My Only Other Sportscaster Promotional Card - The 1967 Green Bay Packers

I mentioned recently that I had a Hank Aaron numbered 993-06.  I also have the 1967 Green Bay Packers card numbered 993-07.

Here is the Packers card.

Unlike the Aaron card which had different text in the regular series, I would expect that this one wouldn't change since the story is all about the 1967 season.  I will check this out soon.  I checked out the regular card and it appears to be exactly the same as the promo card.

Are there cards 993-01 through 993-05?  Is Nadia Comaneci one of them?

Packer fans will be quick to note that there was no QB wearing number 10 on the team in 1967.  Bart Starr wore 15 and Zeke Bratkowski was #12.  How could they not find a picture of the 1967 guys?  Did they not want to pay for one?

So what's up with that picture?  My first thought was that the QB must be Lynn Dickey.  He played for the Packers from 1976 to 1985.

The running back is Erik Torkelson, a packer from 1974 to 1981.  #54 is center Larry McCarren, a Packer from 1973 to 1984.

The lineman in the backfield must be Gale Gillingham, who last played in 1976.  He was the last active member of Lombardi's teams.  So, the picture must be from 1976.  Gale grew up in Stoughton, WI which is near Madison.  I took my team to a cross country meet there a few years ago and my brother's in-laws are from that small town.

Babe Ruth vs. Hank Aaron

There was no Barry Bonds in those days and Sadaharu Oh seemed to be skipped over in this set.  How could they skip him when he surpassed Aaron during the late 1970s when these cards were being produced.

Back to Ruth vs. Aaron.  I want to check out what was written about them on the back of their Sportscaster cards.

Babe Ruth

Ruth was called muscular by Sportscaster writers.  That seemed a bit different from other depictions.  The story begins with his called shot in the 1932 World Series.

Ruth had 730 total homers because they added his 15 in the World Series and one in an All-Star game.  He also hit .342 and had 2,217 RBIs in his career. 

Ruth was also a star pitcher, winning 94 games and losing 46.  He set a record with 29 1/3 scoreless innings as a pitcher in the World Series. 

Ruth set career records with RBIs, walks (2,056) and HRs as well as a few other categories.

Not on the card - he is now credited with 2,214 RBIs and 2,062 walks.  Ruth only had one All-Star Game homer because the All-Star Game begin in 1933 as Ruth was ending his career. 

Hank Aaron

Aaron's story starts with a recap of the game in 1974 when he surpassed Ruth by hitting his 715th homer.  I remember watching the game on the floor of my family's house.  I also taped the play-by-play with a cheap tape recorder.  Sadly, I didn't keep the tape for very long because it didn't work so well.

Sportscaster mentioned in the text that he hit 745 homers, a record that may never be broken.  At the bottom of the card it correctly mentions his career total of 755 homers.  Aaron hit 10 homers in 1976, so the writers were certainly using his stats through 1976 on this card.  This is the promo card, so maybe this was updated in the real set.  I will check that on the next commercial of DieHard.  Yes, it was corrected in the regular set, so this promo card was certainly done before getting 1976 stats.

The cards ends by mentioning that Aaron retired after the 1975 season.  The updated card mentions that he played for the Brewers in 1976. 

I was surprised that the card didn't mention that Aaron had career records in RBIs and Total Bases.  He still is the all-time leader in both.

How Many Promotional Sportscaster Cards Were There?

I bought a lot of Sportscaster cards last week.  It had been a while since I saw anything that I wanted.  The lot didn't have lots of baseball cards, which seems to be the norm for Sportscaster lots.  But, this one had a few and they were some of the biggest stars.

Even when I get some baseball Sportscasters, the cards shown above are rarely included.  Joe DiMaggio was probably at the height of his Mr. Coffee days so I rarely get his card in a lot.  

The Hank Aaron card is from their promotional set.  I think the Jets vs. Colts card is also a promotional card.  Was Johnny Bench in this group?  I will be looking into that over the next few week to try to find out who else might have been included in promotional materials.  Any help would be appreciated.

Hank Aaron is number 993-06.
It looks like the 1967 Green Bay Packers are 993-07.

