Welcome to our community

Be apart of something great, join today!

365 DAYS OF RED SOX DAY 41 - KENNER SLU 1988-2001 VARIOUS YEARS

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

mrmopar

Member
Jan 19, 2010
6,187
4,099
I think your thread is starting to do what I would expect of mine if I had started one, which is why I have never started one. Hard to keep daily posts going and have them be fact filled and interesting. Sometimes there just isn't the time or motivation, especially if it is for fun and not a paying gig. I hope to see you continue on with the project. I went out and bought one of those AP Clemens cards (and another Blue Jays oddball with Clemens too) because of this thread and I don't even collect Clemens or the Blue Jays per se. Had no idea about the card prior, since I stopped buying the Almanacs and not even sure they keep up with all the odd stuff anymore. Love to learn about new stuff...

Partially why I went the blog route myself and was banging them out for a few weeks, now I am lucky to post more than a couple times a quarter aside from the Dodger related deaths I try to remain current with.
 

jeffv96masters

Well-known member
Aug 14, 2008
2,095
1,223
I think your thread is starting to do what I would expect of mine if I had started one, which is why I have never started one. Hard to keep daily posts going and have them be fact filled and interesting. Sometimes there just isn't the time or motivation, especially if it is for fun and not a paying gig. I hope to see you continue on with the project. I went out and bought one of those AP Clemens cards (and another Blue Jays oddball with Clemens too) because of this thread and I don't even collect Clemens or the Blue Jays per se. Had no idea about the card prior, since I stopped buying the Almanacs and not even sure they keep up with all the odd stuff anymore. Love to learn about new stuff...

Partially why I went the blog route myself and was banging them out for a few weeks, now I am lucky to post more than a couple times a quarter aside from the Dodger related deaths I try to remain current with.



I'm always a positive person and try never arguing or dealing in "semantics". The original post says 365 days of Red Sox posts. One reason I did not say " consecutive" anywhere in the header or first post is precisely for the reasons that you indicated above. Like yourself- life interferes too much :)

Time is always an issue with me . I'd love to handle "consecutive" days but I just would never be able to accomplish that task. I chose to label the "DAY" I was on to remind myself how many days of posts I've made.

I'll be prepping the next 3-4 days of posts in the next few hours.

While I'll "try" to do daily posts- no promises. Its merely 365 days of Red Sox related posts. Look for another new post soon as I finish the write up and scanning I'm doing right now.

Would have posted earlier but was busy watching a 90's break I'm participating in :grouphug:

Jeff
 

jeffv96masters

Well-known member
Aug 14, 2008
2,095
1,223
Ok for todays post going with an old favorite of mine the 1978 PAPA GINO'S disc .Papa Gino's is a company that started where I worked in East Boston and slowly moved out into other areas of MA and New England before expanding in the 90's elsewhere. Back in the 1970's and early 80's Papa Gino's would hold annual promotions with various items that were designed to get customers in the doors and tried to appeal to kids more than adults. Various promotional items were offered that were reusable- a big deal in those days was anything you could keep and re-use. Multi-taskers meant less money spent on stuff you didn't need to buy

Cups were the most common promotional item but my favorite is the 1978 disc set .This disc set consisted of 40 players--the first 25 being our local Red Sox , the last 15 various other players. If you read online they'll say it required the purchase of a large drink. While some Papa's may have had this it sure wasn't at my local Papa Gino's in Hudson MA . Not only did you have to buy a drink you had to pair it with a food purchase. Then they handed you the disc. Most people would come in and get pizza with the large soda. I hated their pizza as it was the thick, fluffy type of crust which I dislike -- so I would buy the lasagna and add bread sticks along with the large drink. Good eats for me !!

Rice was my favorite player back then so of course I have dozens of loose Rice discs floating around. The Dwight Evans PSA slab is also mine bought recently as my versions all have been dented due to numerous moves. Saw one cheap on eBay and bought it for my Evans collection. Wish I were home as I'm pretty sure I have the 70'S ads to the promo somewhere in my MA storage.

Like a lot of the 1970's and 1980's food promotions the Players Association always gave approval to promote stuff. So all the items have the Player Association approval seal but are missing the MLB Team logos' etc. So when people start in on this "doesn't have the MLB logo's so I'm not interested " rant about some card producer not showing logo's on sports cards - its been going on in food items for over 100 years . That's fine people don't like non-logos = because those of us who do not mind that fact buy them up !!



attachment.php

attachment.php



attachment.php
 

MisterT

Well-known member
Mar 7, 2011
2,609
36
Virginia
My grand father worked for the Worcester Telegram running the printing presses and doing the type setting in the early 50's thru the 60's.

