Set Appreciation Post #5 - 1979 Kellogg's

I am glad to be out of the 2000s cards for this week's post.  I figured a 1970s set would be fun for this week, so I am going with the 1979 Kellogg's set.  It's a smaller set, like all of the Kellogg's sets, but there is still plenty of to talk about. 

Here are my highlights:

Design 

Two posts in a row with a Bruce Sutter card.  Totally on accident, I always scan the first card in the set for this section of my post.  It's pretty typical of the Kellogg's cards from the 1970s and 1980s. 

It's got the lenticular front with a Kellogg's logo at the top.  It's not my favorite Kellogg's set design (1970).  It's not the worst Kellogg's design (1978).  It's sort of in the middle, maybe the bottom of the middle.  A lot of the design elements on the Kellogg's cards reappear frequently, but I still love them.  There is something about the arch way thing at the top that I don't love.  I think the arch is supposed to be 3-D, but the Kellogg's script on the front of it is 2-D and crosses lines.  That's really picky. 

THE BELL CURVE OF KELLOGG'S CARDS 

I went ahead and put this set on a bell curve of Kellogg's cards.  I will do more Kellogg's sets in the future.  We can revisit the Kellogg's bell curve when I get to the other sets.  The 1970 Kellogg's Johnny Bench might need to be further to the right.  

The card backs of the Kellogg's sets are always really busy.  The small dissertation is a common element, although they feel shorter on the 1979 cards.  Still, there is some good information in the blurb.  I like how this card describes Bruce Sutter's "forkball", which he calls a "split-fingered fastball".  Those are two different pitches nowadays, but I guess not back in the late 1970s.

The Busch Stadium Cards 

You know, there are not a ton of cards that have photographs taken in Busch Stadium.  The Kellogg's cards always seem to have cookie cutter stadium backgrounds though.  We all know the best cookie cutter stadium was Busch Stadium, so it was inevitable that the two ended up together. 

Not all of the photos were taken at Busch for the 1979 Kellogg's set, plenty of Three Rivers and Veterans in there too, but there are a few cards in the set that are obviously in Busch Stadium.   

Pete Rose. 

Red seats and arches, definitely Busch Stadium.  I think the Stadium Club, which was a restaurant in left field, is over his left shoulder. 

Lee Mazzilli.  Busch Stadium. 

I only picked out two cards, but I know there are a few others.  If my life had a few less things going on, I would have spent the time to examine and scan each card taken at Busch Stadium.  I would like to think that the inclusion of Busch Stadium in this set will help it in the rankings when we get to the bottom of the post. 

The R. Jackson Cards 

I had not been around for very long in 1979, so I don't know that this is a fact, but I am guessing the average baseball fan was aware of Reggie Jackson at this time.  When I was a kid, he was an old guy on the Angels and A's. 

He also tried to kill the Queen of England in the Naked Gun movie. 

If you saw Reggie Jackson on a baseball card wearing a Yankees uniform, would you need a first or middle initial to be able to tell him apart from another baseball player?  Would you confuse him for someone, say an Angels infielder? 

Well, the good people at Kellogg's decided to make sure you did not confuse Reggie Jackson and Ron Jackson in this set.  No relation by the way.  Reggie Jackson is identified as R.M. Jackson on his card...

and Ron Jackson has R.D. Jackson on his card.  

What does the M stand for? 

Martinez.  

Now that I have a second card back in the post, I like how these have the player's favorite hobby listed along side their height and weight.  Bruce Sutter liked hunting.  Reggie Jackson likes automobiles.  I cannot find anything about Bruce Sutter hunting, but apparently Reggie Jackson fixes up old cars, and is really good at it.  

I don't know what kind of card Reggie is driving here, but the tail fins on the back are making me think something from the 1950s or 1960s. 

Best Cardinals Card 

I only had two Cardinals to choose from in the 1979 Kellogg's set.  There is a card of long-time pitcher Bob Forsch, along with catcher Ted Simmons.  I went with the Simba card.  There was not a lot of separation between the two in terms of quality, but I kind of like the background on the Simmons card. 

It's a blue blur for some reason, rather than the cookie cutter stadium mentioned earlier.  I am not sure it would make for a great set, but this card it works.  Fits in nicely with the powder blue Cardinals uniform, which you guys know I always like to see on cards. 

