A Smorgasbord! 1979 Post Raisin Bran Steve Garvey's Baseball Tips

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 a couple of months into Little League season, and your hard work has been paying off. Coach has moved you up from 8th to 6th in the batting order, and you're getting more playing time in the infield. 

 

Part of your improvement has come from paying more attention to broadcasters like Joe Garagiola and Tony Kubek on NBC's Saturday Game of the Week. You know they're former professional players, so you listen closely when they find teachable moments during the game.

 

Now it's Sunday morning, and it's time for some cereal. Mom keeps it pretty healthy these days, so you reach for the new box of Raisin Bran. (Those raisins are more sugary than she thinks.)

 

You open the tab on top, tear open the plastic seal, pour a hefty amount into your bowl, and add the milk. That's when you sit down, spin the cereal box around to the back, and see this:

 

Steve Garvey's baseball tips! Life is good.

 

This particular example discusses hitting the ball to the opposite field.

 

In order to hit the opposite way, you must stride with your front foot toward the opposite field, with your toe pointing in that direction... If necessary, try to punch at the ball, but do not roll your wrists.

 

Good advice, Mr. Garvey.

 

It was especially good for right-handed batters of the 1980s, when hit-and-run plays were the norm. If the first baseman was holding the runner on, you'd have that big hole on the right side to drive the ball through. If that runner was even halfway speedy, your simple, selfless ground-ball single would get him around to third.

Atta boy, kid.

As you might have guessed, these cards were distributed one per box of Post Raisin Bran. The checklist is 12 panels deep, and includes tips on the offensive and defensive side of the ball, such as

• The Batting Stance
• Rounding First Base
• Throwing from the Outfield
• Mental Preparation for Each Play
  

Interestingly, cards 1–6 were printed on 15-oz boxes, while cards 7–12 were printed on 20-oz boxes. That means if you wanted the entire set, you'd have to eat a lot of Raisin Bran, and on top of that convince mom or dad to buy two different box sizes!

 

So let's discuss the cereal for a moment. Post introduced their raisin bran product in 1942, and it's still being produced today, almost 85 years later. However, Post wasn't the first to make a raisin bran product. And if you think it was Kellogg's (like I did), you're wrong there, too. They came out with their version of raisin bran that same year of 1942.

 

The distinction, instead, goes to Skinner's Manufacturing Company, which created a raisin bran cereal way back in 1925 (called "Skinner's Raisin Bran"). They had the monopoly on the product for about two decades before Post and Kellogg's swooped in. I hope Skinner's enjoyed those early days, when they were kings of raisin bran.

 

But now let's get to Mr. Steve Garvey. 

 

The 10x all-star had quite the career. Over 19 seasons, he totaled 2,599 hits, 272 home runs, 1,308 RBI, and a .294/.329/.426 slash line. Add to that the following accolades:

 

Gold Glove Winner, first base (1974, 1975, 1976, 1977)

NLCS MVP (1978, 1984)

All-Star MVP (1974, 1978)

NL MVP (1974)

World Series Champion (1981)

If that career batting average were just a few points higher, and if he got a little closer to 3,000 hits and 300 home runs, I think he'd be a lock for the Hall of Fame. Regardless, the guy was a stud. And he provided some great tips to cereal-loving kids back in the 1980s.

 

 

Do any of you readers and collectors have a Raisin Bran Steve Garvey card in your collection? Are you a fan of raisin bran?

 

Share in the comment section, and thanks for reading!

Two Dudes Wearin' Cubs Jerseys

 

Meet Rick and Paul.

 

They're certified public accountants who work in the greater Chicago area. For the past few years, they've helped a few of the Chicago Cubs players file their income tax reports. This year, as a way of saying thank you for the excellent financial assistance, Cubs management invited the two guys down to the field before a game, and even provided them with an an opportunity to put on a uniform and pose for a picture.

 

Rick and Paul were thrilled. 

Okay, I think most of you know none of that story is true. (That's not even Wrigley Field in the background.) And if you know what the photo was actually used for, give yourself five bonus points.

 

For those of you who don't know, here's the answer:

 

 

1977 Topps #634 Big League Brothers

 

It's Rick and Paul Reuschel, professional baseball pitchers! (The card contains a key error. Rick is actually on the left, while bespectacled Paul is on the right.)

