Night Owl Cards

  I've written many times about how I adore Kellogg's 3-D sets from the '70s and early '80s. They are my favorite oddball and food issue of all-time, born out of childhood and breakfast mornings staring at the back of cereal boxes. I love them. And they're breaking my heart. Not only have I been struggling to acquire new ones the last year-and-a-half due to the rise in prices on those cards that previously no one wanted, but their brittle nature is causing me to question whether it's worth it to pursue them anymore. An example: I discovered this cracked 1976 Kellogg's Reggie Jackson in my box of Kellogg's cards a few months ago. I was crushed. The '76 set is complete and just about every one is pristine, there's only one that I can think of that has some wear and yellowing. Nothing has cracks. I just love the beautiful white borders contrasting with the red-and-blue stripes on this set. But cracks -- oh, no -- that's all I see. The other rea...

  This post probably would have been more timely last year, on the 45th anniversary of the bicentennial, and these two sets. But I hadn't completed both of them last July 4th. I finished the super-patriotic 1976 Kellogg's set in December 2019 and the equally patriotic 1976 Hostess set in December 2021. This is the first Independence Day where I have all 207 cards here with me ... forever. These are among my favorite sets of all-time, they strike right at the heart of being a kid and everything that was happening then. But I showed every cards in each set when I completed each one, so there's no need to do that now. Instead, I figured it would be fun to find out which players had cards in both sets. What a thrill that would be for the player! Well, it turns out a whole bunch of them appeared in both the Hostess and Kellogg's sets. It's really no exclusive feat. Heck, Jorge Orta and Marty Perez appeared in both sets! It's not like this honor was reserve only for R...

I've completed another set. I'd say it seems to be the month for it, but there's no coincidence about it. My objective this year was to stop goofing around, assembling cards from this interest and that interest, and get to what makes me the happiest -- finishing some of the greatest sets ever made. Most recently, I completed the 1976 Kellogg's 3-D set, the first Kellogg's set I've ever finished, but it won't be the last. The last card I needed arrived the other day. It's the Don Gullett card, No. 3 in the 57-card set, and it showed up enclosed, and Don seems a bit lost inside his prison. So I got him out. That's better. Gullett is relatively free now, although I make sure to leave my '76 Kellogg's cards in top loaders because I just can't take the cracking that seems to occur whenever no one's looking. My '76 Kellogg's set is relatively free of cracks, save for a couple of small ones, and I'd like to keep i...

When I first started my quest to complete the 1976 Kellogg's 3D set, I also kicked off an attempt to complete the 1976 Hostess set. Both food-issue sets, issued during the Bicentennial, are among the most patriotic-looking collections ever made. Each card is like a mini flag. The Kellogg's set is particularly ingenious because it features both stripes -- the border traveling around the card -- and stars. The word "stars" is at the top of every card and each of the player's shown is a star! God bless America. I've chased after each set with enthusiasm, because I was 10 years old during the Bicentennial and stuff issued that year couldn't possibly be cooler. However, I've done much better with the Kellogg's set than the Hostess set. The Hostess set is larger and more prone to stains (one of my least favorite condition issues). Hostess also contains well-known short-prints. I thought Kellogg's had no short-prints. But I only recently di...