30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Sunday, September 22, 2024

Choice of a New Generation

Samsung Galaxy vs. Apple iPhone?  Republican vs. Democrat?  Marvel vs. DC?  Target vs. Walmart?  Topps vs. Panini?  Pepsi vs. Coke?

We are forced to make a lot of tough choices in our lifetime... some earlier than others.  And out of all of the ones I made from the above list... the oldest was which soft drink brand I enjoyed more.

However before I reveal my pick, I wanted to show off a cool collectible that Gregory over at Nine Pockets sent me over the summer:


This is the packaging for a
twelve pack of Pepsi from 1991 that contains photographs of Rickey Henderson:


Each of these
specially marked twelve packs contained a Rickey Henderson card.  Based on the prices people are asking on COMC and how many they have in their inventory, these are tougher to find than your average 90's food issue.

I don't own any of the cards from this set, but I do have this card with a similar design:

1991 Pepsi Rickey Henderson #NNO

This card was sitting in my Henderson binder, but it's not numbered and it's not listed on Beckett's checklistTCDB has it listed on their checklist though.

I also have these three Pepsi discs that were produced the same year:

1991 Pepsi Rickey Henderson Disc #NNO

1991 Pepsi Rickey Henderson Disc #NNO

1991 Pepsi Rickey Henderson Disc #NNO

These are much more common than the cards... and all feature the same back:


It's part of a
four disc set... but I couldn't find any information on how these were distributed.

Here are two other Pepsi cards I had sitting in my collection:

1990 Pepsi Jose Canseco #4-10

The year before Rickey represented the Choice of a New Generation... Jose did.

1998 UD Pepsi Seattle Mariners #PM13

Later in the decade, Pepsi teamed up with Upper Deck to produce fifteen cards for the Seattle Mariners.

I might have a few more Pepsi cards laying around in my collection, but this was what I was able to scrape together and scan on a Sunday afternoon.

As for whether or not, I prefer Pepsi or Coke, I actually prefer Sprite over any cola product.  However... if I have to pick one, my loyalty resides with Coca-Cola:

1982 Topps Coca-Cola Reds #1

But lately (the past few months), I've been on a Squirt kick: 

1981 Topps Squirt #9

And since this post has been focusing on liquid sugar, I couldn't leave out my childhood favorite:

1984 7-11 Slurpee Discs West Region #VK

Nothing like riding my bike over to the local 7-11 right after baseball practice for a large refreshing Slurpee.  Good times.

What about you...

What's your favorite soft drink brand?

Thank you Gregory for hooking me up with this very unique Rickey Henderson collectible.  I ended up cutting out the two panels with Rickey on it and added it to the binder.  I know that's probably a little taboo to some collectors, but that was the best storage solution I had.

Happy Sunday and sayonara!

22 comments:

  1. My "soda" of choice is a bad one.... Mtn Dew a Pepsi product.

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    1. Wait--did Pepsi airbrush a "P" logo onto Rickey's hat there? Like, "P" for "Pepsi"? That's kind of brilliant. I remember on one blog ages ago there was a discussion of whether Panini/Donruss could give players fake cap logos. I think it's a good idea, actually.

      As for soda, I haven't had any since getting my diabetes diagnosis. I do miss it, but I wouldn't give up ice cream or something for it. The thing I miss most are Coke Slurpees (or whatever brand). Matt mentions vanilla Coke which is awesome! I also like Dr. Pepper and root beer.

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  2. Mountain Dew, since at least freshman year in high school.

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  3. I drink ice tea, 99.5% of the time, but when I do drink “pop” I prefer Dr. Pepper.

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  4. I prefer Coke, but am not a die hard like I was as a child - now I am good with either Coke or Pepsi.

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  6. Have one of those Rickey's from the 1990s. Must've convinced my mom to buy Pepsi once for them. They're pretty ugly cards. In terms of the big brands I've always preferred Coke and have definitely been guilty of joking about Pepsi's slogan being "Is Pepsi okay?"

    Sodawise now I tend to prefer stuff like San Pellegrino (specifically the prickly pear flavor), Dr Browns Cel-Ray, or something like a grapefruit Jarritos. Though I do still love a good root beer like IBC.

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  7. I really like the Dr. Pepper with cream soda. Root beer is good too.

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  8. Anything that's not diet or doesn't have any sugar I'll drink but you'll find my basement filled w/12 1 liter cases of either Pepsi or Mountain Dew or Coca~Cola enough to drink 7 in a day to keep me going

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  9. That looks great! I love the old Pepsi logo and am glad to see it returning. The Coke logo is great but I just really like the Pepsi one.

    Funny thing is I love soda collectibles but never liked soda! (Not that I'm all that health-conscious, I eat too much and exercise too little.)

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  10. Growing up, I preferred Pepsi. Now that I don't drink "pop" nearly as much, I'm fine with either. I actually prefer cherry Pepsi and vanilla Coke.

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  11. Neat Rickey card ... Haven't had a soft drink in 12-plus years. But when I did, Coke beat Pepsi every time, just tasted better.

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  12. The kid in me would also go with a Slurpee (or Slush Puppie) over any soda. Glad you didn't have the Pepsi Rickey collectible in your collection already! I know it has a great home over there.

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  13. Coke, although I have cut way back on drinking soda over the past 5-6 years.

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  14. I'm with Brett Alan, I'd like to see more unlicensed cards use fake logos on hats/helmets. As for favorite soft drink, my taste buds say Coke, my practices say La Croix :-)

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  15. Always been a Pepsi man since 1973.

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  16. Pepsi just a slight edge over Coke. I really did not start drinking soda until my early 30s - Have been addicted ever since.

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  17. Here are the results from this year's soda skirmish:

    Mountain Dew 3
    Pepsi 4
    Cherry Pepsi
    Coke 6
    Vanilla Coke 2
    Cherry Coke Zero
    Diet Coke
    Dr. Pepper 2
    Dr. Pepper w/Cream Soda
    San Pellegrino (Prickly Pear flavor)
    Dr. Browns Cel-Ray
    Jarritos (Grapefruit)
    IBC Root Beer
    Root Beer
    La Croix

    Coke came out on top with 6 votes, but Pepsi was right on their tails with 4 votes. Although I do favor Coke over Pepsi, Jarritos is actually my favorite brand... with mandarin being my goto flavor.

    nick vossbrink - i wish i had known these existed, because i would have asked my mom to pick up a 12 pack for the cards.

    poison75 - wow. you're ready for another pandemic :D

    bo - i eat too much and exercise too little too. plus i drink soda. but not as much as i used to

    matt - i feel like cherry pepsi and vanilla coke would be an interesting combo. have you ever mixed the two?

    brett alan - i didn't catch that until you pointed it out. that is really smart.

    night owl - kudos to going 12 years. i have cut back a lot since i was a kid, but i still drink it occasionally.

    gregory - thanks again for the very unique collectible. rickey indeed has a caring home

    the snorting bull - i've cut back too... but sadly... i'll probably drink one today.

    shlabotnik report - i'd have to see more examples of fake logos... but gotta say... the p on rickey's helmet does look cool. i've started drinking more la croix. although i usually add a dash of cranberry juice with some lime squeezed in it.

    sg488 - 51 years? now that's a loyal fan.

    john bateman - sugar is no joke when it comes to addiction. i'm definitely addicted too.

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