 

And despite their "cubicle mate" appearance, they logged some good time in the major leagues, including a few seasons together in Chicago. I'll leave the details for a separate post in the Siblings on Cards category, so stay tuned.

 

In the meantime, I can ask these two questions:

 

Have any of you readers ever gone on a stadium tour, or had special behind-the-scenes access to a ballpark?

 

Do you own any MLB jerseys?

 

If so, share in the comment section.

 

Thanks for reading!

The Pirates? But I Don’t WANNA Be a Pirate!

Back in 2019, I created my first custom card. It featured George Costanza on the 1956 Topps design, and captured the hilarious scene where he barreled over Bette Midler at home plate. 

 

Well, it took a while, but in 2023 I came up with a second Seinfeld card based on the ’56 design. This one featured Elaine Benes, clad in a Baltimore Orioles uniform, doing her famous “little kicks” dance at home plate. 

 

It’s been a couple of years again, but now I’ve finished a third card in the ’56 Seinfeld set.

 

 

 

But why is Jerry wearing a Pirates helmet, with the position designation of "pirate"?

 

If you're a Seinfeld fan and take a close look at the "uniform" Jerry is wearing, you may have already connected the dots. If not, this 5-minute clip will do the trick. 

 

 

So now look back at the action on the card. There's Jerry, playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates, wearing the puffy shirt that he unknowingly agreed to wear. The game is about to start, but Jerry stands in protest, whining loudly to the umpire, “But I don’t wanna be a pirate!”

 

As a consequence of that whining, the umpire has just thrown Jerry out of the game. 

 

It was a fun way to tie the game of baseball into the card—especially because the George Costanza and Elaine Benes cards also have fun connections to the sport.

 

So that's card number three in this 1956-inspired set. There's a fourth card as well, but it deserves a post of its own. I'll leave it at that for now.

 

Thanks for reading. And if you know any low-talkers, don't be bashful to ask them to repeat themselves if you didn't hear them the first time. Otherwise, you might end up in a pickle like Jerry.

That Crow Just Stole My Pack of Cards!

Have I got a story for you.

A few weeks ago, my brother booked our first round of golf of the season. His best friend from childhood was going to join us, and when the three of us get together, it's always a great time.

 

Unbeknownst to either of them, I'd picked up some loose packs of golf cards over the winter, so I thought I'd add to our good time by bringing some of them to the course—one for each of us to open. After all, I'd done a couple of pack rips on the golf course with my brother in the past, and I knew his friend would be into it as well.

 

So, before we teed off, I brought out the packs. This time, they were 1991 Pro Set PGA Tour golf cards. The guys got a kick out of them, and we agreed that we'd open the packs at some point during the round—maybe as a little break after the first 9 holes.

 

Excited about the day, we got started. It was cold, windy, and rainy, but it didn't matter. We were just happy to be back on the course together. Some less-than-stellar scores on the first couple of holes didn't even faze us. Neither did the chilly and damp air.

 

After a little while, however, the good vibes began to diminish. Scoring proved to be really tough. By the time we reached the 6th green, those golf packs were the last thing on our minds.

 

Then, as we were finishing up on the green, my brother noticed a crow standing at the edge of one of the nearby bunkers.

 

"What does that crow have in its mouth?" He asked.

 

We all looked over. It was something shiny.

 

At that moment, the crow dropped the shiny object and started pecking at it. And that's when my brother realized what it was.

 

"That's my pack of cards!"

 

It turns out that while we were reading our putts, that sneaky bird had swooped down toward my brother's golf cart, noticed the shiny foil wrapper, picked it right up, and flew over to the green—almost as if to mock us. Immediately, my brother's friend jogged over, hoping that little jerk of a bird would drop the pack and fly away.

 

Well, it did fly away. But it did so with the pack firmly secured in its beak.

We didn't have time to snap a picture of the culprit, but it's quite likely that right now, in a crow's nest on that golf course, there's a shiny green and gold pack of 35-year-old golf cards.

Miffed at the events that had just transpired (including some missed putts for par), we walked back to our golf carts. That's when I noticed a plastic container turned upside down on the ground near my golf cart. It was the container that housed my peanut butter sandwich.

 

That pesky crow had tried to get into that, too! 

 

Thankfully, it couldn't open the top, so my sandwich was safe.

What an experience. 

 

But if you think that's all, just wait. Because a bit later in the round, another crow swiped an unopened hand warmer packet from my brother's cart and flew up into a tree with it. These little pickpockets were everywhere!