Are there Series 992-   promotional cards too?

I Found My Checklist

I finally recovered my data from my old computer.  Now I'm going to spend the evening cleaning it up and getting all of it on my new computer.  Even though everything is no longer 100% accurate, it will be great to have that as a starting point to continue finalizing a Sportscaster checklist.

I'm Still Planning to Cover Sportscaster Cards

Sorry that I've been negligent here.  Next week I need to find my hard drive and restore my Sportscaster checklist data.  I spent too much time on it to start over.

I haven't gotten anything new of note and I've seen very few large lots available on ebay.

No Billy Mills?

Billy Mills was speaking at a running store near me yesterday.  It was great to hear his stories from running and from his experiences outside of running. 

How did he not get a Sportscaster card?  There are over 300 track and field cards in the set.   

Sportscaster Cards at the National

I only spent four hours at the National but since I've been to this show many times, I know which booths I can quickly skip. 

I found one booth the Sportscaster cards on display, another with a handful of them and some dealers with one or two cards.  I spent some time talking to the dealer who had a display case dedicated to Sportscaster cards.  He said that sales had been good.  He was selling the North American version of the cards.  He had the basic stars from our four main sports.  He also mentioned that these cards aren't showing up often anywhere.  Is that a good thing?

He mentioned that he had thousands of others with him, but I didn't ask to see them since he didn't mention anything about prices.  If I had extra time I would have gone back there, but four hours was my limit since we were doing a mile road race last night in West Virginia. 

He had fair prices of a few bucks per card.  That's not bad if you are a player or team collector.  For me, I'm used to buying bulk Sportscaster cards, so I will only pay that much for the remaining cards on my want list. 

I came away with nothing from this trip.  I didn't even seen any of the expensive three cards on display. 

Link to Sportscaster Card Discussion

We don't see these discussions often.

https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/1002468/sportscaster-cards-how-many-countries-variations-exists

Shut Out Over Six Hours

I spent over six hours at a yard sale throughout the state and I saw almost every kind of collectible.  Of course I didn't see a Sportscaster card of any kind.  That is always the case.  I hope to have better luck at the National this weekend.

Sportscaster Cards at the National

I've had very little luck finding Sportscaster cards at the National.  I will try again this year with a focus on getting closer to completing the set, other than Bird, Magic Johnson and Gretzky. 

It might be a waste of time familiarizing myself with the list of cards that I am missing, but I might as well be prepared in case someone has them at an affordable price.

I am also looking for 1961 Topps in VG condition and all things Kellogg's.

Another Question About Grolier's Cards

I watched that 1984 race on TV and then went to South Carolina to watch the 1996 Olympic Trials. 

The story mentions that Ryun never fulfilled his dream of winning Olympic Gold.  Many others have had that dream and not gotten past winning a high school state title.  Ryun did okay - he won an Olympic silver medal or as the card says "took only a silver medal".

Grolier's Card Comments on tradingcarddb.com

I don't see the Grolier cards on the tradingcarddb.com.  Has anyone found a checklist?  How about at least a checklist of track stars?

Where Did One Get A Sportscaster Coin?

Does anyone know how this was distributed?

Was this given as a gift for subscribers?  I didn't get one back in the day.  This came with a lot of Sportscaster cards that I bought a while back.  

Thanks for responding if you know more about this.

Letters from the Sportscaster Corporation Boss

I started collecting Sportscaster cards at the beginning of the subscription service but I didn't still have the letters from the company.  I just got them in a lot of Sportscaster cards that arrived today.  Here they are.

Are there more letters?

...But I Kinda Like the Music

I've never been to Shea......

I've been to 32 MLB ballparks since I first went to some games in Chicago in 1968.   Unfortunately, I never went to one in New York.  This card will have to do since I never found a way to get there.  I wish they'd done a card for every stadium. 

I've also never been to any MLB game in Florida (Tampa, Miami), Oakland, any Angels stadium or Arizona.  Maybe that will happen sometime soon. 

If you are still paying attention and doing the math it doesn't add up.  Luckily, I'm old enough to have been to multiple stadiums for some teams. 

