1984 Topps Ralston Purina Collector's Edition

Year: 1984

Manufacturer: Topps

Set: Ralston Purina 1st Annual Collector's Edition

Card Number: 21

Card Type: Food Issue

Man I miss the days of food issue cards.  I know we got a taste last year with Topps / Wal-mart's Marketside Pizza cards, but really there hasn't been many food issue cards in a long long time.  I've thought it's a waste for companies not to put something like this in or on their products.  Even if it's not sports related a couple cards to cut out on a package would encourage at least some impulse buying.  I think Hostess is really missing out with their packaging not coming up with a Hostess set. Even if it was "Cakes of the World", I would probably buy a box just to cut the cards out.  Ahem.  

Here we have an example of a great food issue card from the food issue era.  Found in select Ralston Purina cereals. The set has 33 cards chocked full of stars.  And not only that we get a fully authorized card meaning logos!!!  Plus this is only a couple of years past Robin's World Series appearance so we get all kinds of WS tidbits.  I love how brusk the personal information is.  So Hemingway. 

But the placement of the apostrophe in Collectors' bother's me. I get it. It's the possessive of the plural of collector, but I think had they moved the apostrophe to Collector's it just makes the card more personable.  Calling directly to you the collector, not some faceless group of collectors.  But hey that's just me.

1990 Post Cereal

Year: 1990

Manufacturer: MSA

Set: Post Cereal

Card Number: 26

Card Type: Base, Food Issue

For those that don't know Topps recently released a new food issue set.  I think this came as a surprise to just about everybody.  Topps and Wal-mart teamed up to offer a 50 card set available in specially marked packages of Wal-marts Marketside pizzas.  I do believe we are now calling this the Marketside set.  Overall the cards look ok, much better than any food issue in recent memory and with full logos, team names, and colors.  I think this gives hope that maybe food issue and oddballs might be making a comeback.  Given Wal-mart is a huge corporate entity and has teamed up with Topps on other Wal-mart only card exclusives, but there is hope for us oddball and food issue lovers.  

And what better way to celebrate than with a 25 year old food issue from Post cereals.  One of the original food issue brands Post first put out a card set way back in 1961.  The mid-nineties would see a return of issued sets starting with this 1990 set and running through 1995 and would pop up again in 2001 and 2002.

Manufactured by MSA the cards feature players in all their air-brushy goodness.

1987 Kraft Home Plate Heroes Panel Variations

An interesting little tid bit if you happen to care about such things.  While researching some cards online I came across a great five year old post on Freedom Card Board's forums (page 7).  On it the thread creator was offering up oddball checklists he had put together for various players, all you had to do was ask.  And luckily enough someone back then had asked for Robin Yount's.  A lot of the stuff on the list I already knew about, but here and there I was able to pick up some interesting facts. One of those facts was the different variations of panels that Robin had for the 1987 Kraft Home Plate Heroes set.  The standard catalog does state that each player has 5 different variations and there are 120 panel combinations in all.  But the catalog doesn't say what those combinations are.  Luckily the post does and with a little effort I was able to find images off all 5.  I do have the Chili Davis panel in my collection, but Robin is also featured with Dale Murphy, Nolan Ryan, Darryl Strawberry, and Von Hayes.  To mix it up a little more if you're into collecting the whole box there are also two different product boxes to find.  The cards themselves are blank backed  and were created by everybody's favorite oddball food issue card maker MSA.

1992 McDonald's Baseball's Best

Year: 1992

Manufacturer: Topps

Set: McDonald's Limited Edition Baseball's Best

Card Number: 17

Card Type: Oddball Food Issue

I love food issued cards, and these are pretty top of the line.  Back in 1992 if you bought stuff at McDonalds you got a little cellophane pack with 5 cards, eat enough and you could eventually pick up the whole set. I don't remember this promotion at all, although I most likely was still living overseas when it was going on.  The checklist really was a who's who of baseball's best at the time and if you collect a superstar from the early nineties he's probably got a card in this set.  1992 also marked a time when Topps was starting to use foil to make their cards pop and it's used in this set to highlight the limited edition and the players name and McDonald's logo.

