A Smorgasbord! 1986 Meadow Gold Milk Carton Sketches

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 the last weekend in March, 1986. Baseball season starts next week. You should be excited, but instead you're trying to dig yourself out of a rut. 

 

It was a long winter. You struggled without baseball on TV, or at the park. There was only so much indoor "pretend" practice you we able to take. And worst of all, your grades have slipped a little.

 

As a result, you've got no Ding Dongs, no Ho Hos, no Drake's cakes. Even the cereal mom's been buying lately hasn't featured any baseball cards on the back panel, or inside. 

 

No doubt about it, you've been in a winter slump.

 

You shuffle down to the kitchen and grab a box of whatever cereal is in the cupboard, and mom takes out the carton of milk and puts it on the kitchen table. You pry open the triangular top, and halfheartedly pour the milk into your bowl. But then you put down the carton and get a big surprise.

Pete Rose is staring directly at you!

 

You see those dotted lines and know what you need to do. Well, first you point out to mom that Mr. Rose is back there. Then you ask her if you can keep the container once it's empty and cut out the card. She says as long as you finish your cereal and milk, it's a deal.

Can I go play baseball?

You don't even know where that second question came from. Your mouth just opened, and there it was. You're pushing it now, and sense mom's impending stare-down. Suddenly you're just hoping she doesn't take that milk carton away.

But she says yes.

 

Bolstered by the determined energy radiating from Pete Rose's illustrated face (and the promise of a new card for your collection), you wolf down your cereal, thank mom, grab your bat and mitt, and swing open the kitchen's screen door. There are buds on the trees. There's a scent of sweet dew and grass clippings in the air. And that little hint of warmth from the mid-morning sun reassures you. Spring is here. Baseball is back. Just thinking about the new Little League season that's going to start in a couple of weeks is giving you butterflies in your stomach. 

 

You hop on your dirt bike, start pedaling down to the baseball fields, and take in all that fresh oxygen with gusto. You didn't even call your friends before you left the house. Didn't need to. You know at least a few of them will be there.

 

You stow your bike against the backstop with the others, and as you wait for your turn to hit, you wonder what other players might be featured on those milk cartons. You might even ask mom if you can go to the supermarket with her next time. But the thing is, she'll know something's up. And she means business at the supermarket. The idea of you spending a minute or two flipping around carton after carton of milk to see which player is featured on the back? Probably not going to fly with her. But still, you might ask.

Regardless, a few hours pass, and you've gotten your fill of baseball for the day. (You hit a couple of good liners and picked some short-hops in the infield.) You get home, satisfied, happy, stained with grass and infield dirt, and see this waiting for you on the kitchen counter:

 

 

 

Mom washed out the carton and broke it down for you!

That mom, I tell you what. You'd better pick up your grades this marking period, that's for sure.

 

As for Meadow Gold Dairy, they've been around since 1901 (founded in Topeka, Kansas). Things really got swinging for the company in the 1940s, when refrigerated milk trucks came onto the scene, and the milkman became one of the most popular guys in town.

The company would then move headquarters farther west. Today they have a whole line of dairy products, and serve states like Idaho, Montana, Utah, and Nevada.

 

Check out this vintage ad from the 1950s.

 

 

Oh, and as for the Meadow Gold milk carton checklist? It was 12 players deep, and included most of the guys you'd expect to see in 1986: Boggs, Brett, Mattingly, Gooden, Ripken, Schmidt, and the like.

Have any of you readers seen these Meadow Gold milk carton cards before? Think you might pick one up for your collection?

Share in the comment section, and thanks for reading!