1985 Wichita Eagle-Beacon bubblegumless Cards

This is the last year the newspaper put out cards ending a 3 year run of them.  As previous years they were issued in strips of 3 every week.

It is very rare set as not a large circulation and sometimes odd subject matter it would be a monumental task to complete this set from 83-85.

This 1985 checklist was compiled by Kevin O'Conner at http://www.calripkenjr.net/ he got the microfilm from Wichita and went through and cataloged each one.

Strip of 3 -

Checklist in PDF form -


 1985 Wichita Eagle-Beacon bubblegumless Cards

1968 Uniroyal Keds Reds

This set is partially cataloged and I can add a few more pieces to it but I still need some holes filled in it.  I was a promotion by Uniroyal Keds a tire manufacturer similar to a Goodyear tire store today.  They lightly advertised free scrapbook and strip of cards if you come to their store.  I say lightly because looking at past newspapers their ad appeared just 3 times over a month period not exactly front page either.

Now when you went in you got strip 1 which contained 5 players and and end tab where you had to cut off and bring to Crosley Field on certain days to get the other 3 strips.

This strip contains most of the cards known to the set with Pete Rose and Lee May being the other 2 known cards.  Recently I found a lot and can add a few more to the mix.

This set was issued on very thin paper and not hard to imagine if missed first strip you'd never get the others plus getting to the ball park on certain days with the coupon for next strip seemed difficult then to add to that had to make it through a game with the strip intact seems to add to the extreme rarity of this set.

I believe the other strips only contained 4 players to the strip which means total set should contain 17  I also think the layout of the strips goes as following based solely on the cut lines when I line them backup - It is interesting to note that the Johnny Bench is from his rookie year and issued before his topps late series card.  Anyone with complete strip scans or other cards would like to see them and add/refine the list below.

Jim Maloney		strip 1
Dave Bristol
Vada Pinson
Bob Johnson
Bob Lee
		strip 2
Lee May
		strip 3
Pete Rose
Tony Cloninger
Chico Ruiz
Fred Whitefield
		strip 4
Leo Cardenas
Billy McCool
Alex Johnson
Johnny Bench

1984 Wichita Eagle-Beacon Bubblegum-less Cards

A continuation from 1983 set it was also issued in 3 card strips each week in the newspaper and contained players from all sports and college athletes.

This 1984 checklist was compiled by Kevin O'Conner at http://www.calripkenjr.net/ he got the microfilm from Wichita and went through and cataloged each one.

Strip of 3

 

Individual Card

 

Checklist in PDF format

1998 Bally's Willie Mays and Legends of Baseball

Came across this lot which I believe is complete set but not 100% sure of it but for now closest to full set I've seen.  This set measures 4 1/4 x 6 and and the reverse says will be at Bally's Las Vegas November 14, 1998 so I'm assuming there was a large card / autograph show at the casino that day and these were promos made before that to promote it, but I don't know how they were distributed anyone attend the show or was a guest of the casino back then and can shed light on the subject please comment below.  They are pretty rare to see and don't pop up that often.

Just a small back story  I found interesting -

Shortly after his Hall of Fame election, Mays took a job at the Park Place Casino (now Bally's Atlantic City) in Atlantic City, New Jersey. While there, he served as a Special Assistant to the Casino's President and as a greeter. Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle was also a greeter during that time. When Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn heard of this, he suspended both men from involvement in organized baseball for violating the league's rules on gambling. Peter Ueberroth, Kuhn's successor, lifted the suspension in 1985.

Obviously by 1998 the casino stigma was not as strict with ball players. 

The checklist below they are unnumbered

Johnny Bench
Whitey Ford
Reggie Jackson
Willie Mays
Frank Robinson
Pete Rose
Duke Snider

R and N China

Going to explore china for a few posts.  Released in early 90s 1993 seems to be popular date for a lot of them there are a some good documentation on some sets but a few are mysteries cards that are numbered to 10,000 just don't pop up at all and complete sets that are supposed to exist are never seen.  I will piece together a few items I have found out in next few posts and see if a clearer picture comes about.

For those unfamiliar with them R&N china produced porcelain cards, plates, mugs sometimes under different names or co names.  For today I will concentrate on the small 3-4 card sets that are pretty easy to checklist but for some reason nobody has.


From 1995-1999 R&N China produced sets for both Topps and Upper Deck which in it self is rather odd that one of them didn't hold exclusive rights to the concept.  The Signature Series consisted of 3-4 porcelain cards in a felt lined wood holder.  Rather limited production for each set most were around 500 range but featured some of the biggest names in sports.

The Mantle series is interesting in that they were signed only 18 days before he passed away so they are some of the last signatures he ever did.

It appears late in 1996 Upper Deck got involved and produced basketball and football cards under the same name and time frame as the mostly topps cards but upped the production into the 1000 range.  But even at that they are still rather hard to come by and carry a big price tag.

Below is checklist of the sets in PDF format.

Checklist

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