30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Wednesday, May 17, 2017

The Greatest Set?

What is the greatest baseball card set ever produced?  I'm sure there are some collectors who came up with their response immediately, while others struggle with the question.  I fall into the second group.

I mean, what are we talking about here?  Best design?  Strength of the checklist?  What about individual sentimentality?

If I were forced to give a quick response, my Pavlovian response would probably be "the 1956 Topps baseball set".


However two weeks ago, I purchased the 1972 Kellogg's All-Time Greats set and was floored by its beauty when I actually held it in my hands.

If you've read my blog long enough, you know that I hate scanning cards.  It's the worst part of blogging.  But I love this set so much, I had to share it with all of you.  Here are scans of every card front and back:



My favorite thing about Kellogg's baseball card sets of the 70's and 80's are seeing the flashy and colorful borders popping off of these lenticular oddballs... especially when they're featuring ballplayers like Pete Rose, Nolan Ryan, and Reggie Jackson.



But I feel the plain light blue borders works for this particular set, because it's filled with baseball legends who at the time had already been retired for decades.



Plus the yellow shield and banner that house the player's position and name, along with the facsimile signature across the player's photo compliment the blue borders enough to make the card attractive.



The card backs are packed with information that include the player biography, career highlights, a secondary photo, career totals, and World Series totals.



If that weren't enough... this set has additional meaning to me, because it was distributed the same year I was born.  Yup.  A Kellogg's lenticular birth year set.



My only complaint is Kellogg's decision to use such a small font size.  It's difficult for these aging eyes to read without major squinting.



The $64,000 question is... 

Do I think this is the greatest set of all-time?  


Well... no.  Off the top of my head, I can think of at least ten sets that would rank higher than this set.  But for less than $45, it's still offers a lot of bang for your buck.

Okay... it's your turn:

What is the greatest baseball card set ever produced?

If you can't pick one, I totally understand.  Feel free to list a few sets you feel are "great".

Happy Wednesday and sayonara!

11 comments:

Commishbob said...

That Kelloggs set is so much fun. I only have a handful of them and I never think about the set but when I do I vow to finish it. Maybe soon.

I can't pick the 'greatest' set ever. So many of them mean so much to me....for a wide variety of reasons. I'm with you on the '56 Topps. Great design and art. I love the '59 because it was the first one I bought in packs. And there are multiple football and non-sports sets that come to mind. Too tough to call.

shoeboxlegends said...

Awesome buy Fuji! I fall firmly into the second category, not sure I could ever choose one!

Mark Hoyle said...

I remember buying this set mail order with box tops in72. It was actually issued two years prior by Rold Gold pretzels. You can find the difference where trade Mark is stamped

John Bateman said...

You are right this set is great looking - the powder blue frame and yellow banner just adds to it. I wonder where Kellogg got the players signatures....

Johnnys Trading Spot said...

Lovin the Kelloggs!

The Angels In Order said...

The Kellogg sets rank pretty high for me, so unique. As far as The Greatest, I'd go with 1914 Cracker Jack.

acrackedbat said...

The blue and yellow work well together. I love the design but the player selection?? INCREDIBLE! One of my fave Kelloggs sets to be sure. Tom may be on to something with the Cracker Jacks! What vintage collector wouldn't love owning just one of those cards?

Man said...

Oh I don't know if there is any set greater-but I think the 1961 Fleer Basketball set is close

Xavier Higgins said...

1971 Topps

Billy Kingsley said...

For baseball my favorite is 1990 Topps, seriously! For all time I would say 1996-97 Ultra NBA.

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