Page 23 - JOA-august-23

The early 1970s also saw the introduction of
Kellogg’s 3-D sports cards, which the cereal maker
inserted into boxes of its cereal. The Kellogg’s
cards—baseball and football—were unusual in
that they were plastic, and were made using a
lenticular process, which gave them an illusion of
depth, particularly when moved back and forth.
But this feature means that surviving Kellogg’s
cards often suffer from cracking of the plastic fin-
ish. “Heat can affect them … going from heat to
cold also can damage them,” warns Tony Greco.
“I had a number of 1975 Kellogg’s cards in our A 1970 Kellogg’s
garage and in the attic at one point, and a lot of 3-D card of Miami
York Peanut Butter inserted octagonal NHL hockey cards in the lids of its jars of those cracked on me.” The cereal maker offered Dolphins star
peanut butter in the early 1960s. This is card #28, Boom Boom Geoffrion. the cards in its boxes until the early 1980s. fullback Larry
The backs of the York hockey cards are in English and French. Csonka. Many
Kellogg’s cards suffer
LIQUID INVESTMENT
dollars, and high-grade cards can run into the six figures. Adding to the from cracking of the
challenge is the fact that many examples are stained from being inside Beverage manufacturers eventually jumped on plastic surface.
the boxes with the caramel-coated popcorn and peanuts. the giveaway bandwagon. In 1958, Hires Root
Much more reasonably priced (and far easier to find) is the reprint Beer included a baseball card in cartons of its product, and it was an
set that Cracker Jack put out in 1993 as part of the brand’s 100th unusual piece of cardboard. Attached to the baseball card along its
anniversary. The reprint cards were smaller—just 1.25 inches wide— bottom edge, with a perforation, was a wedge-shaped card that served
and came in a set of 24 that included many of the stars from the a dual purpose: it invited the owner of the card to join the Hires
original set. Cracker Jack also offered an embossed collector album to baseball club by tearing off the wedge card, filling it out, and sending it
hold the cards, along with a fact booklet on the cards. in to the company; and it acted as a tab that held the whole thing in the
carton of root beer bottles. Unsurprisingly, most surviving Hires cards
are missing the wedge tab, which makes complete examples that much
CHOW TIME more desirable.
Everything from bread to Jell-O to snack cakes have been used with In 1962, Salada Tea began inserting plastic
sports giveaways, and manufacturers sometimes had to come up with baseball coins into packages of its product, a
creative ways to include the giveaway. In the early 1960s, York Peanut move that still has collectors scratching their
Butter inserted octagonal cards of National Hockey League (NHL) heads 60 years later. How many kids drank
players in its jars, tucking the prizes up inside the lid of the jar. tea in 1962, and how many of them would
Fortunately for collectors, they placed a liner over the cards to protect bug their mothers to buy that box of herbal
them from peanut butter damage. The cards also were inserted into chamomile to get a Rocky Colavito coin?
packages of the company’s salted peanuts. Despite the strange marketing strategy,
Armour hot dog coins made their debut in 1955, and being plastic Salada coins are very popular with collectors
were able to withstand being in food packaging better than cardboard of oddball and giveaway items. Junket
items. The coins were 1.5 inches in diameter, and they depicted Major Pudding also put the baseball coins in its
Lague Baseball (MLB) players in a wide variety of colors that collectors packages, which makes some sense given
today love to hunt down. that kids eat pudding. In addition, Shirriff
The award for the scarcest sports potato chips put the coins in its packages for
giveaway in a national food product the Canadian market, along with offering
just might go to a series of baseball A 1962 Salada Tea coin coins of NHL hockey players in its packages
cards that Chicago-based M.J. of Detroit Tigers star of jelly and pudding.
Holloway & Co. produced for its Al Kaline, graded an 8 Salada and Junket again offered baseball
5-cent Milk Duds candy product in in a PSA holder. coins in 1963, but they now were made of
1971. Holloway printed the cards on metal. They featured the player name, team, and position on the back
the back of the Milk Duds boxes, instead of the front, like the 1962 coins.
which led to kids around the country And then there were Slurpee cups. In
taking scissors to the boxes to cut out 1972, 7-11 convenience stores started
The Milk Duds baseball card their cards. As a result, finding complete offering sweet drinks in plastic cups
boxes, produced by Holloway and intact Milk Duds boxes with the bearing the likeness of MLB players on
in 1971, are now highly cards is a real challenge. “Because most the front, with the player’s information
prized by collectors. of those cards were cut out of the and team logo on the back. Two new
boxes, an uncut complete box will bring a premium price,” says cups were issued each week, and the
Oregon-based giveaways collector Ray Berg. “I remember buying those company continued the program in 1973
in 1971. I wish I’d held onto them all those years ago!” with additional players added to the
Berg has made up for letting go of his series. The 7-11 sports cups were hugely
original Milk Duds boxes by since putting popular and are today fairly easy to find.
together a complete set of the boxes, and he’s But they often have at least minor wear
not done yet. “My Milk Duds set is my most due to 7-11, and then subsequent owners,
treasured part of my collection. Now I just “nesting” the cups together to save space,
want to upgrade the ones I have to a higher which often resulted in the lithographed
grade. In fact, earlier today, a Roberto Clemente artwork and text getting smudged and
Milk Duds box, graded a 9 by [grading/ scratched. 7-11 went on to produce cups In 1963, Salada Tea changed
their plastic baseball coins to
certification company] PSA, came on eBay. I showing NBA basketball players, DC and metal. This Frank Robinson
have a 5 in my set, so that’s one that I really Marvel comic book heroes, and various coin is graded an 8 by PSA.
want. It’s an auction, starting at $2,499 … I other series.
made the seller an offer of $2,000, waiting to A Frank Howard card on Both Berg and Greco see the Kellogg’s 3-D cards as being a strong
hear back on that.” a 1971 Milk Duds box. category in the giveaway/oddball collecting market. “Over the last 10

August 2023 21