During a
recent raid on E-Bay, I came across yet another unique San Diego Padres card food
issue set. This time, it was a complete, 28-card, 2000 Keebler San Diego Padres
set.
I don’t know why I enjoy food sets so much.
Maybe it’s because they’re so unique and/or regional, much like the Randy Jones
discs. Maybe it's because, originally at least, you could only get them through food purchases, such
as Post or Kellogg’s cereal, Hostess Twinkie boxes, or even bottles or cans of Coca-Cola. In any case, I
really enjoy researching and then going out and finding these oddball sets.
But
first, a little background on this most recent addition.
What
made this set so interesting is, of the 28-cards, seven were duplicates of the
same player. Fans were expected to trade those copies among themselves in order to complete the set.
In fact, those instructions are actually printed
on the envelope. “Each
trading card pack starts with 20 DIFFERENT players cards plus 8 cards ALL ALIKE
of an additional player. You must trade 7 of your duplicates away and get the 7
other cards needed to complete your full set. Have fun
and help each other. Good luck.”
What a concept, eh? Trade your copies to other collectors to make a complete set. Fortunately, I was able to get this complete set without having to trade seven duplicates. I w onder if they came out with packs with seven Tony Gwynn copies?
Each of these 2-1/2 x 3-1/2 cards had a borderless player photo, with the player name inside a blue bar, complete with San Diego's Fat Friar logo (Gotta love that chubby, little Padre).
The first six cards of the set include manager Bruce Bochy, OF Tony Gwynn, 1B Wally Joyner, P Sterling Hitchcock, C Jim Leyritz and P Trevor Hoffman.
The next six are 2B Quilvio Veras, 1B/3B Dave Magadan, P Andy Ashby, IF Damian Jackson, P Dan Miceli, and OF Reggie Sanders.
SS Chris Gomez, OF Ruben Rivera, C Greg Myers, P Ed Vosberg, OF John Vander Wal and P Donne Wall.
OF/IF Eric Owens, P Brian Boehringer, P Woody Williams, P Matt Clement, P Carlos Reyes and P Stan Spencer.
And finally there's 3B George Arias, P Carlos Almanzar and C/IF Phil Nevin. The 28th card posted then-current Padres coaches Greg Booker, Tim Flannery, Davey Lopes, Rob Picciolo, Marv Rettenmund and Dave
Smith on the front inside an orange bar and included the entire 28-card checklist on the back.
As the Tony Gwynn card demonstrates, the backs of these cards included the Keebler Elf logo, San Diego's 30th Anniversary logo, as well as the player's name and a bit of personal info.
Los Angeles and San Francisco also issued their own Keebler 28-card team sets that year.
I can't wait to find what comes across my oddball radar next.
Cool set! Can't go wrong with food-issue oddballs.
ReplyDeleteI've got a similar set, but I think from Mother's Cookies, where the package tells you you have to trade to make a complete set. I have 2 "sets" of them, but not sure I've got the complete set of cards or not. I should check. Let me know if you'd like my dupes.
ReplyDeleteI've been kinda biased towards the earlier Mother's Cookies sets, and considered the Keebler ones "inferior". I'm also more a fan of the early 90s Padres than the early 00s Padres. But how can you go wrong with a set that includes Tony and Trevor? And for that matter, Eric Owens, Chris Gomez, Wally Joyner, and Quilvio Veras?
ReplyDelete