100th Custom Card Giveaway Results

A couple of weeks ago I celebrated the printing of my 100th custom card, and gave all you kind readers and collectors a chance to enter a duck race for a prize. The first six finishers of the race would win a copy of that 100th custom, featuring good ol' George Costanza.

I was happy to see that 12 people entered the giveaway within the entry period. That's a good flock of ducks!

Here's a list of the competitors, and a link to their blogs or other trading card–related social media sites if they have any:

Jay Wigley

Mark (The Chronicles of Fuji)

Greg (Night Owl Cards)

Mr. Nachos (Nachos Grande)

Mr. Crocodile (Crocodile Sports Cards)

Gavin (Baseball Card Breakdown)

Rod (Padrographs)

RJ Sahl (TCDB: rjsahl)

Matt (Cards Over Coffee)

Derek (TCDB: CollectorTBNL)

Golf Coach

POISON75 (S.R. '75 Cards)

Twelve competitors. Six prizes. That means you have a 50% chance of winning one of them!

If you haven't seen the duck race in action, or don't remember it from last time, here's how it works: 

Each entrant is represented by an animated rubber duck that is sitting at the starting line on an animated river. The starting gun fires, and all the ducks begin floating randomly along the river as the screen scrolls horizontally. Eventually the finish line appears, and the first duck to cross the line wins. 

 

Yesterday I ran the script and recorded the action. Want to see how it all turned out? 

 

Play the video, find your duck, and here we go. (You'll see a list of the top 6 finishers at the end of the video.)

Wow! Gavin, what kind of motor did you have in that duck? Crocodile, RJ Sahl, and Padrographs all had nice bursts of speed at the end there, too.

Anyhow, as shown at the very end of the video, here are the top 6 ducks:

(1) Baseball Card Breakdown

(2) Crocodile Sports Cards

(3) CollectorTBNL

(4) RJ Sahl

(5) Padrographs

(6) Golf Coach

Congratulations! All six of you will receive a copy of the George Costanza card. If you've never sent me your mailing address, or if it's changed recently, please do send it to me. You can find my contact information on the blog here, or you can message me through TCDB here.

Thanks again to all of you for participating. Hope you enjoyed the race!

A Smorgasbord! 1988 Chef Boyardee

From the 1970s through the 1990s, it seemed like you could find your favorite baseball stars on food product packaging everywhere you looked: supermarkets, corner stores, restaurants, and beyond. This past year, in an effort to capture a little more nostalgia, I set a goal to expand my own collection of these "food-issue" cards. In this series I'll show the specific examples I've acquired, and share a little bit of history about the food or beverage sponsor as well. 

Previous entries can be found here.

 

 

 

School is back in session. 

The first few weeks are always overwhelming—not only for you, but also for mom and dad. They do a lot to get you ready every morning. Then once you're out the door, they work even harder. And sometimes they work late. It's a marvel that mom gets a nice, home-cooked meal together as much as she does.

But on the occasions when she can't, you do get something out of it.

Chef Boyardee!

You know it's not the best for you, but it tastes good, and you consider it a silver lining to the hectic nature of the week. And tonight, the cloud is lined with even more silver: There's a baseball card offer on the back of the can!

You read the details more closely.

If you send in 10 proofs of purchase from Chef Boyardee products, plus $1.50 for postage, the company will send you a sheet of 24 baseball cards featuring all the stars of the day. 

 

You stop and think. The $1.50 for shipping isn't a big deal. You can earn that. But then you need 10 proofs of purchase from Chef Boyardee products. Ten?? Wow.

You don't want to wish busy days on mom and dad, but man, do you ever want those cards. So for the next month you pick your spots to ask for a can of Boyardee wisely, mention the card set, and exhibit as much patience as you can. You even convince a couple of your friends to clip proofs of purchase from the Boyardee cans at their homes and bring them to you, in exchange for a couple of baseball cards from your collection.

And finally, you have enough proofs of purchase and the $1.50. Everything goes into an envelope, and you wait.

Fast-forward to mid-November, and your package arrives. You tear it open excitedly, toss aside some filler paper, pull the panel of cards out, and . . .

. . . you're less than thrilled. 

All you see are the heads and shoulders of each player (sometimes just the heads!), and the logos have been removed from their caps. On top of that, some of the photographs are a little dark. Others are grainy. Maybe you notice all of those negatives a little bit more because the 24 players are right next to each other on one big panel. So you make a decision.