I grew up in Worcester and had a great uncle who was a sports reporter for them - he covered the Sox. I still have a few Ted Williams items he passed down to the family. Now that I think about it, I wonder what his direct lineage kids have...If I have some balls and stuff and he was only related to me b/c he was married to my grandmother's sister, I hope they have some great stuff!
 

MisterT

Well-known member
Mar 7, 2011
2,609
36
Virginia
Great stuff. I lived in Worcester until 1988. I didn't know they sold sports cards before that.

That is when I left as well. I left for college in Washington DC and never really went back (other than for holidays and such). Still have lots of family there.
 

MisterT

Well-known member
Mar 7, 2011
2,609
36
Virginia
Love this thread [MENTION=2322]jeffv96masters[/MENTION]. Looking forward to seeing more of the cards from my childhood. I still have a few of the off ball stuff (coca cola, hostess, etc.) but nothing like this. Keep 'em coming.
 

finestkind

Well-known member
Aug 17, 2008
3,986
901
Massachusetts
I grew up in Worcester and had a great uncle who was a sports reporter for them - he covered the Sox. I still have a few Ted Williams items he passed down to the family. Now that I think about it, I wonder what his direct lineage kids have...If I have some balls and stuff and he was only related to me b/c he was married to my grandmother's sister, I hope they have some great stuff!

I don't think he was much of a sports fan. I never saw him watching any Red Sox games on TV. I remember seeing the printing plates for the huge printing presses. Some were made out of huge lead plates and pictures were printed on steel plates like our over sized sports cards.
 

jeffv96masters

Well-known member
Aug 14, 2008
2,095
1,223
Love this thread [MENTION=2322]jeffv96masters[/MENTION]. Looking forward to seeing more of the cards from my childhood. I still have a few of the odd ball stuff (coca cola, hostess, etc.) but nothing like this. Keep 'em coming.

We will touch more on the other odd ball food stuff later on.


Great stuff. I lived in Worcester until 1988. I didn't know they sold sports cards before that.

You would have known it had you know which door to go in. It wasn't advertised nor did it last long. Probably 1986-90 range if my memory serves me. The front entrance was the mattresses / furniture. The side entrance in back was where he had his "hobby' set up with Jeff running the show and 2-3 other employees who I can't remember assisting him. I'll try and dig out some of his old ads in the SCD stuff I have buried. Used to have cases up front and the singles buried in back. I purchased my unopened original Jordan sealed Star sets from them along with other Red Sox related sealed Star sets as they were one of the original Star dealers selected ( info on that coming in another post). Also bought a lot of card sheet protectors as well from them.

I'm prepping Day 9 now will post it later on today

jeff
 

jeffv96masters

Well-known member
Aug 14, 2008
2,095
1,223
DAY 9 - 1976 MSA DISCS PLUS EXTRA

Back in the 1970's and early 80's the MLB player association dealt with a lawyer named Michael Schecter, who formed a company called MSA ( his name plus "Associates" since he had an entire office staff assisting him), to put out various sponsored food items approved by the MLB Players Association. During that period the easiest way of all to promote your business was getting people to eat something - thereby promoting your project easily.

Several disc sets were produced in the Midwest and Northeast regions. The most common of these revolved around numerous makers / suppliers of foods.

The 1976 Isaly disc set was regionally produced and distributed throughout the Pittsburgh area by Isaly Dairy and Sweet William Restaurants. Isaly’s was a chain of family-owned dairies and restaurants which began in Ohio . Dairy Isle was another Ohio based ice cream chain. Both sets frequently made their way out of those states into the general populace and we saw them regularly at shows here in Massachusetts.

