1976 Hostess

Year: 1976
Manufacturer: Hostess
Set: Hostess Baseball
Card Number: 11
Card Type: Base

Continuing the series looking at the cards from my latest COMC delivery.

The oldest and really only vintage Yount pick up was this 1976 Hostess card.  I did already have a complete box and Twinkie version of this card, but I didn't have a stand alone version so I found a nice cheap example for the collection.

I was hoping to find an example with more of the border still intact that I could recut, but I'll take this handsome example.  I love the old Hostess cards for their simplicity and subtle beauty.  Plus the backs has Robin's full stats, even minor league, and a huge number.

 

Hostess variations

Over the past few months I've come across a couple Hostess oddballs I wasn't familiar with and figure I'd share what I found and what I learned for histories sake.

First up is this 1978 Hostess L shaped panel.  I think most of us are pretty familiar with the three card strip panels found on most hostess boxes from 1975 to 1979.  It's interesting to point out that there's not a ton of information about these.  It's also interesting that for as popular as Hostess cards were and are there really isn't a good source of information about the sets.  I figured one avid collector would have put together a website or blog, but alas most of my information was gathered from forum threads and poking around the internet for images. So if there is a Hostess expert out there and you read this feel free to chime in and correct anything and everything I'm about to say.

So what is an L shaped panel?  It's like the example below where two of the cards are vertical and the third is below oriented horizontally.

From what I pieced together Hostess issued some L shaped panels like the one below from 1976 to 1979.  One message board stated that the L shaped panels, at least in 1976, were only put on cupcake boxes on the east coast.  From some digging I was able to find an image of an intact specimen of a 1978 cupcake box also with an L shape card bottom.  So were all the L shapes only produced on the East Coast and only on cupcake boxes?  Maybe.  1978 is the only year I could find that Robin is featured on one of the L shaped boxes.  All the auctions I've seen fail to state the source of the panels. But these panels are much rarer than the normal strip panels, but the standard catalog doesn't mention this variation in configuration.  This panel is currently (at least at the time of writing) up for sale on eBay with a $50 price tag.

1978 Hostess Cupcake L shaped panel

Here's another interesting oddball I didn't know about. This is a 1977 Hostess cupcake single card.  According to the Standard Catalog the complete 1977 set was printing on these single card cake holders.  But they say cards 1-30 and 111-150 are Twinkies panels and 31-110 are cupcake panels. Robin's card number in the set is 34 so he should be in the cupcake set according to the Catalog.  The uncut cupcake cards are longer and skinner than their Twinkies counterparts. But I know for a fact that he's also has a single Twinkie card.  I've include a scan of my 1977 Twinkie card below.  The explanation in the Standard Catalog is either wrong or I'm reading it wrong. Either way I found a great post on a Net54Baseball forum.  It's also interesting to point out that the post also describes multiple other single card sizes, although I don't think Robin has an example in those variations.

1978 Hostess Cupcake Single front

1978 Hostess Cupcake Single Back

1977 Hostess Twinkie Single front

Well there you go a few more Younts to chase in the Hostess sets.  Oh and the cupcake single recently sold on eBay for $26.

1977 Hostess Twinkies Single Cards

Year: 1978

Card Manufacturer: Hostess

Card Set: Hostess Baseball 

Card Type: Base Hostess Singles variation

The third and final Hostess Twinkie card in my collection.  I think this is also the last year Hostess had this variation.  As you can see it's very greased stained.  I know that unused cards exist, but it was hard to pass up the deal I got on this card years ago.  Of course the card was used as part of the packaging and the Twinkies sat directly on the card.  I'm not sure if these cards came in other products like cupcakes and snoballs, but even if this card had been trimmed down you can tell it's the variation by the black bar on the back.

1976 Hostess Twinkies Single Card

Card Manufacturer: Hostess

Card Set: Hostess Baseball

Year: 1976

Card Number: 11

Card Type: Twinkie Single

There is nothing I like better than the food issue oddballs from the 70's and 80's.  Most collectors know about the 3 card panels on the bottoms of Hostess bottoms from the 70's, but there are also the single card varieties to look for.  I'm not sure if these were done with any other product other than Twinkies, but Robin has a card in at least 3 years, 1975, 1976, and 1977.  I've already featured the 1975 card here.

