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.
Summer, 1984. The MLB All-Star Game is coming up next week. You've been playing baseball with all your buddies just about every glorious, free morning since school let out. And on any day of the week, you can ride your bike down to the 7-Eleven, stroll right in, and use some of your lawn-mowing money to get yourself a nice, cool Slurpee.
Life is good.
So in you go, straight for the Slurpee machine. You know the flavors: Coca-Cola, Cherry, Grape, Fanta.
Today
feels like a cherry day. And it's going to be extra good, because you
know you'll be getting a bonus. A special baseball collector's coin will
be adhered to the bottom of each Slurpee cup!
At
some 7-Eleven locations, they just give you the first Slurpee cup on
the stack, so whichever player coin you get is the one you're stuck
with. But at this location, you have an "in". The employee who's usually
behind the counter in the afternoon is a big baseball fan, and if
you're a good kid, he'll let you rummage through the cups to find a coin
you really want.
Thankfully,
he's behind the counter today, and the store is pretty empty, so you
get carte blanche. After about a dozen cups, you find your guy.
It's the Wizard of Oz!
You hand the cup over to the 7-Eleven guy, and he promptly fills it up with icy, slushy, cherry goodness and hands it back. You walk outside into the warm summer air, take a few sips, peel the coin off the bottom of the cup. and flip it over.
"4 Consecutive Gold Glove Awards"
That's the ticket. You just love the way he plays shortstop—his speed, his nimbleness, his acrobatics. And he just seems like a fun baseball player. You've already found his base card and all-star card in the Topps set this summer, and you can't wait to add this coin to your collection.
You hop back on your bike, and on the short ride home you hatch an idea.
Last week, mom brought a box of Post cereal home from the supermarket, and it had a pretty cool license plate prize inside. You've been meaning to attach it to the back of your bike. When you get home, you open the top drawer of your dresser (otherwise known as your collection drawer) and take it out.
Oh yeah. This summer is going to be rad.
Now let's give credit where credit is due.
7-Eleven began in 1927 as the Southland Ice Company. Eventually Southland became a chain, and the company added more goods and services to each location. These "convenience stores" were a hit, and by 1946, the name was changed to 7-Eleven. This helped indicate to customers that the store hours were 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Franchising began in 1961, and soon after the company would introduce the world to names like "Slurpee" and "Big Gulp".
By the 1980s, some 7-Eleven locations had arcades. And some even rented videos! Do any of you 1980s kids remember that?
As for these days, 7-Eleven is a global brand with about 85,000 locations in 20 different countries, including Thailand, South Korea, Denmark, Norway, and Australia.
If only they'd bring back the baseball coins.
Some of the food-issue cards I've featured in this Smorgasbord series to this point have been fairly obscure, but I know a bunch of you must have some of these 7-Eleven coins in your collections.
So here are a few questions:
(1) Which coins do you have?
(2) Were you big on Slurpees and Slush Puppies back then? If so, what was your favorite flavor?
(3) Did you have any of those Post cereal license plates? Did you hang them under your bike seat?
Share in the comment section, and thanks for reading!
Cool post of memories.
ReplyDeleteI didn't see 7-Elevens growing up, only on commercials on TV. When I got my first newspaper job, there was a 7-Eleven a block away from where I worked and we'd go there for snacks or drinks. This was the late '80s and I totally remember 7-Eleven selling videos.
I have several of the 7-Eleven coins in my Dodger collection. It's tough to keep them straight.
7-Eleven was just the place to be back then, wasn't it? As for the coins, I'm impressed with the regional nature of them. Not only did they have Central, East, and West regional issues, but certain years they had other, more specific regions like Southeast, Mideast, and Great Lakes.
DeleteI had no 7-11’s in Mississippi where I grew up but these coins were so cool that they were one of the first eBay-era items I started collecting in the late 1990s. I have the whole 1984 set and a few from 1985, too.
ReplyDeleteOh man, I can imagine how fun it was to search eBay for these coins back then. And how affordable they were, too!
DeleteGrowing up in Virginia we had 7-Elevens everywhere. It's fun to see what those buildings have become after a location changes, kind of like spotting old Pizza Huts.
ReplyDelete1) I have no 7-Eleven coins now, but had stack comprised entirely of Diego Segui coins in the early '90s (kids in my neighborhood would systematically steal all the big name players off any unguarded cups).
2) Slurpees were big. Cherry, Watermelon, and some sort of sour neon-green flavor were my go-to flavors.
3) Never had the license plates.
Correction: *David Segui
Delete(1) Yeah, it seems like certain 7-Eleven locations were more careful about giving out the cups, while other locations just let kids pick through them.
Delete(2) I'm sure those go-to flavors bring back good vibes.
(3) Before doing research for this post, I didn't realize how long those mini license plates were available as cereal box prizes. The promotion went from 1980 through 1990, with new plate designs issued each year!
👍
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by, Mark!
DeleteI was a bit too young for the 7-11 Slurpee coins but I do remember the Post cereal license plates for some reason. At least I remember them *now*, before this post I'd forgotten all about those!
ReplyDeleteHappy to have brought those memories back, Chris!
DeleteThis post was spot on with my childhood... except I didn't have an "in". Whatever cup I got was the coin I got. I don't think I have any of the coins from back then, but I have accumulated a bunch since I returned to the hobby in the late 2000's. I think I have a few different regional sets from a variety of years. I was even lucky enough to come across a guy at the flea market with a bunch of cups (w/coins at the bottom) from the 80's. As for favorite flavors, my go to is a mix of Coke and cherry.
ReplyDeleteI remember having a license plate on my bike back in the 70's when I was little. Pretty sure it was a Hawaii plate with my name on it. Never saw the Post cereal license plates until a year or two ago (at the flea market).
Yeah, I didn't have an "in", either. I thought it would make a fun addition to the story, though. The fact that you have some cups that still have the coins at the bottom is pretty sweet!
DeleteAs for the Post license plates, I think you should buy one and put it on the little ledge behind the back seats of your car ;-)
9P 7-11s were very few in my hometown due to the fact we had our hometown type store the few 7-11s they have usual slurpees & such but as for coins they usually didn't get them as for the personnel post license plates either you had a great name growing up or had to ask mom to send away for it in my case the answer was always no
ReplyDeleteYeah, we didn't have a 7-Eleven too close to us back then, either. But we did have a Dairy Barn, and another local place called "The Corner Store". As for the mini license plates, if you want one now, they're pretty affordable on eBay. Check it out!
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