Sunday, April 19, 2020

1970 Kellogg's 3-D Football



One of the more fun (and easier) football sets that I put together during my recent football kick (pun intended) was this gem. Kellogg's only did two football sets, both 3D, of course. This one, the 1970 set, was available to consumers in complete form with a mail-in order option. Their followup the next year wasn't offered thru the mail so if you wanted the full 60 card set you had to eat (or at least buy) a crapload of  Corn Flakes and Raisin Bran.

This 1970 bunch (and I'm assuming all the Kellogg's 3-D sets) was produced by the Xograph Company. The design is simpler than the 1971 offering which had a border of stars around the photo. I must say I prefer this cleaner look.


Not much point in typing a lot on these. They are probably familiar to most collectors. There are plenty of stars and future Hall of Fame players included. I haven't double-checked this but I saw it mentioned online that only five players appeared in both years.

Juice here looks to be on the team's bench in this photo. That's about as close as you'll come to an actual game action shot.


Here's one...Johnny U. My hero. I had the Colts from this set, Unitas, Bubba Smith, Tom Matte and John Mackey, in my Colts collection. But since these are pretty inexpensive it was an easy call to just grab a second copy for this set's binder.


Speak of the devil...


George Webster was a terrific player, very much an overlooked talent both then and now. Like John Mackey above, he's been placed in front of a Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum background.


I've heaped praise on Gale Sayers on this blog many times. This is another card I grabbed a second copy of. No need to cannibalize my Sayers collection, small thou it may be.


Sayers' teammate, Dick Butkus. A real badass.



Yes, Alex Karras played football. He wasn't just that guy in Blazing Saddles.


Speaking of actors. 





Recently Night Owl did a fun post in which he took a deep dive into the card numbers on Topps baseball through the years. There were a few that failed the 'Is it easy to sort these?' test, especially if your eyes have a few years on them.

Well, even the toughest Topps number font/color/position takes a backseat to these things.


If you're not familiar with the backs, well, the number is down there on that line in the lower right-hand corner. Don't squint, I've done the work for you:


The backs had various configurations of pretty much the same info, depending on whether the player had stats to display. In general, they all listed basic vitals, some notes on his college, what Kellogg's called 'personal info' which was a blurb about being drafted, traded, injured, and so on. 'Pro Honors' was just that. One thing they didn't include, front or back, was the name Kellogg's. I'm sure someone knows why.



To fill space some cards had 'It's a Fact' blurbs.


George Webster got two of those. Here's a closer look.



And a few more backs showing how they moved the blocks around to fit the space.



For the sake of comparison here's the Kellogg's 1971 Colts LB Bob Grant. Again, there is no mention of Kellogg's anywhere.


At least the number is a little bit bigger.

6 comments:

  1. I like the 1970 design over the 1971... but both are pretty awesome. I think it would have been cool had Kellogg's put the card numbers inside of the football in the upper left corner on back.

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    1. I agree, that's where I would have put the number, too. I don't know how they expected anyone to read the ones they used. If I had had to sort more than 60 of these things I'd have needed a new, stronger eyeglass Rx.

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  2. I have and enjoy the 70 Kelloggs FB set,I want 71 too,just wish it was more affordable.

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    1. I have a handful. I'll go after it at some point but right now I have a bunch of other stuff on my hobby plate. Seems MUCH harder to find uncracked 71s than 70s. Dunno why.

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  3. These are great, but I don't need to be collecting any more football (or Kellogg's).

    There are a few Kellogg's sets with tiny numbers but I'm sure this is the most extreme example. I'll give them a pass though. It was a long time ago. I don't know what is 2019 Gypsy Queen's problem.

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  4. Awesome post! I love these cards and I was one of those kids who ordered a complete set via the mail-in offer. I've still got the set and really like the ones with the LA Coliseum background because 1) my dad took me to many Rams games at that stadium and 2) I worked at the Coliseum for 10 years while the Raiders were there. Good times!

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