Ah the good old grease stains.  These card can be found unused.  They're rare and go for a premium price, but for me I don't mind the grease stains and this card has held up well for being almost 40 years old. These cards are identical to the 3 panel box version.

1977 Hostess Suzy Q's full box

Card Manufacturer: Hostess

Card Set: Hostess Baseball

Year: 1977

Card Number:34

Card Type: Full Box

The last of my complete Hostess boxes. Like my 1976 Twinkees box this one has been opened as well.  I've been looking for 78 and 79 boxes, not hard, but haven't found any. 

My 1975 box might feature Yount's rookie card, but this box has the best panel by far and probably the best panel out of the whole 1977 set. With this box you get two HOFer's and a guy that probably should be in the Hall of Fame.

I always  lump Robin Yount and George Brett together. They have so much in common. While George may have made the majors in 1973, both player's rookie cards are in the 1975 set, both players played for the same team their entire careers, both retired the same year, both were inducted into the Hall of Fame in the same year, and both continue to work with their old teams. Plus Brett is revered by Royals fans just as much as Robin is with Brewers fans.  And that Steve Garvey guy is pretty neat too.

Just a great box and panel set. Plus the box features Reggie Jackson and Jim Palmer too.

Here's a close up of the panel.

1976 Hostess Twinkies full box

Card Manufacturer: Hostess

Card Set:  Hostess Baseball

Year:1976

Card Number: 11

Card Type: Full Box

Unlike my 1975 Hostess King Dons box that was never used, this 1976 Twinkies boxes definitely was.  Who knows if this whole box was purchased and taken home or if it sat up by the counter at some convenience store to entice shoppers with an impulse buy. Since there is a box price on the box it was probably sold whole.  Luckily someone had the foresight to save the whole box.

Yount shares this box with Tony Olivia, who retired after the 1976 season, and Rick Manning, who would later join the Brewers team in 1983. Rick also happens to be a great TTMer if you're into that like me. 

Here's a close up of the panel. Other than the box having been opened, it's really not in bad shape and the cards are as close to mint as you can probably get.

1975 Hostess Twinkie Rookie Card

Card Manufacturer: Hostess

Card Set: Hostess Baseball

Year: 1975

Card Number: 80

Card Type: Twinkie Single

It's rookie card Wednesday here at the Yount Collector.  Don't worry there won't be too many of those.  And while Robin has more than just his 1975 Topps rookie card he doesn't have that many more. 

Of course his 1975 Hostess cards are classics and most clean versions you see hand cut come off of boxes, but there are also these version that were used as the backer for the Twinkies twin pack. I know that Hostess offered cards this was for at least 1975, 1976 and 1977.  Unfortunately you can see what having two Twinkies sitting on top of the card does.  

I have read that there are a number of these card that made it out of the factory without being used. I haven't seen one with my own eyes, but I'm sure they come with a premium price.

Another distinguishing feature of these cards other than the fact they are featured singly on an over sized piece of cardboard is the black stripe on the back of the card and of course the huge grease stain.  The card is otherwise exactly the same as the one featured in panels on the back of Hostess boxes.

1975 Hostess King Don's full box

Card Manufacturer: Hostess

Card Set: Hostess Baseball

Year: 1975

Card Number: 80

Card Type: Food Issue

Product: Full Box

One of my favorite pieces in my collection is this 1975 Hostess King Dons Full Box that features one of Robin Yount's rookie cards. It's also pretty awesome that this box was never used. There are glue stains where the glue was applied but this box never held those delicious King Dons.  

You might be saying to yourself, CB what the hell is a King Dons, those look like Ding Dongs??!!  And you are right those are Ding Dongs. Hostess changed the name of the Ding Dong to King Dons since it sounded too much like a Ring Ding which was a similar product put out by the Drake Bakeries.  And Drake also put out a few sets of baseball cards back in the early 80's.  And also in a twist of fate, Hostesses parent company once owned Drake. 

 King Dons are still produced and distributed in Canada from what I could gleem from the interwebs.  And since July 2013 we have Ding Dongs again down here, or up here if you live in Alaska like me.  

1975 was the inaugural set of Hostess cards and the 150 card set has some big names along with Younts. This also was the first time in a long time that Topps had any kind of competition and there are still some big fans of the Hostess issues.

This box has cards 79, 80, and 81 and also feature Andy Messersmith and Al Oliver

Here's a close up of the panel.