A Smorgasbord! 1992 Pacific McDonald's St. Louis Cardinals

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 1992, and the St. Louis area is experiencing a cold, cold February. You and your schoolmates have had a few snow days this year, which is always fun, but those days are losing their luster. You're itching for baseball. Last year's Little League season seems like it happened a long time ago. And although you remind yourself that Spring Training is only about a month away, it seems like forever. 

 

But on this frigid afternoon, you get a little break. After you help Dad clear a fresh dusting of snow off the car and spread some rock salt on the sidewalks, he asks a simple question.

 

"You hungry?"

  

You are. So you nod your head.

 

"Hop in the car. Let's go get a burger."

 

Well, that was unexpected. But who are you to argue? You jump in the back seat and buckle up as dad starts the car. He heads into the house, gets mom, and as soon as the car warms up, the three of you drive off.

 

And if you weren't sure which burger joint you were going to, 10 minutes later you get the answer.

 

 

 

The Golden Arches.

 

Man, this is a treat. You can smell the fries as you step out of the car. Things are starting to look up.

 

And then the baseball universe confirms it.

 

On the walkway ahead of you, just outside the front door, you spot a small, rectangle-shaped object. It sure looks like the back of a baseball card, but why would it be there?

 

You get closer, and your assumption was right on. Here's what you find. 

 

 

 

 

Joe Torre? It's an old photo, but the card looks brand-new. What's going on here? Confused, you flip it over.

 

 

 

 

 

A McDonald's card??

 

Dad catches up, and you show him what you found.

 

"Hey, Joe Torre!" He says. (You're well aware that Mr. Torre was one of Dad's favorite players when he was your age.)

 

You point out the McDonald's logo on the front as he gives it back to you, and the two of you head inside with mom, who's patiently been holding the door.

 

At the front of the line, dad asks the cashier about the baseball card. She says that there's a whole set of them, designed to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Cardinals, and that they're available at McDonald's restaurants in the greater St. Louis area for $1.49 with a purchase. (The purchase helps raise money for Ronald McDonald Children's Charities.)

 

Dad looks at you and says, "We've got to get a set of these, bud." 

 

So that's what you do. As the team of McDonald's employees get busy assembling your order, you look back down at Joe Torre. 

 

There he is, smiling, in uniform, posing happily on a sunny day at the ballpark.

 

You take a deep breath. Yep, you can make it through another few weeks of winter if you had to. The card set will help. (The fries won't hurt, either.)

 

A minute later the food and the cards arrive on that trademark plastic tray, and you, mom, and dad find a booth. Eating your meal comes before even looking at the cards, you know that. And it's fine. You can wait. In fact, you wait all the way until you get in the car. You have a 10-minute ride home, and that's plenty of time to flip through the set. And it's a big one!

 

You count 55 cards in all. There are some older players in the set like Rogers Hornsby and Dizzy Dean. There are also a lot of guys you've heard Dad talk about, like Lou Brock and Bob Gibson. And then there are some newer guys, like Vince Coleman, Todd Worrell, and Ozzie Smith.

 

From the front seat, Dad says he wants some of those cards, and you're totally fine with that. Life is good.

 

 

Now let's talk about those Golden Arches. 

 

 

 

Richard and Maurice McDonald opened their first restaurant, McDonald's Bar-B-Q, in 1940. A few years later, they decided to revamp their menu, and transitioned to burgers, fries, and milkshakes. They also envisioned (and brought to fruition) a smarter, more efficient way to get food prepared in the kitchen and out to hungry customers. They dubbed it the "Speedee Service System". 

In 1953, the first franchised "McDonald's" restaurant opened, and it featured the iconic Golden Arches. Within a year or two, a salesman named Ray Kroc opened his first location. And a few years after that, Kroc had done so well that he purchased the entire company from the McDonald brothers for $2.7 million. After that, well, you could say things really took off. (If you'd like to watch a Hollywood version of the events, the 2016 film The Founder, starring Michael Keaton, is a good one.)

And if the winter has gotten you down, I hope a smiling Joe Torre up there has given you some good energy, too.

 

So how about it? Do any of you collectors have some fun childhood memories of going to McDonald's? This St. Louis Cardinals anniversary set is far from the only McDonald's set of trading cards. Do you have any others in your collection?

 

Share in the comment section, and thanks for reading.