Under 100 to Go

For the first time, I decided to check how many Sportscaster cards I don't have.  I am ignoring the print run / variations.  Since I have everything entering into Excel, I figured out that I am down to needing 99 different cards.  I've listed more of them on the right side of the blog.  Let me know if you have any to trade.

That is great, but some things haven't changed.  I still need Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Wayne Gretzky.  Lots of the high numbers that I need are the more popular (and probably expensive) cards in each deck/series.  

Since I have the checklist in Excel, send me an e-mail if you'd like a copy of it.  I haven't completed looking into variations, but this is at least a starting point.  

I really like checklists that list team and sports, but it might be difficult to do with the Sportscaster set.  Maybe someday.  

I haven't started on any foreign checklists.  Does anyone have any of these?

I am Sorting the Purchase from April 20th - Finally

I will update my want list if I am lucky enough to get anyone I need from this lot.  Ugh.  Nothing that I need.  Maybe I will get a few different variations that I don't have.    

UPDATE #1 - I sorted the first 19 decks and I ended up with 155 new variations.  If I would have known this I would have sorted these a bit earlier.  How did I get so many?  From decks 11 - 19 I had very few of the 'B' print run.  It turns out that this lot was almost all from the 'B' print run.   

UPDATE #2 - Just over eight months and I finally sorted the box of cards that I purchased in April.  For decks 20 - 55 I ended up getting about 100 more variations that I needed, mostly from print run 'C'.   Overall, it was a nice surprise to get some many variations.   

I only need a few cards from the first 59 decks - not including variations.  Here is the list.

Those are my goals for next year.  Let me know if you can help.

Does anyone have a good way to store their Sportscaster cards?  My running shoe boxes are not ideal at all.  

My Wife Got Me a Card for Christmas and She Doesn't Even Know it

I haven't gotten a card in the past.  No one probably wants to encourage me to do more with the hobby.  I did get the following card today - 

It seems to look like a baseball card so I will call it one.  It came attached to a Sandlot shirt that my wife ordered online.  

Has anyone seen these from RSVLTS?  Is there a checklist?  Can I consider it a card?

What Else Do You Collect?

 I spend more time on my Kellogg's card blog than I do on this one.  Why?  There is just more going on with Kellogg's cards.  I am able to find them around and it seems like more people collect them.  

I do love the Sportscaster cards but they are much more difficult to sort than Kellogg's cards or regular cards.  That box I bought a long time ago is still not sorted so I haven't updated my checklist.

What else do I collect?  

Kellogg's cards, mostly baseball.  

Western Open Golf tournament items as well as Evans Scholar stuff.  

Track and field / Cross Country items. 

Hostess snack cake baseball card boxes from the late 1970s.

I've collected baseball cards and most of the other sports since I was a kid.  I am slowly working on completing a 1961 Topps baseball card set in VG condition.  Otherwise, I've been just picking up a few things that I like.  I will probably work on 1967 and 1968 Topps baseball card sets at some point.  

If you have any of those items to trade send me an e-mail.  

What else do you collect?  I might be able to find it once shows start again, hopefully in 2021.

Hesitation Got Me Again

 I've been complaining about the lack of places to find Sportscaster card lots.  Then when a few popped up the other day I decided to contact the seller instead of justing using the Buy It Now option.  Why?  I was tired and I didn't do the math on how cheap the cards were.  

Naturally, I was too late since someone else who wasn't tired bought both lots quickly.  Another lesson learned.

Track and Field Fans - Check Out This Video About Kellogg's Olympic Champions Cards

 https://youtu.be/BHILLAQRGKY

I really like these cards and there is as great commercial from the UK.

I have been busy during the school year so I didn't get to post much.  I will get back to my Sportscaster checklist looks this week.  

UPDATE - I found four of these cards in another language - Dutch.  I love these Fact Slide cards from Corn Flakes in Europe.  Now I've got to find more.

I Am Still Doing This Blog - Some Bumps in the Road This Year

 I've actually been working more than every this year.  I still haven't sorted to cards I bought in the Spring.  Since then I haven't found anything online to buy.  I get two weeks off for the holidays so I plan to sort through those cards.  

I did get to a small card show yesterday.  I didn't see any Sportscaster cards.  

I hope to get to some flea markets next year since that didn't happen this year.

Has anyone else found Sportscaster cards for sale this year?  Anything odd or interesting?