I guess we've got to give credit where credit is due. I mean, on both occasions we were completely oblivious to the thievery that Heckle and Jeckle were getting away with. It's a pretty good racket, when you think about it. They wait for golfers to leave their carts, and then they sneak down to root through the items inside, taking whatever they can fit in their beaks before the golfers return.

 

Ultimately, what it meant was that our hands would be a little colder, and we were down to two packs of cards. And that wasn't going to work. Thankfully, I had a few more packs of golf cards at home, and we were all planning to go there after the round for lunch anyway. I told the guys about the extra packs, and they were happy to hear it. From there, it was back to golf—keeping an eye out for any crows the rest of the way.

 

And that's how it happened.

 

Now let's talk a little bit about 1991 Pro Set PGA Tour golf.

 

The set is made up of a whopping 285 cards, which means that even back in 1991, avid golf fans wouldn't have recognized some of the professional golfers they found inside of packs. But there are still some good players in the set, for sure. 

 

Rookie cards include Fred Funk, Jeff Maggert, Brad Faxon, and US Open Winner Lee Janzen. You can also find plenty of notable stars of the era, like Payne Stewart, Davis Love III, Mark O'Meara, Fred Couples, Greg Norman, Fuzzy Zoeller, and Ray Floyd. And don't forget about some of the legends who were playing on the Senior Tour (now called the Champions Tour), like Tom Watson, Chi Chi Rodriguez, Gary Player, Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino, and Jack Nicklaus.

 

Oh, and perhaps the biggest card of all?

 

A John Daly rookie card. 

With that being said, let's finally get to the pack rip and see what we found.  

 

I'm not going to show every card. There are 12 in each pack, which makes 36 golf cards in total. That's too much to look at here, even for me. Instead, I'm going to show the best three cards that each of us pulled. Choices were based on the skill level of the player, the look of the photograph, or the awesome 1990s clothing and hairstyles on display. (Or, if we're lucky, all of those criteria.)

 

Let's get to it.

 

First, here are the top three from my brother's pack.

 

 

Gary McCord has the sweet CBS Sports baseball cap, the striped polo, and the mustache. Blaine McCallister is wearing a straw hat that could only be from the '90s, while Sir Bob Charles is sporting the classy sweater-vest and visor combination.

 

Next, here are the top three cards from my brother's friend's pack.

 

Wayne Levi shows us that visors and multi-stripe polos were a popular choice back then. Don Bies is grinding hard to read a putt. And there's the man, Arnold Palmer.

 

 

And here are the top three cards from my pack.

 

Brian Claar gets a nice action shot for his card, blasting the ball out of a bunker. Charles Coody and his caddie read the green in a classic pro golf image. And there's a Lee Trevino Player of the Year card. Woo-hoo!

 

I thought I might take home the "Best Mustache" title with that Brian Claar card. Check out the back for a different view.

 

 

But when my brother pulled out that Gary McCord card and we saw the handlebar, we knew it was over. Just look at this thing.

 

 

As for the other cards, I think I'll call it a draw between Lee Trevino and Arnold Palmer. But it's important to note that 1990 was Mr. Trevino's first year on the Senior Tour, and he absolutely steamrolled it to earn Player of the Year honors. Check out these stats from the back of the card:

 

• #1 in eagles made (14)
• #1 in scoring average (68.89)
• #1 in greens in regulation (76.7%)
  
• #1 in putts per GIR (1.736) 
• #3 in driving accuracy (74%)
• #4 in driving distance (267.9 yds)
• #5 in birdies (379)
• #5 in sand saves (53.1%)
  

 

As for how we did on the golf course?

The scores are not worth mentioning. Earlier in the post I alluded to the weather. Well, to elaborate, we teed off around 8:45 that morning. It was 39 degrees Fahrenheit. Windy. A little rain. And it actually got even colder during the middle of the round. Overall, it was just a rough day out there. We hardly saw another golfer anywhere on the course the entire time. In a way, that was amazing. In another way, it told us that maybe it just wasn't a day to be out playing golf for five hours.

 

Regardless, we had a great time, and we'll talk about the day for a long while. The pickpocket crow story just tops it off.

Now some questions for you readers:

 

Do you have a favorite golf card of the bunch?

 

What do you think about these pack rips on the golf course? Do we have a fun tradition in the works?

 

Let me know in the comment section, and thanks for reading.