Below are the two discs I have of Fred Lynn slabbed from Isalys/Sweet William and Dairy Isle

attachment.php

attachment.php


attachment.php

attachment.php



We all may have also heard of the Cranes Potato Chips Disc set. Cranes has a rather interesting history as a potato chip business.
Cranes had a rather turbulent start and changed ownership & names more often then Steinbrenner Sr did managers

Crane's Potato Chips began as Licek Confectioners in 1938 under the ownership of Paul Licek. It was renamed Licek Potato Chip Company in 1938 and in 1939 the company was sold . It was sold again to Curtis Pretzel in 1940 when the company relocated. In 1944 Ollie Crane purchased the company and changed its name back to Licek Quality Potato Chips. Crane also began marketing chips under the Crane name at the same address = with Licek producing the chips and selling them to its sister company, Crane Potato Chips, which then resold them into the market. In 1950 the company's name was officially changed to Crane Potato Chips. with no more differentiation. What a weird way to start a potato chip company with so many ownership and name changes.

My Fred Lynn Crane discs are below. I also will try and locate my Tiant ones which I know I have here in Vegas just can't find them right away. FYI- I sold all my Yaz years ago-- he's on my " Do not own" list now.


attachment.php

attachment.php






EXTRA NUGGET

Many people may not be old enough to remember a 1960's Crane Potato Chips promotion ( you'd have seen it in the 70's frequently). In the years between 1960 and 1965 Cranes produced PIN inserts into the chip bags. Mnay teams had multiple pins and various combinations. I'm no pin expert and will defer to various others but I've seen these in multiple shades of color variations. Not sure how many exist variation wise I sold almost all my pins back in the mid 2007-2008 range before moving to Vegas so I am totally devoid of any but the one below which I kept.
If I locate where I put it will show the back later by updating the post.



attachment.php
 

finestkind

Well-known member
Aug 17, 2008
3,986
901
Massachusetts
Thanks for posting all the Red Sox information. It's a great read. I saw the ads for Rotmans Sports Cards in SCD after I moved to Boston.
 

mrmopar

Member
Jan 19, 2010
6,187
4,099
I was in Connecticut earlier this year for business and saw a Papa Gino's in person for the first time, although I didn't try to eat there. It's funny, because these food issue names (those mentioned above along with Carousel, Red Barn, Saga, etc) are almost second nature to me, but many of them feature businesses that I had never heard of outside of the disc issue or ever frequented. Now the majority of my life has been spent on the West Coast (minus about 1.5 years in Florida and Ct for the Navy in the late 80s), so I'm sure we have our favorite establishments that East Coasters don't have, but since the food issue game is all but dead these days, there will never be that same factor of recognition we saw in the old days. As much as there is for selection in the 70s/80s, I wish there was still more to choose from. Great sports stuff all around from food sponsors.
 

jeffv96masters

Well-known member
Aug 14, 2008
2,095
1,223
DAY 10- 1991 TOPPS DESEERT SHIELD RED SOX

A part of hobby lore is the 1991 TOPPS DESERT SHIELD Red Sox cards.

If you were gather a group of people today and discuss the five most collected 1990 series this is sort of what the discussion might have inside its voted Top 5 ( not necessarily in the order listed below-- just showing a list folks !! ) :

1. 1998 Donruss Crusade
2. 1993 Finest Refractors
3. 1996 Select Mirror Gold
4. 1991 Topps Desert Shield.
5. (chose your poison)

This set was initially not as highly thought of when it came out. Boring Topps set combined with "supposed" shortages plus add in all sorts of fakes and what you had in the late 1990's and early 2000's was just a bunch of dedicated hobbyists who knew about the set and enjoyed collecting it = and others who felt it wasn't worth much more than the base set and looked barely different than the Tiffany versions.

This all changed when CHIPPER JONES and the Braves began their remarkable mid to late 1990's run. All of a sudden this "limited" supply item of 7,000 "supposed" sets became the go to set of the 90's for the average Joe wanting a Chipper Jones Rookie different than the base sets others had. Where there is money to be made- out come the hucksters, fraudsters and their ilk.

I watched it grow in popularity until it has come to the point of being a highly collected set. Team collectors, player collectors, and even set collectors enjoy it.


A few of my Red Sox Desert Shield raw cards below along with a fake DS card. I have a complete raw set somewhere back home and these are the loose Red Sox I have here in Vegas along with the slabs I have in storage. These two slabs I kept as these cards were my own personally issued cards that I toted around with me everywhere I went until I got them home to MA.


attachment.php

attachment.php


These are some raw items and a fake DS card


attachment.php

attachment.php



I thought I would add some interesting asides today. Numerous board members have blogs they post on- a lot have dealt with this set. Some are worthy looking at



From our very own board member Patrick ( Radicards)= a great Video discussing


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZMoK3ZyYIo



And another great video of an authentic pack being opened by Leighton Sheldon of Just Collect - another board member here and on Net54

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6nUaVJlYXs



The below is about the only advice I'll offer when looking at 1991 Desert Shield cards-- take it with a grain of salt =

Tell # 1 = The card should fluoresce under Ultra Violet (UV) light. The RED 40th Anniversary should jump out under UV light as well. Buy yourself a UV light and you'll see this easily.