I Finally Got Some New Sportscaster Cards

There are usually a lot of shows in the Chicago area and flea markets would have opened by now in a normal year.  So, I haven't been able to pick up anything lately.  I took a chance on a Sportscaster lot on ebay.  It was listed at 500+ cards without stars.  It looked like a lot more than 500 and I could see there were many track and field cards so I took a chance.

Surprisingly there was a Steve Prefontaine card and lots of other track stars.  There was not an NCAA Cross Country card with Prefontaine on the front.

The biggest stars were not there and I doubt that there are any high numbers.  It will be good to have a new pile of cards to sort and check for variations.

I was happily surprised that there were some boxing, football, hockey, basketball and baseball stars.  Unfortunately, many of the baseball cards were taped onto something and there is some paper loss as a result on some of them, notably Nolan Ryan, Ted Williams and George Brett.

All in all a good lot.  I won't count them but there has to be a lot more than 500.  If the stay-at-home order goes for all of May I will probably find time to go through them.

Sportscaster Series #19 Variations That I Found

I have all of the blank and "A" print run cards from deck 19.  I have a few cards from the "B' print run.  Here are the only variations that I found.  I don't count the photo credit city change because I count the "A" itself as being different and that includes the city change.

19-13  Swimming - Basic Rules and Distances

The last line on the right side of the text is formatted differently.

19-15  Hockey - World Championship

The "A" version has added the 1978 and 1979 results.

19-16

The "A" version has added the 1978 and 1979 winners.

19-18   Rowing - The Origins

The text is different. 

1919 Skiing - Franz Klammer

More awards and records information was added to the "A" print run.

Sportscaster Corporation Correspondence

It's great that a few collectors have contacted me about this blog.  I work in spurts due to my schedule of teaching, coaching and working summers on a golf course.  All of that is up in the air now so I will try to post a few things.

One collector who reached out, Rich, sent copies of the official correspondences he's gotten from the Sportscaster Corporation along with the original packaging.  One of the letters clearly mentions the leaflets that were included with every three sets.

Enjoy reading the letters.

I think that I got this letter about prompt payments.

I definitely remember them advertising safari cards.  No way I'd buy them.  I spent my cash on baseball cards, Wacky Packages, ice cream and candy.

These envelopes look familiar.

Sportscaster Series #18 Variations That I Have Found

I have all of the blank and A print runs from series 18.  I have only a few of the B print run cards.  The first two print runs only have one variation - 18-17.  It is shown below.  The A print run contains the 1978 results.  Nothing much to report on this one.

I might have more time at home for this if I am stuck at home for weeks on end.  This could help me keep my sanity.

Sportscaster Series #17 Variations That I Have Found

Here is what I found for the 24 cards in Series #17 so far.   I have all of the blank/Italy print run and I have most of the  "A" print run.  I only have two cards from print run "B" so there are probably more variations.  I'm working on getting all three versions for Series #17.


Here are the back variations I've seen.  I have yet to check for variations on the front of the cards.

17-07  Vitas Gerulaitus - 'A' has updated results
17-08  50 and 125 cc WCH - 'A' has updated results
17-11  Hans Schmid - 'A' has updated records mentioned his retirement
17-12  UEFA Junior Cup - 'A' has updated results
17-20  World Cup Skiing - 'A' has updated results
17-22  The Forest Hills Tournament - 'A' has different text and the sub-title is different

A Challenge With Collecting Cards from the Kellogg's Boxes

It would be great to be able to easily collect cards from the cereal boxes.  They have a different look with the printing on cereal box stock.  To me that makes me want to collect them. 

What's the problem?  Check out the 1980 box at the top of the picture.  There are six cards together.  The bottom three could easily be cut out and displayed as cards since all of the cards are visible.  The top three cards don't offer that same possibility since these cards were overlapped in the image created. 

Kellogg's used a few different formats to do these cards.  Some of them involved the overlapping.  If I have a box without overlaps I'd be tempted to cut it into individual cards, especially if the box isn't complete or if it isn't in great condition.  I guess if would also depend if I got a duplicate of the box or back panel.

Some years also contain card images on the front and/or sides of the box.  The 1980 box above has a small image on the side. 

I haven't created a list of what different boxes were produced each year.  I will start that and then hope to get help from others with it.  I also want to know what products offered cards - Frosted Flakes, Corn Flakes, Raisin Bran, etc.