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A gallery of giveaways: a 1973 Brooks Robinson Slurpee cup is flanked by a 1970 Kellogg’s card of Gale Sayers and a 1962 Henry Aaron Salada Tea coin.

f you were roaming the earth in the 1950s, 1960s, or 1970s, you … they’re harder to find. So I’d say they’re a more neglected part of the
most likely spent at least a little time rummaging through cereal collecting world.”
Iboxes or packs of hot dogs in search of sports giveaways – or you Greco has been at this for quite a while. “I’ve been collecting since
knew someone who did. Those baseball cards and hockey coins showed I was a child, I grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia in the 1960s. I
your favorite players doing their thing, and best of all, they were free. started expanding my collecting by looking for more than just the
Wait … were they free? Well … yes, if you regular issue Topps cards … I started looking
ignore the fact that they came on the back of for the food issue cards, and other things that
candy boxes and in jars of peanut butter – were giveaways with other products. It just
which you (or Mom and Dad) had to buy to became an obsession with me.”
get the coveted prize. But even that didn’t slow Along with being paired with consumer
kids down much because the products to be products, sports items also have been given out
purchased often were things such as six-packs free at sporting events for generations. Around
of soda pop or boxes of sugary sweet cereal, the same time that the T-206 Wagner card
which hit the spot nicely as you enjoyed your was produced, the Sen-Sen gum company
new Catfish Hunter or Gordie Howe card. produced a cardboard “counter” that likely was
Collectors and dealers call these items by handed out at baseball games. At two inches
various names: promos, giveaways, oddballs, wide, it fit into the palm of the hand perfectly
premiums, and so forth. What ties them all and allowed fans to keep close track of the
together is that they weren’t available for action on the field by moving little dials for
purchase individually – one needed to cough Salesman’s sample miniature bowling ball made by runs, hits, and errors. It also enabled Sen-Sen to
up the cash for the item that the giveaway came Manhattan Rubber, 1950s-early 1960s. hawk its gum, showing the product name on the
with, or was attached to, or was inside of. front and a pack of the stuff on the back.
This business of getting consumers to buy Other items were produced that were
a product by offering a free prize goes miniatures of sports equipment, which
back more than 100 years, and includes would be given out as samples by sporting
such items as the cards that came in packs goods salesmen to customers and
of cigarettes in the early 20th century. prospects. During the 1950s and ‘60s, the
One of the most famous of these is the Manhattan Rubber company promoted
T-206 Honus Wagner baseball card, its line of bowling balls with a two-inch
produced in 1909 by the American wide plastic miniature, complete with the
Tobacco Company. It’s generally thought little finger and thumb holes drilled out.
that only about 50 of them exist, and It came with a small plastic display ring,
when one changes hands, the numbers all placed inside a box that touted the
tend to boggle the mind. Last year, an ball’s features. The top of the box,
example graded 2 (on a scale of 1 to 10) by interestingly, had “To” and “From” printed
a card grading/certification company sold Sen-Sen gum produced this cardboard baseball counter around on it, along with blank lines that
in a private sale for more than $7 million. 1908-1910, and it likely was given out at ballgames. The back of presumably enabled a salesman to write
the Sen-Sen counter advertises the company’s gum.
Not bad for a freebie. his name for the prospective customer; a
sort of three-dimensional business card. The example shown here,
BELOW THE RADAR complete and in original condition, was obtained by the author at a
Compared to regular-issue sports collectibles, such as cards, North Carolina antique show for just $5.
giveaways, and promo items generally are more difficult to find. They Cracker Jack, of course, is famous for its “Toy Prize Inside!” boxes
also tend not to be on most collectors’ radar screens. “It probably is a of its product, but for sports collectors, the company’s 1914-1915
neglected area … most collectors go for the major sets, the things that giveaways are head and shoulders above the rest. In 1912, the producers
are more prevalent,” says South Carolina collector Tony Greco. “Packs of the confection began putting toy prizes in the boxes to appeal to
of baseball cards or complete sets, those kinds of things. I think children, and a couple of years later, added cards of baseball players to
giveaways and premiums were often set aside, or just thrown out the mix. These 2.25-inch wide cards are now highly prized by collectors,
because they [weren’t seen as being] as important. And of course, they as they included such legends as Walter Johnson, Ty Cobb, and Christy
weren’t produced in mass quantities like the [mainstream] cards were Mathewson. Even battered, worn examples often sell for thousands of

20 Journal of Antiques and Collectibles