I Finally Found a Few More Sportscaster Cards That I Need for My Set

I picked up a few Sportscaster cards today (13) that I needed for my set.  I've always loved this Dave Kingman image.  It would be so much better had it shown him in a Cub uniform with the Wrigley Field bleachers in the background.  

When I get around to discussing the interesting comments on Sportscaster card backs, the Kingman card will certainly keep it entertaining.  If you have this card, read the back soon.

********************************************************************************

I've gotten two unopened packs from set/deck 26, which contains Walter Payton, so I will check him off as part of my set since I can just open a pack and I've got him.

Here are the number of cards that I am missing from each range of sets.

01 - 49         Completed

50 - 59         09 cards

60 - 69         21 cards

70 - 79         33 cards

80 - 88         40 cards

101-103       12 cards

Total          115 cards


Now my goal is to get all of the cards from 50 - 59 that I am missing. 

My real goal will be to find someone willing to part/trade Wayne Gretzky, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird.

Kellogg's Olympic Champions Cards - Wow!

For track and field collectors here is a link to the post I just added to my Kellogg's cards blog.  It is about my new Kellogg's Olympic Champions cards purchase.

Kellogg's Olympic Champions

The 1970s Running Boom

Frank Shorter's win in the 1972 Olympic Marathon has been credited with being a big inspiration for the running boom of the 1970s.  It also got him into the first series of Sportscaster cards. 

Not surprisingly, Shorter is mentioned as being "skinny".  How many Olympic Marathon winners weren't?

He was attending law school while training for the marathon.  He finished second in the 1976 Olympic Marathon.  

Not on the card - the 1976 winner has been implicated in East Germany's state-sponsored doping that went on for almost 20 years. 

I remember what I did after watching the 1972 race.  As a nine-year-old kid, I went out to try to run around the block 26 times.  I think I went for about an hour before my mother stopped me.  It was probably about 0.5 miles so I'd guess that I racked up 5 - 7 miles.   I remember not walking at all.  Unfortunately, in every marathon that I've attempted I ended up walking for a while.  Oh, to be nine years old again. 

That day marked my first ever run.  Sure I'd probably run home from school, to a friend's house or away from a dog, but this was the first time I actually went running as sport/exercise.  Too bad I didn't own running shoes until 1978.  I wish I knew what kind of shoes I wore that day.

Kellogg's Track and Field Cards From England

Here is a link to what I wrote about some Kellogg's cards that I found recently.  They seem to originate from England.  Do you know much about them?


Kellogg's Track and Field Cards From England


Here is a site that gives details on this set and includes a TV commercial.  It only shows cereal box offers from the UK.

http://cerealoffers.com/Kelloggs/Cornflakes/1990/Olympic_Champions_Cards/olympic_champions_cards.html

Track and Field and The Masters

Normally my weekend would be taken up by an out-of-town track meet.  Since the weather in the Midwest is so awful, our meets have been canceled.  That means more time for watching golf.

Here is the Sportscaster card that discussed The Masters.  Let's see how they describe the event and how that compares to today.  Of course Jack Nicklaus is shown on the card since he already had won the most green jackets as this point.  He won his last one in 1986.

Who is interviewing Nicklaus?  Maybe I will try to figure that out.

The card describes the history of the tournament well.  It also mentions that the winner value the green "blazer" more than the prize money that they receive for winning.   The 1980 winner earned $55,00 and the 2018 winner will take home 1.98 million dollars.

The text is definitely written so that those who are not golf fans get the idea that this is an important tournament.

Bird and Gretzky Sportscaster Cards on ebay

I just watched auctions end for the Bird and Gretzky cards that are going to be in my way on the path to completing this set.  The Bird was graded better and it sold for $210.  Gretzky went "only" for $130.  If I hadn't spent too much on Kellogg's cards recently maybe I would have been in the market for the Gretzky.

These cards don't seem to show up on ebay much. 

Sportscaster Checklist Can Be Found!

Tradingcarddb.com - Sportscaster

This site seems to have all 91 series listed.  Check it out.  It probably won't have all of the variations that have been found but at least it is a nice checklist.