You're going to separate the cards, using the perforations provided.

After you carefully do that, you stack the cards up and flip through them. Still not great, but it does feel a little better somehow. You decide to keep a few, like the Mattingly and the Ozzie Smith. But some of the others? You wouldn't mind trading them. And you already might have a taker at school.

Your trade negotiation the next day is fruitful. Here are the two cards you'll be offering up:

It's trade time. You take a look at the stats on the back once more before handing the cards over.

Not bad. The text feels a little smaller and more sparse than the standard Topps card, though. It's just one more reason why you don't mind trading them away. That's especially true because you pick up these sweet cards in return:

 

Yeah, they've still got the airbrushed caps, but at least you see more of the uniforms, and the photo quality is better. On top of that, the card design is more fun, front and back. 

 

 

  

Besides, how many of your classmates have True Value cards in their collection? Feels like a fair trade.

You put them safely in the small zippered pocket of your backpack, and head home. The weather is pretty mild, and you haven't been on the baseball diamond lately. Your schedule for the rest of the day?

• Get home
• Put Madlock and Gibson in shoe box
• Do homework 
• Show homework to mom
• Ask if you can go to the baseball field before dinner
• If yes, get changed and go
• Be back before sundown

You only have about an hour before it gets dark, but it'll be worth it.

As for the Chef Boyardee brand, did you know that the guy on the logo was an actual chef? 

 

 

The company was founded in 1928 by an Italian immigrant named Hector Boiardi and his brothers. (The Americanized "Boyardee" was created to make pronunciation a little easier for customers.) 

 

Mr. Boiardi owned a restaurant back then, and he'd been jarring his delicious spaghetti sauce in re-used milk bottles. Eventually, demand for his food inspired him to create a packaged meal kit. Along with the sauce, it included dried spaghetti and Parmesan cheese. The kit helped countless families sustain themselves during the Great Depression. As if that weren't enough, the company supplied rations to the US Army during World War II.

 

I only knew the Boyardee brand for its fun ravioli and meatball/pasta products from the 1980s. But now I certainly have a greater appreciation for the man and the company.

 

How about you readers? Ever have a Chef Boyardee product when you were a kid? 

 

Do you have any of the baseball cards from this set in your collection?

 

Share in the comment section, and thanks for reading.

100th Custom Card (Plus a Giveaway)

If you're a blogger, artist, or any type of creative person, then you'll know about "the itch". 

 

That is, the creative itch. It's the need to tinker. To doodle. To goof around. To create something.

 

You can have so much fun with the process that time keeps going by without much notice. You finish one blog post or one project, and keep moving forward with the next one, and the one after that. If you add in all your other daily tasks and obligations, it's very easy to forget to look back on the catalog of stuff you've created over time.

Well, back in 2019 at Nine Pockets Headquarters, I created my very first custom card. It featured George Costanza on the 1956 Topps design, barreling into Bette Midler at home plate. (Clean play.)

 

Remarkably, it's now six years later. And after all that time I'm still having lots of fun coming up with new ideas for custom cards and seeing them through to fruition—and printing! It's always cool to have something that you've created in a tangible, physical form.

 

So, to mark the six-year milestone, I decided it was time to take a step back and look through all of my designs. The best way to do that? 

Set up a binder, of course.

 

 

 

It contains one copy of each card I've designed, including the commissioned projects I've done for fellow bloggers and trading card enthusiasts. It's fun to flip through the pages and reflect on how the ideas and designs have changed over the years—not to mention all the work that's been put in.

 

Being a collector myself, the next natural step was to count up the cards in the binder. I knew the total would be fairly close to 100, but I wondered just how close it would be.

 

To my surprise, I'd already surpassed it! 

 

If you include checklist cards and the commissioned cards, the number is 144. (Add some digital-only cards, and it's a bit higher.) Even if you remove those from the equation, the total still reaches over 100.

 

Fist pump.

But as exciting as the milestone is, I can't ignore the fact that I missed the chance to celebrate it in real time. So let's fix that.

 

First thing to do: 

Try to figure out which specific card design was the 100th.

For a while, I couldn't decide whether I should go with the 100th card I finished designing, or the 100th card that I actually printed out. Each of those options would produce a different result.

 

Eventually I figured I'd go with the 100th card that was printed. But looking through my order history reminded me that I always try to have a few different cards printed at the same time, to save on costs. I was able to narrow it down to one small batch of cards, but there's no way to know which card in that batch was the exact 100th to be printed and cut. (D'oh!)

