30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Thursday, January 3, 2019

Vintage, Affordable, and Something Different

Most of us are familiar with Kellogg's lenticular trading cards and how they were distributed.  People found them in specially marked boxes of cereal or sometimes ordered complete sets directly from the company.

But did you know that back in 1970, they were also offered in packs?


Back in the day, Kellogg's issued six card packs for 49¢.  However they needed to use a creative marketing ploy to get around Topps and their baseball card monopolyTheir plan?  Package the cards with two iron-on patches.  The patches were supposedly the key product and anyone who purchased them would get six bonus trading cards.

Now that's what I call thinking outside the box.

If you're interested in reading more about this, please head over to The Fleer Sticker Project.  That's where I learned all about Kellogg's and their marketing shenanigans.

As for the iron-on patches, I first read about them back in October over on Run Fore! Kelloggs.  He showed a few of these off on his blog and I went on a mission to pick up an Oakland Athletics patch for my collection:


When I finally had this in my hand, I've gotta admit... it was kinda underwhelming.  However it's vintage, affordable (under $2 shipped), and something different.

Well... that's it for today.  Happy Thursday and sayonara!

19 comments:

Johnnys Trading Spot said...

I didn't know that. Man wouldn't it be so awesome to find an unopened case of those packs.

DMA said...

Wow -- I had no idea about any of that.

Mark Hoyle said...

I knew about the packs. I actually have the full set of decals that were put out.

Tony Burbs said...

Well, I'd never heard about this clever work around before. Perhaps some intrepid card manufacturer should try to find a similar shenanigan to get around Topps current monopoly!

SumoMenkoMan said...

Have never heard of these before. I wonder why they didn’t continue other years? Maybe the cereal campaign was working out really well by that point.

RunForeKelloggs said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
RunForeKelloggs said...

I even tried to use the iron-ons. Here are my results - https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1358078179899121483#editor/target=post;postID=6023481654106922441;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=1116;src=postname

Brett Alan said...

Actually, in the end that was how Donruss and Fleer kept making cards after 1981--Donruss used puzzle pieces and Fleer used stickers the same way Kellogg's used patches. I didn't know Kellogg's did it first; makes you wonder why Fleer didn't pick up on it sooner.

It wouldn't work now, though. It worked because the old Topps contracts only applied to cards sold by themselves or with gum or confectionary, which left open things like Kellogg's and Post sold with cereal. The new Topps contract, I believe, leaves no such openings.

P-town Tom said...

That is a slick marketing trick on Kelloggs' part. I miss the days of:
1. food-issued cards
2. lenticular cards in set form
3. multiple companies possessing an MLB license

The Lost Collector said...

Interesting! That's a cool fact. Thanks for sharing.

GCA said...

Where did these packs show up for sale?

Fuji said...

john miller - my dream would be to stumble across a case of this stuff at a local flea market. maybe 2019 will be the year ;)

dma - thank goodness for other bloggers. that's where i learned about them.

mark hoyle - i'm actually tempted to purchase a complete set. there's one on ebay for around $15

tony burbs -i'd welcome that.

brett alan - bummer. i hate this new contract :)

p-town tom - i agree on all three fronts

sumomenkoman - i'm not sure, but i wish they did offer them in other years. 70's kelloggs are some of my favorite cards to collect.

runfore kelloggs - very cool. so, did the logos survive the laundry?

the lost collector - no problemo. that's what blogs are for ;)

gca - i'm not 100% sure, but based on the display box (seen on the fleer sticker project's blog) they would have been seated right next to a topps wax box. so i'm going to assume grocery stores and gas stations.

Chris said...

Very clever indeed. Now I want that Tommy Harper Pilots card!

Under $2 sounds like a good price for a vintage oddball iron-on. Hope you weren't too disappointed with it.

The Snorting Bull said...

I love these cards, have collected many of them over the years, but this is new to me. Great post.

arpsmith said...

Super cool, thanks for sharing. I had no idea.

bbcardz said...

I have a few of those 1970 Kellogg's cards that I pulled out of cereal boxes back in the day. And I also had never seen nor heard of these in packs. This is yet another set that I would really love to complete.

Matt said...

Another cool addition to your pc!

Fuji said...

Chris - Not too disappointed. Not exactly sure what I was expecting, since I had seen photos of them before. Bottom line is that they're very affordable, so I can't complain.

Snorting Bull - I'll take the cards over the iron-ons... but I do enjoy adding something different to the collection.

arpsmith - just spreading the word. that's what we all do for each other

bbcardz - me too. the 1970 kellogg's set is by far my favorite out of all of the years. best of luck with your set.

sport card collectors - thanks. can't complain ;)

RunForeKelloggs said...

I saw these packs in 1970 at a Chicago store called Kresge. I never bought any because that price was outrageous. None of my friends bought any either.