1991 Topps Stand Ups Candy Dispenser

Year: 1991

Manufacturer: Topps

Set: Stand-ups

Card Number: 36

Type: Candy Dispenser

The most oddball of the oddballs picked up this Black Friday from COMC was this 1991 Topps Stand-ups candy dispenser.  It reminds us that Topps was first and foremost a candy company, at least they use to be.  These dispensers are only about 2 inches tall, it was a lot small that I expected.  You can still find boxes of these unopened.  They came in a blind bags, meaning you couldn't see what was inside.  I'm not sure what filled it up, I would assume a chalky sweet pill like a Pez, but I could be wrong, anybody remember?  My dispenser came empty, which is fine with me, I don't need 25+ year old candy.  There is also a clear plastic variation to hunt down.

1996 Bolton Teague Celebrity Softball Challenge Charity Card

Year: 1996

Set: Bolton Teague Celebrity Charity Softball Challenge

Card Number: NNO

I consider myself a pretty savvy collector.  Especially when it comes to Robin Yount's cards.  But I am continually reminded that there is always more to learn. Recently friend of the blog Alex T. messaged me and asked if I knew about the Bolton-Teague softball cards released in the late 90's?  More importantly did I know that Robin Yount had a card in the sets?  My answer was no to both questions.  Alex was nice enough to send a link to the a blog post over at the Oddball Card Collector that featured the set.  The cards are from a charity softball game put on by Michael Bolton, yes that Michael Bolton, and former Green Bay Packer George Teague.   The charity softball games were held for 5 years and for three of those years card sets were produced.  I don't know if was ever made clear if these were sold or giveaway at the games or were a thank for a donation, but what is clear that Robin is in two of the sets.  The 1996 date might be a little misleading as supposedly these cards feature the 1996 team, but were available at the 1997 game.  And if I remember correctly Robin is featured in the 1995 set available at the 1996 game and the other set featured the 1997 team available at the last game held in 1998.   But that might not be correct either.  Robin's card below came out of a gold pack and his other card came packaged in a silver pack, I have an image Alex set of the card and pack at the bottom of the post.  What confuses things is the date on the packs is the same.  So could both sets been available at the same game?  What is obvious is the as the sets progressed they got more and more ornate.  As the 1995 set is pretty plain, the 1996 set features some foil on the player name.  And the 1997 are even more embellished.  Beckett does have the final 1997 set listed on their website, but not the other two.  

Alex was gracious enough to send me a copy of Robin's 1996 card.  Which I can thank him enough.  It also means there aren't as many Yountless year's as I thought.  Thanks again Alex and thanks for the info.  

The 1995? Silver pack set

1983 Permagraphics

Year: 1983

Manufacturer: Topps

Set: Permagraphics

Card Number: NNO

I have to say I really do love these oddball Permagraphics "cards".   Offered as a mail order product in the pages of Baseball Digest these were offered for a number of years and back in the 80's the full sets weren't that cheap.  That being said you can find these cards around for a couple bucks.  I've included one of the offers below from 1982.  Thanks to Tony L, who I borrowed the image from.

If I remember right there were two different sets offered in 1983 year. This All-Star set and a Superstar set and there were also Gold parallel cards as well, but I'm not sure how those were offered. The Trading Card Database lists this card as #9, but there is no numbering on the card.  Still a cool oddball in the sea of cardboard.

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.