 

In any case, here's the small batch:

 

And although there's no way of knowing which of these four cards was the actual 100th to roll off the printing presses, I decided to designate this one with the honor:

Choosing Mr. Costanza is fitting in a "full circle" kind of way. As I mentioned earlier, the very first custom I created also featured Georgie Boy. 

Second thing to do: 

How about holding a giveaway to help celebrate?

The first idea to cross my mind was to give away one copy of each custom card I've ever designed. And as fun as that would be, it's just waaay too big for my britches. I don't have nearly enough of a following to give away that many cards. Not even close. So, let's do this instead: 

 

We'll celebrate six years of designs by giving away one of the Costanza cards shown above to six different participants. 

The duck races that I've held for a couple of previous Nine Pockets giveaways seem to go over pretty well with readers, so I think I'll do that again. But this time, the top six finishers will be the six winners.

To enter the giveaway, just add a comment to this post. That's all you have to do. I'll keep the entry period open through next Sunday, September 21st. Then I'll close it out and get those ducks ready to race.

 

With this milestone now officially in the process of being celebrated, I'll turn it over to all of you creative folks out there:  

 

Have you hit any milestones lately, be it through blogging, creative work, card collecting, or anything else?

 

Share some good ones in the comment section. And here's to more milestones for all of us!

PS: Feel free to share this giveaway with some other trading card bloggers and collectors out there. I want to make sure we have at least six participants.

Trading Card Detective: Al T's Top Hand Bat

Here's a 1987 Fleer card featuring a rather unenthused and weary-looking Mike Fischlin. 

 

1987 Fleer #98, Mike Fischlin

Maybe he just finished a vigorous training session. (We'll give him the benefit of the doubt.)

After all, have a close look at the bat he's holding. It's painted blue, and looks like it could almost be aluminum. And what's with the text? 

 

 

It appears to be labeled "Al T's Top H..."

Well, I've done some research. The full name of this product is Al T's Top Hand Bat.

What is Al T's Top Hand Bat? 

A hollow aluminum bat with a sliding weight top hand, developed by Al Tetreault of the Switch Hitter Baseball School.

I found a different model for sale online. Look here:

So you see? Mr. Fischlin could have indeed just finished a session with some sort of training aid.

They're prevalent in sports—and have been for a very long time. Some of them work well. Others are much more gimmicky, and are likely to make you even more frustrated than you were before. Because of that, some athletes are reluctant to try them, opting instead to stick with tried and true drills and some good ol' self motivation.

 

To quote Roy McAvoy from the film Tin Cup: training aids are "paraphernalia for lost and desperate souls." 

But I suppose when you're trying to stick around in the major leagues, you'll try whatever gadget or training device will help keep your batting average above the Mendoza line.

 

So could Mr. Fischlin have been a proponent of Al T's Top Hand Bat, or have been sponsored by it? And if so, did he consciously make sure to get the logo into the photo as a way to endorse the product?

It wouldn't be out of the question. Plenty of players make sure to show equipment trademarks or logos when they pose for baseball cards. And Fischlin is from California, where the Top Hand Bat company was located.

 

Regardless, by the time the 1987 Fleer card shown above was released, Mike Fischlin had signed as a free agent with the Atlanta Braves, and his career had all but come to a close.

He did stick around the majors for 10 years, however, playing partial seasons at shortstop, second base, and third base. He suited up for the Astros, Indians, Yankees, and Braves.

Here are his career totals:

941 AB, 109 R, 207 H, 29 2B, 6 3B, 3 HR, 68 RBI, 24 SB, .220/.291/.273

Fischlin's best season was 1982 in Cleveland, where he set career highs in games played (112), runs (34), hits (74), doubles (12), batting average (.268) on-base percentage (.351), and slugging percentage (.319)

More than respectable. Perhaps the Top Hand Bat played a small part in his success.

Now a question for you readers and athletes out there: 

Have you ever tried a training aid or gadget specific to the sport you played? Did it help?

Share in the comment section, and thanks for reading!

Hunter Brothers

How do you like this run for the Hunter clan? 

 

Oct 10, 1979: Dave Hunter plays in his first NHL game. Scores a goal.

 

Oct 9, 1980: Dale Hunter plays in his first NHL game. Logs two assists.