A very nice looking card, but not overly rare, COMC has 7 with the lowest price being about 75 cents.  It's also nice that this was a fully licensed product so we get logos and Robin's full stats on the back.

1990 Jumbo California Sunflower Seeds

Year: 1990

Card Manufacturer: MSA

Card Set: Jumbo California Sunflower Seeds Food Issue

Card Number: 6

Card Type: Food Issue 

Ah nothing I like better than a great oddball food issue card.  According to the Standard Catalog these cards came in specially marked packages of Jumbo California Sunflower Seeds and each pack had 3 cards.  The set consists of 24 players.  MSA (Michael Schecter Associates) made the cards for Stagi and Scriver Farms Inc the producers of the Jumbo California Sunflower Seeds brand.  1990 would be the first year the set and the company would put out two more sets in 1991 and 1992. Sadly Robin in is only found in this set.   The 2011 Standard Catalog lists this card value at about a buck, for what that's worth.

Pretty basic food issue with the air brushed hat. But the back does have full stats and nice little write up and even a facsimile autograph.  Called the Autograph Series, I guess you were suppose to get these autographed at the ball park?  I'm not sure if this brand was sold at stadiums or not.  That's not a bad idea though.

1990 Score McDonalds

Year: 1990

Card Manufacturer: Score

Card Set: McDonald's Baseball

Card Number: 25

Card Type: Food Issue Premium

I'm a sucker for food issue cards.  The are my favorite oddball.  If your a Yount collector this is probably one of the toughest food issues to find.  Not impossible, just a little tougher to track down and due to it's scarcity it can get a little pricey (but not too bad around $10).  According to the write up over at Baseballcardpedia.com these cards were available from 11 McDonald's stores in rural Oregon and Idaho and only given out for 3 weeks.  Cards came as a give away from buying fries and a drink and you got 4 cards per pack.  The full set has 25 cards and you can see the full checklist at the above link.

Overall the card itself if pretty handsome in hand.  I like the color fade effect on the front of the card and there is a nice action shot of Robin on the front.  There is also a nice large head shot on the back and full stats and Score still managed to squeeze in a great write up.

1990 Wonder Bread Stars

Card Manufacturer: Wonder Bread

Card Set Wonder Stars

Set Type: Food Issue

Year: 1990

Card Number: 11

Card Type: Base

Merry Christmas everyone.  I wasn't planning on posting today, but I decided that I'd schedule a post since I'm not sure if I'll have much time after Christmas with family obligations and the year end festivities.  What better way to celebrate than with an oddball.  And not just any oddball, but the great 1990 Wonder Bread oddball.  

The small set has lots of great stars besides Robin. Ken Griffey Jr, Bo Jackson, Will Clark to name a few.

An overall very appealing card.  As well done as any of the major sets of the time and you get a nice big head shot with classic airbrushed hat and a big Wonder Stars logo.

You get five years of stats and some great career highlights.

1989 Cap'n Crunch

Card Manufacturer: Topps

Card Set: Cap'n Crunch

Set Type: Food Issue

Year: 1989

Card Number: 21

Card Type: Base

For a food issue card the 1989 Topps Cap'n Crunch is a gem.  It's just a clean no nonsense card.  I guess we have to assume that Quaker Oats didn't want to spring for the full MLB license and just went with Topps on the MLBPA one.  But the overall design and colors work well.  I like the bold logos on the top and the addition of the player number in the center.

The back also has a nice overall layout with full MLB Batting Record.  With 22 cards in the set Topps could print 6 full sets per sheet so these really aren't that rare, and I'm pretty sure there was an offer to order complete sets on the back.

I found this image over at Cereal Box Price Guide.  I don't have the Standard Catalog in front of me so this was great to find. But you got two cards per box and a piece of gum, all cello wrapped together.