me to the big Woolies in the centre of Birmingham, where we lived. That's one of my earliest memories. I must have been about three years old. I can remember the cafe with its yellow formica tables, and eating sausage, chips and beans, which was a typical offering on a kids' menu at the very end of the 1970s. 

Because it was a ubiquitous high street name in the UK, I remember being surprised to find that it started in America. The British company was independent from 1982, and outlasted its American parent company by about a decade. It was quite a big story when the company closed down all its UK stores around time of the recession of 2008, as it left a big hole in many town centres, particularly in smaller towns across the UK.

Like some other stores, Woolworth - the American one - sold exclusive card sets. I have acquired two cards from them. One has the Woolworth branding on it, but the other is just branded as Topps.

Card Number 695: Topps (Woolworth) Baseball Highlights, 1987; #16

No reference to Woolworth on the front - but this is listed as a Woolworth set on Trading Card Database

I think this photo is of Tony sat in a dug out, which would explain the nondescript wall behind him. On the back is a highlight, in a very bright yellow and purple colour combination.

That's a genuiniely interesting stat on the back. Tony had the most hits and tied for the most runs in the 1986 season, but didn't win the batting title. The comparison of his batting average to on-base percentage shows he didn't take many walks. Tony liked to swing - often on the first pitch - so popped up and ground out fairly regularly. 

As an aside, the packaging for this card set says it was printed in Ireland, as were quite a few other Topps products at the time. This means this card was printed in Europe, shipped to the USA, and now it has travelled all the way back across the Atlantic Ocean to Wales!

Card Number 696: Woolworth Baseball Highlights, 1988; #12

Woolworth had their branding front and centre on this card.

Tony is swinging in the photo. The back has Tony's second batting title as a highlight.

56 stolen bases in a season is an incredible feat. I've said this before, but Tony's ability to get on base and steal an extra 90 yards would have made him the perfect Moneyball player when Moneyball came along.

Topps and Woolworth partnered on exclusive sets for three more years after these ones, but Tony did not feature in those sets. So, that make these two Woolworth cards a "complete run" of Tony's cards. 

The series on store exclusives continues tomorrow!

Total: 696 cards

Store exclusives part 1 - K-Mart

I have a funny story about K-Mart. On our first road trip to America, Cathy and I filled up a trolley with cool stuff in a K-mart and then had our credit card declined. So we had to go back to the hotel to get our traveller's cheques. When we got back to the store the cashier was very surprised to see us and said they were just about to start putting all the stuff back on the shelves! (We had a few problems with our credit card that holiday - I've learned to always let the credit card comapny know that we are going abroad!)

Anyway, K-Mart have had a longstanding relationship with Topps. These days that means exclusive parallels or special inserts in packs of Topps baseball cards sold in K-Mart. But in the late 1980s and early 1990s, it meant exclusive small sets sold only in K-Mart stores. I've blogged about a K-Mart card from 1990 previously. 

Card Number 693: K-Mart Memorable Moments, 1988; #12

This isn't the most exciting card front. The photo is of Tony toward the end of his swing. It's hard to make out, but it looks like he has got his eyes closed.

Consdering this set was about 'Memorable Moments of the Eighties', the moment related to Tony was a bit obscure - a player of the month award in 1987. Admittedly, those are impressive monthly stats. Was that one of the most memorable moments of the 80s though?

This does underline how Tony was the master of hitting singles. Only a quarter of his 44 successful contacts in June 1987 were extra-base hits.

Card Number 694: K-Mart Dream Team, 1989; #29

I really like the font they used for the set name. It reminds me of bubblegum.

This photo looks a bit odd. It offers a good view of one of Tony's Mims Bandz though.

Tony earned his place on the Dream Team as the National League's 'Rookie of the 80s'. That's surprising to me, given his trio of batting titles up to this point. 

What I like about this card is the complete minor league record on a separate line. That would have been a really good feature on regular Topps cards, but they didn't do it for some reason.

Total: 694 cards (300 above my original target!)

Cereal freebies: Part 2

A sequel to yesterday's blog post about Post Cereal cards. Today we look at cards produced a few years earlier by a rival company - Quaker Oats. (I realise I have done these in the wrong chronological order. Oh well.)

I was surprised to learn that the Quaker Oats Company was not founded by Quakers. The founders just adopted the name because the Quaker sect had a good reputation for honesty and purity. The Quaker in their logo isn't based on a particular Quaker in the current design, but originally he was sort of based on William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania. 

Like Post, Quaker gave baseball cards away in their cereal. Unlike, Post, they got Topps to print the cards.

Card Number 691: Quaker Chewy Granola Bars, 1986; #7

Wait, is a granola bar a breakfast cereal... ah, close enough.

Tony looks a bit downbeat in this photo. At least the Quaker mascot looks cheerful. Because this card was produced by Topps it was fully licensed, so the SD logo on Tony's had didn't need to be airbrushed off. 

On the back these were proclaimed as the 1st Annual Collectors' Edition. It was actually a one and done because a second series was not released.

You can almost tell this card is produced by Topps just by looking at the factoids. This card was in packs of chewy granola bars in 1986, but the factoids only run up to 1984 and the first two are from 1981! (And why lead with those when Tony had played in a World Series in 1984! Topps's approach to factoids in the 1980s was downright bizarre.)

Card Number 692: Cap'n Crunch, 1989; #5

Yes, the Quaker company also make Cap'n Crunch.

Cap'n Crunch's Wikipedia entry has a very entertaining section about the product's marketing, including the complex naval world of the Cap'n and his crew, which I think is mainly one dog. We never had this cereal in the UK, so it's not something that's part of my cultural landscape seascape. 

I'm disappointed that the Cap'n didn't appear on the front of this card with Tony. Or anywhere on this card. I'm also disappointed that the prominent #19 on the front is not actually the card number. (Booo, Capn'n Crunch! Booooooo!)

The factoids on the back are more up-to-date than the Granola Bars card, but that list looks like a cut, paste and change the numbers job. (Were people able to do cut'n'paste in 1989?)

A batting average of .313 is quite low to win a batting title (1988) and is 25 points lower than Tony's career average. He certainly scored a lot higher in other seasons and didn't win the title. 

I've put these cards in the same binder page as my five cards issued by the Post company as a mini set of cereal cards. There are also some more 'food issue' cards to share with you in future posts. But for now, I hope you had a good breakfast and have a great day.

Total: 692 cards