Tell # 2 = The tip of the palm leaf should be pointy and almost looks like it is dripping from rain drops and will mostly come down between the letters "R and A" in Operation. Its not always the case= but the real deal displays this trait more often than not



Jeff
 

jeffv96masters

Well-known member
Aug 14, 2008
2,095
1,223
DAY 11- 1988 TOPPS CLOTH RED SOX

Today's write up is short and sweet. On most player collectors list of favorites is the 1988 TOPPS CLOTH test experimental issue. Tough to locate individual items and was mythical in the pre-internet days.

Word around is that about 100 sheets made it out. Judging by the amount of available slabbed items- either that total is inaccurate or as unusual underestimated.

I have a complete set of cut raw items both loose and in slabs. If your ever able to pick up your player- do it.
Took me years to locate a Clemens at a good price and I'd buy more if they were priced in my wheelhouse.

This issue is thin and has a weird, smooth surface . Its easily damaged and if you handle without gloves you can bet the item will pick up whatever dirt is on your hands. The only comparable series that is close is the 2000 Pacific Wild inserts which took after this set. It crinkles at the slightest touch and is so easily damaged only experts can get this cut professionally without damaging. I know the owner of the BGS registry complete set and I'm on his A list for buying it if he ever sells.

Without further ado-- my Roger Clemens Red Sox version. I have buried my Boggs and other Red Sox but see below for some other tidbits of interest !!

attachment.php

attachment.php




And if you have never seen a full sheet- well now you have !!


attachment.php








And some of my slabbed 1988 Topps Cloth versions of other players. Hopefully the video works


1988 TOPPS CLOTH
 

jeffv96masters

Well-known member
Aug 14, 2008
2,095
1,223
DAY 12 1979 HOSTESS JIM RICE BOX PANELS

Lets talk about food again. My favorite subject !! We all remember years ago when we were young. Relaxing days spent doing nothing but schoolwork, homework, and play after those were done. We'd rush home and what's the first thing we think about ?? Snacks baby snacks !!

I know when I hit my house after school back in the day I was searching for cookies or Hostess. So today going to show off a little Hostess product. Hostess as a brand/company started back in 1925 with the infamous " Wonder Bread". During the Depression of the 1930's a guys comes up with an inexpensive snack- one which we all love- called a Twinkie Sponge cake. Millions of sales later and well into the 60's ( 1967 to be exact) two of my all time favorite Hostess snack were invented- Ding Dongs & Ho-ho's !!

I came across one of my 1979 Hostess panels this morning so I figured I'd show it off but I also remembered a very famous story I figured would make people think twice about the power of sugar. Back in 1978 I read in the paper about a guy killing the Mayor of San Francisco and some other guy and claiming that his eating of sugar and other unhealthy stuff-- in this case Twinkies of all things- led to him killing these two people. He didn't claim the snacks made him do it-- just that eating tons of the snacks were an indirect way of showing he wasn't thinking like the rest of us and was major league depressed .

I remember headlines screaming 'Twinkie Defense successful !!" after the guy was acquitted of murder and instead charged with manslaughter. I just went online to look up and see if I could get the info and lo and behold-- its online and part of I guess the lexicon of legalese as the "Twinkie Defense". If it wasn't such a serious situation ( 2 people murdered is never funny and a guy being let off easy isn't either) I'd have laughed out loud. Instead I just shook my head and reminded myself I've heard crazier things since then . And that what he called " depression" (eating unhealthy snack foods) I call Happy Days !!

But anyways-- back to the food !! I figured I'd show off some box panels. Below are the side panels of some complete boxes showing Red Sox star JIM RICE. Also shown is my cut off player panel with Mr Rice front and center.

I remember specifically looking for his panel in 1979 because he had such a monster season in 1978 and wanting anything I could find of him and Fred Lynn.

Enjoy !!! BTW go into my album to see true life size pics. This site makes stuff smaller I guess so its more "phone" acceptable.



attachment.php

attachment.php



attachment.php

attachment.php
 
Last edited:

Members online

Top