 

October 8, 1981: Mark Hunter plays in his first NHL game. Scores a goal.

 

 

Yep, that's right. For three straight seasons, a new Hunter brother appeared in the NHL, and each one produced immediately. 

Their draft positions weren't too shabby, either. 

Dave: First-round pick (17th overall) by the Montreal Canadiens in 1978

Dale: Second-round pick (41st overall) by the Québec Nordiques in 1979

Mark: First-round pick (7th overall) by the Montreal Canadiens in 1981

Mom and dad must have been celebrating all the time back at the homestead in Ontario!

 

And when Edmonton took Dave from Montreal in the 1979 Expansion Draft, it was a Hunter brother takeover of Canadian teams! 

Here they are just a few years later:

1983-84 Vachon #29 Dave Hunter, #46 Mark Hunter, and #66 Dale Hunter

They might have been overshadowed around this time period by the Sutter brothers and the Stastny brothers. But make no mistake—the Hunter brothers were a force. All three were workmanlike. Tough. They could beat you down and score some points before you lifted yourself up off the ice.

Just look at the PIM totals for all three brothers, for example.

 

 

CAREER TOTALS

	DAVE (10 seasons)	DALE (19 seasons)	MARK (12 seasons)
GAMES PLAYED	746	1407	628
GOALS	133	323	213
ASSISTS	190	697	171
POINTS	323	1020	384
PENALTY MINUTES	918	3565	1426
GAME-WINNING GOALS	15	42	19

 

 

BEST INDIVIDUAL SEASON
(Career highs in bold)

	DAVE (1983-84, Edmonton)	DALE (1983-84, Québec)	MARK (1985-86, St. Louis)
GAMES PLAYED	80	77	78
GOALS	22	24	44
ASSISTS	26	55	30
POINTS	48	79	74
PENALTY MINUTES	90	232	171
GAME-WINNING GOALS	3	2	3

 

 

It's pretty impressive that Mark had the most points and most penalty minutes of his career in the same season. It's tougher to put up points when you spend 171 minutes in the box!

Let's cover a little more ground now.

Dave Hunter (LW) played in the NHL from 1979-80 through 1988-89. He was a three-time cup winner with the Oilers, largely overshadowed by the likes of Gretzky, Messier, Kurri, et al. He also suited up for Pittsburgh and Winnipeg.

Dale Hunter (C) played in the NHL from 1980-81 through 1998-99. He received Selke Trophy votes (best defensive forward) quite a few times through his career. However, the cheap shot he put on Pierre Turgeon in the 1992-93 playoffs still upsets a lot of hockey fans—especially on Long Island—and remains a dark mark on Hunter's career. Dale is the all-time leader in career playoff penalty minutes with 731, and sits in second place in career penalty minutes with 3,565. He also played in 186 career playoff games, which, at the time of this writing, places him at #31 all time. And here's a unique distinction: Dale Hunter is the only player in NHL history with 1,000 career points and 3,000 career penalty minutes.

Mark Hunter (RW) played in the NHL from 1981-82 through 1992-93. He was an all-star in 1985-86 with St. Louis, and won the Stanley Cup with Calgary in 1988-89. Overall, he played for Montreal, St. Louis, Calgary, and Hartford. 

 

So why did I add the LW, C, and RW designations for each brother?

Well, I think it's pretty cool that you had a complete forward line of Hunter Brothers.

Do you know what other group of brothers made up a complete forward line in the 1980s? The Stastnys!

How remarkable would it have been if all three Hunter brothers played for Montreal at some point in the early '80s, and faced off against the Stastny brothers with the Nordiques during the season? Or in the playoffs?

 

Or what if Dave and Mark had been traded to Québec to join Dale? The Nordiques could have had one full forward line of Stastny brothers, and the next full forward line of Hunter brothers. That's half of the forwards on the team!

I guess either scenario would have been pretty rough on the play-by-play guy.

Regardless, it's fun to think about. So here's to the Hunter brothers. Three solid hockey men. Three solid careers, to boot.

A Most Minuscule Blogging Milestone Achieved

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed a new number on the right-hand widget bar here on the Nine Pockets blog.

I've got 50 followers!

Huge news, right? Time to update my status to "influencer".

 

 

Jokes aside, noticing the number on that widget did give me pause for thought. A milestone like this would have been a much more meaningful occasion back in the heyday of blogging. I can imagine well-known bloggers from various corners of the internet celebrating every 100 followers they gained, for example. 