The back of Simmons Kellogg's card.  Check out that hobby.  

Not sure that would fly anymore with modern baseball contracts.  

Favorite Former Durham Bulls Player 

I had to flip through the stack two or three times to make sure this was the right answer.  The right answer, because there is only one former Durham Bulls player in this set.  No Joe Morgan, Greg Luzinski, Ken Singleton, or Rusty Staub.  Those are the go-to names when looking for the 1970s Durham Bulls players in stacks of cards.  

Those were good players too.  They were in all the 1970s sets.  

None of them are in here.  I was really genuinely surprised that none of them are here.  I had to go find out what happened to these players in 1978.  Craig Reynolds in this set. Craig Reynolds.  

Joe Morgan - He had the worst season of his career.  I will give you that Kellogg's.  It's still Joe Morgan though.  Everyone loves Hall of Famers, even when they have down seasons.  

Rusty Staub - Hit 24 home runs and drove in 121 runs.  Could be a bit of an omission.  Possibly.  

Greg Luzinski - Hit 35 home runs, drove in 101 runs, and made the National League All-Star team.  That home run total, 35 home runs, was better than Mike Schmidt by 14. Schmidt got a card, because he's Mike Schmidt.  I want to point you back up to Joe Morgan, but let's keep going.  

Ken Singleton - He only hit 21 home runs, drove in 81 runs, walked more than he struck out, and batted .293.  

None of that gets you into the 1978 Kellogg's set?   

The lone Durham Bulls player was a solid Major League pitcher, and 1978 was his best season in the Majors.  I am not arguing that he shouldn't be here.  Just surprised that the other players listed above were not on the checklist.  

The answer is Jon Matlack.  

He was in the top 10 for a bunch of important stats during the 1978 season including ERA and Strikeouts.  Matlack's back of the baseball card numbers sometimes did not look the best, but the Sabermetrics really have helped show how good he was at times during his career.  

Here is the back of his card. 

First, I love that his hobby is listed as "sports", and he's a professional athlete.  

Good job Kellogg's.  

According to his baseball card, he won 15 games and had an ERA just below 3.  Looks like a good enough season.  However,  go over to Baseball-Reference, and he had the second highest WAR for a pitcher in 1978, along with the second highest Adjusted ERA+ and FIP.  Basically, he was better than every pitcher in the American League in 1978 who wasn't named Ron Guidry.  

Nolan Ryan isn't even in the top 10 for some of those categories, but he did strikeout a bunch of people.    

Best Non-Cardinal/Non-Durham Bulls Card 

You watched baseball in the 1970s?  

Yes?  Then you know Vida Blue.  

No?  Then you might not know Vida Blue.  

I started watching baseball in the 1980s.  Vida Blue was an old guy who was a mediocre pitcher on the Giants.  I likely did not bother to turn his card over to see that he won a ton of games for the A's in the early 1970s.  If I did turn it over to give it a glance, Topps included facts about him throwing touchdowns in high school.  

Thanks a lot 1987 Topps.  

A Cy Young Award and three World Series rings weren't good enough to be a fact?  

Beyond appearing mediocre to the 10 year old me, Vida Blue always seemed like the happiest guy on all of his baseball cards.  He is always smiling on his cards, not just on one, but seemingly all of them.  It's one of the things I look for when I find a stack of 1970s or early 1980s cards.  

He actually was not happy on all them, but there is a high percentage where he is smiling.  

The 1979 Kellogg's is no different.  Vida Blue seems genuinely happy to be on this baseball card.  It wouldn't surprise me that he ate a bunch of Kellogg's cereal in an attempt to find this card.  

I will do more research on the number of cards where Vida Blue appears happy and report back a different day.  

How Does It Compare?  

Not sure we need a lot of discussion here.  

5. 2000 U.D. Ionix 

4. 1986 Topps Mini League Leaders 

3. 2001 Fleer EX 

2.1979 Kellogg's 

1. 2002 Topps Super Teams 

I am putting it second.  This isn't even my favorite Kellogg's set.  I will do an 80s set next week.  Super Teams might be in trouble.