Maybe I Will Get a Few More Cards That I Need

I picked up a few Sportscaster cards today.  They are just so slow to sort.  I need to get through them to see if I need any of the variations.  As usual, there were hardly any baseball cards in this group.  No Dave Kingman, just a few Johnny Bench cards.

Lots of track cards.  I always like that.  No higher numbers, but that's what I expect.

When I buy these cheap lots there is rarely a Secretariat card so that was a nice surprise.

Most Surprising Card in Sportscaster Card Series #001

I was sorting some of the Sporstcaster cards today and I was surprised to see this card in series 001.  I'm sure that in the 1970s I was wondering why this card was included, especially in series 001 of a subscription set.  Series 001 was going to be their big marketing push so the set included Bobby Orr, Muhammad Ali, Jessse Owens, Mark Spitz, Frank Shorter, Johnny Unitas, Pele, Jimmy Connors, Jets vs. Colts (Super Bowl), Tom Seaver, Pete Maravich and track stars Alberto Juantorena and Lasse Viren.  That's a great first set. 

Even the sub-title of the card makes me wonder about the card's inclusion.  It reads "The Unanswered Question".

The text even begins with the question "should fishing even be included in a collection of sports cards?".

The card concludes that fishing is probably not a sport  That has changed a lot since the 1970s.  There are professional tournaments, high school championships and everything in between.  I haven't been to a competition, but I'm guessing that the card is no longer correct when it mentions that "there are no referees and there are no anti-doping control points along the river".

The last line is my favorite, since I'm too impatient to fish - "Luckily, though, the fish almost always win".

My real question from this card is the fisherman depicted.  Is he a professional, the neighbor of the photographer, an actor, just some guy who is hungry, is it you or what?  What is his story?  If there is no story, how great is it for this guy to be included with the famous athletes in Series 001.

Sportscaster Cards That Are No Longer Accurate

I won't get into the exact text of the new blocking the plate rule in baseball, but I am confident that it is not the same as the rules stated on this card featuring Johnny Bench and Steve Yeager.

The text also mentions that the runner is out when hit by a batted ball.  That is not always true.

Another Sportscaster Variation - The Hockey Card Featuring the Espositos

I checked my cards, which are mostly sorted, and found this version of the Espositos card.  The text correctly identified their roles in the 1972 Canada-USSR series.  This was done in print run "A".  I didn't check later print runs yet to see if the card had more variations.

Do Phil Esposito or Tony Esposito fans even care about something this minor?  Most Sportscaster collectors probably don't even care about this.  I'm interested because it gives me something to do.

Are There Other Sportscaster Cards Like This One?

I picked up this Sportscaster card recently.    It features Phil and Tony Esposito.  Are there any other Sportscaster cards that have a player listed it the title where they don't show his picture on the front?  That will take a long time for me to figure out. 

I don't remember ever reading about the Team Canada - USSR eight-game series that was held in 1972.  For those of you younger than me, that is how things were without constant sports news on television.  There are some good recaps of this series online. 

The card mentions it, but I think there is an error in crediting the brothers for their play in that series.  They seem to have switched the names.  

What do I remember most about these brothers?  I had a table-top hockey game that featured both of them.  I think it was called One-on-One Hockey or something like that.  If I saw this game at a flea market I'd be certain to buy it.

Summary of How Many Sportscaster Cards that I Need

Now that I've finished packs 30 - 39, I'd really like to be done from 01 - 49 by getting the Dave Kingman and Walter Payton cards. 

I picked up a handful of cards today that included the Clemente and a few other variations that I needed.  I didn't get anything else to shorten the list below.

Here are the number of cards that I am missing from each range of sets.

01 - 09           0 cards

10 - 19           0 cards

20 - 29           2 cards   (Dave Kingman; Walter Payton)

30 - 39           0 cards   (32-01 Baseball 3,000-Hit Club - Roberto Clemente pictured)

40 - 49           0 cards

50 - 59         13 cards

60 - 69         21 cards

70 - 79         39 cards

80 - 88         41 cards

101-103       13 cards

Total          129 cards