 

But in today's online world, there are quite a few additional forms of social content that grapple for our attention:

 

2-sentence posts

10-second video clips

Single-panel memes

News clips 

How-to videos 

City walks

Virtual tours

ASMR videos

Endless sports highlights

Live streams of all sorts of events

Stories that disappear after 24 hours 

Reaction videos

Unboxings

The list goes on and on.

 

And that's not to mention the emergence of the aforementioned influencers, and their millions of followers across various platforms. Put that all together, and it means bloggers aren't exactly pulling in the numbers these days.

But do you know who still reads blogs?

 

You do.

 

You're undeniable proof that blogging is still here. You, and other folks like you, still enjoy reading the unique content that blogs can provide. I'd even like to think that one day, folks might grow tired of the barrage of content and alerts coming in from all those other platforms, reduce the amount of time they spend tapping, swiping, and aimlessly scrolling, and replace it with some quality time reading blogs again. 

 

Sure, it might be naive to think that way. But I'm sticking with it. 

And that's why I'm setting aside a few minutes to celebrate 50 followers.

 

  

As small as our little corner of the internet is, there's a lot of value here—and a lot of great people, to boot.

If you're one of the 50 followers, or even if you just stop by Nine Pockets every once in a while to read through my thoughts about trading cards and the nostalgia they bring about, I'd like to issue a sincere thank you.

Your time spent here means a lot.

 

Keep enjoying the hobby. And if you're a blogger, keep on doing what you're doing.

 

More good content to come.

Is This Custom Card Experienced? Has It Ever Been Experienced?

If you're a fan of a certain guitar legend from the 1960s and you've read the title of this blog post, I think you might have an idea about the contents of the custom card I'm going to share below.

If not, here are some hints:

• The band consisted of a lead guitarist, a drummer, and a bassist
• The lead guitarist's formal first name was James
• They sung about haziness that was purple and a lady who was foxy.

Alright, I guess that's enough clues. Here's the custom card:

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It's the Jimi Hendrix Experience!

Back in 2020, I created a couple of custom cards featuring Jimi Hendrix. But I wanted to give a nod to the entire band, too. The trick was choosing a card template to work with.

I'm not sure if there's ever been another three-man rock band out there with a member who stood out as the headliner more than the Jimi Hendrix Experience. And that's not taking anything away from Noel Redding or Mitch Mitchell. It's just that the other guy was Jimi Hendrix.

So I didn't want to use a standard three-person card template that featured all three members equally. It took a little while for me to figure it out, but eventually the "league leader" cards from 1970 and 1971 Topps came to mind. They'd be perfect, because the league leader got top billing, in a larger frame, while the second- and third-place men were beneath, in smaller frames. I liked the black borders of 1971 better than the grays of 1970, so I went with that one. An easier choice was replacing the baseball team names with the instruments each band member played.

As for the images, I think the blue sky and clouds in the background work nicely. And do you believe those hairstyles? I mean, Noel Redding . . . that's impressive, sir.

As for The Experience, they were only together for three years (1966 through 1969). The group recorded three albums in that time: Are You Experienced in 1967, Axis: Bold As Love in 1968, and Electric Ladyland, later that same year. All three albums went Platinum or multi-Platinum. "Hey Joe", "Purple Haze", "All Along the Watchtower", "Foxy Lady". So many hits in just a couple of years. Pretty cool.

But that's just a small part of Mr. Hendrix's story. If you're a fan of rock, blues, metal, and funk, and never listened to the music he released with the Band of Gypsys (Billy Cox on bass and Buddy Miles on drums), you're doing yourself a great disservice. Search for live versions of songs like "Power of Soul", "Message of Love", "Machine Gun", "Izabella", and "Who Knows". The songs are heavier and harder. More raw. They almost make The Experience albums feel like pop music in comparison.

There's also an album out there called Jimi By Himself, which consists of some quiet home recordings and improvisations Hendrix did. Also worth a listen.

In any case, I'm happy with the way this custom came out. Maybe I'll create a variation for the Band of Gypsys, featuring Hendrix, Cox, and Miles on the 1970 gray-border design.

Any Hendrix fans out there? Band of Gypsys fans?

Share in the comment section, and thanks for reading.

A Smorgasbord! 1992 Topps Dairy Queen Team USA

From the 1970s through the 1990s, it seemed like you could find your favorite baseball stars on food product packaging everywhere you looked: supermarkets, corner stores, restaurants, and beyond. This past year, in an effort to capture a little more nostalgia, I set a goal to expand my own collection of these "food-issue" cards. In this series I'll show the specific examples I've acquired, and share a little bit of history about the food or beverage sponsor as well. 

Previous entries can be found here.

It's been hot outside. But your Little League team played pretty well today. Had some timely hits. Avoided the big errors. Remembered those baserunning tips from coach. 

It was a close game, but you won by 3 in the end. 

Now you're sitting in the back seat of the car, on the way home, going over some of the highlights of the game in your mind. And you just noticed that Dad turned left on Willow Street.

There's only one reason why he turns left on Willow. There's only ever been one reason.

That's the way to get to the local Dairy Queen!

There's nothing better than when mom and dad take you to DQ after the game. Your purpose there is singular. 

 

Ice cream. 

 

But it's not just ice cream. It's not even just Dairy Queen ice cream.

 

 

It's Dairy Queen ice cream inside of a mini baseball helmet!

 

At this point, it doesn't even matter which teams are available. The distribution folks at DQ have been good to you this summer, so you've already got your favorite team, plus a few more. Now it's compiling time.

The employee slides your sundae and helmet over the counter (Texas Rangers? Cool!) and you dig right in. Life is good.

_____________________________

Skip forward a few years. Your Little League time has finished. You're playing high school ball now, and despite the tougher competition, you've had a decent year. The post-game trips to DQ with with mom and dad don't happen anymore, but one of your buddies just got his drivers license, and a few of you decide to go for old time's sake.

The team helmets are still being offered, which makes you smile. But then you see something else on offer, and it boosts the endorphins even more.

A pack of four Dairy Queen baseball cards!

You find the promotional sign at the counter, and read through it. The packs feature players from the 1984 and 1988 US Olympic teams, as well as some prospects from this summer's 1992 team. In order to receive one, you've got to purchase a sundae in a special Team USA mini helmet.

 

 

Easiest. Decision. Ever. 

Your friends are all-in, too. And a few minutes later, there you are. High school buddies eating sundaes out of mini baseball helmets. (U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!)

And to make it just that much better, you open your pack and find this card inside:

Fresh-faced Will Clark. He's well into his MLB career at this point, but you weren't aware that eight years ago he was part of Team USA at the 1984 Summer Olympics.

 

You flip over to the card back.

 

It's impressive that Topps included the Olympic Team and USA Team stats separately. And all this fanfare reminds you that the 1992 Olympic baseball tournament starts in a couple of weeks. 

You're definitely going to watch now.

As for Will Clark, he sure was a stud, even back in his Team USA days. Just look at those stats on the card back. And read the caption at the bottom!

And hey, would you like to hear one of the coolest Will Clark facts you'll ever hear?

He hit a home run in his very first at-bat at every level of professional baseball: Single-A, Double-A, Triple-A, and the major leagues. To make it even more impressive, that first major league home run came against Nolan Ryan. 

 

Over Mr. Clark's 15-year MLB career, that sweet swing we all know produced 2176 hits, 440 doubles, 47 triples, 284 home runs, 1205 RBI, 1186 runs scored, and a career slash line of .303/.384/.497.

 

He was a six-time All Star, won two Silver Sluggers, one Gold Glove, and was the NLCS MVP in 1989.

 As for Dairy Queen, they've been a classic American fixture for decades. 

It all started with J.F. McCullough and his son Alex, who created a soft-serve type of ice cream in 1938. A friend who owned an ice cream shop agreed to sell it, and on the very first day, more than 1,600 servings were sold! 

The men paired up, and the first official Dairy Queen location opened in Joliet, Illinois, in 1940. Malts, shakes, and banana splits appeared on the menu within the first decade or so, and through a franchising system, things took off quickly after that. 

You might be familiar with popular DQ items such as the Dilly Bar, Buster Bar, Peanut Buster Parfait, and, of course, the Blizzard. Many locations also sell hot foods, such as burgers and grilled sandwiches.

Today there are more than 7,000 DQ locations spanning 20 countries!

But let's get back to those vintage days. Here's a DQ commercial full of nostalgia:

How about you readers and collectors?

Do you have any Dairy Queen memories from your youth—or more recently?

Any mini helmets in your collection? I don't have any, but now I kind of want to search one out.

Share in the comment section, and thanks for reading.