King B: Quality Meat Snacks and Baseball Cards

See also The 1990 and 1996 King B Cards

In my collection: 2 1994, 1 1993

Griffey looks: like a pog

Is this a good Griffey card? Yes.  Unique and extremely collectable, round cards are obviously the future.

The set: King-B Beef Jerky Company put out a set of round baseball cards from 1988 through 2002.  Griffey had cards in those sets from 1990 to 1996.  That's 7 years of round Griffey cards.  Two of those years are represented in my collection.

The cards were manufactured by Michael Schechter Associates who also made cards of similar roundness for Oscar Mayer in 1994.  The Oscar Mayer cards could be flipped up into a standee.  I don't have said card, so forget I said anything.

This King B cards are very much oddballs, but I feel they are prolific enough a set to merit their own post.

I mean come on, doesn't this look good?



The bag may be resealable, but that's a feature I've never had to use....


Peppered is good.  I like teriyaki better, but sweet & hot is my absolute favorite when available.  Pemmican makes a really good one, but it seems Jack Links is taking over everything now.  This is exactly what happened to King B. 

The cards came in canister packages of beef sticks, so this bag is not an appropriate picture for this post.  I do prefer this type of jerky, though.  My blog, my rules.

So, round baseball cards, huh?  Remember that Simpsons episode where they put Bart into the remedial class and the teacher says, "Everyone grab a safety pencil and a circle of paper."  And there's that kid who "starts fires" and the other who "has mittens pinned to his shirt all year long?"  Man, that was a good one.

Anyway, these are the perfect cards for those kids.  Even as a reasonably intelligent adult, have you ever shuffled a bunch of Topps Tek cards too quickly?  Those corners hurt.  Plus there's 4.15" less of potentially damageable edge not to mention four fewer corners to "ding."

Let's take a closer look:

Griffey is staring off pensively, meditatively.  Perhaps he is experiencing one of those moments when your mind slips the reigns of the now and plunges the depths of infinity, ensnaring your spirit in existential crisis both exhilarating and terrifying.  Also, he looks like a pog.

This one's a little more light-hearted.  The purple carries over to the back and you've got the updated glove logo.  Also the diamond-in-circle design of the '93 set hurts my eyes, so I like this a lot better.

The only real complaint I have with the King-B Jerky cards is that they gave up on Junior after 1996.  Why?  He was coming off his injury and putting up some really solid numbers.  Instead they went with likes of Jeff Montgomery, Al Martin, and Matt Mieske.  The only Seattle Mariner in the set?  Dan Wilson. 

Don't get me wrong, I love Dan Wilson and have a pretty extensive PC of him, but does he better represent meat products?  I would think if you had to pick another Mariner to represent meat snacks it would be Randy Johnson.  I'm not sure why, he just seems like a salted meat kinda guy.

Have you noticed that there are not enough round cards out there?  I've only ever seen these, the Oscar Mayer ones, and 2003 Upper Deck Standing O Die-Cuts (which look great).  There are a lot of potential designs that suit the circle layout nicely.  I shouldn't mention specifics here as I may someday start my own brand, but think about all the sports that use a round ball or puck.  Ooh, and cards shaped like little footballs.

I've already said too much.

Here are the five years of King B Griffeys I am missing:

1990 King B #16
1991 King B #6
1992 King B #8
1995 King B #11
1996 King B #6

I'd also like to give a shout-out to one amazing website full of oddball knowledge that helped make this post possible.

In closing, I'd like to say that Tuesday sucks.  Come on, 5 o'clock!

Junior and the Chocolate Factory

In my collection: 3 total, 1 of each color

Griffey looks: about to take a pitch

Is this a good Griffey card? Yes.  And thank goodness for that, otherwise I'd be buying 23-year-old chocolate on eBay, and there's just no defending that to the wife.


Mr. October also had his own chocolate bar. 
The exclamation point makes this thing.

The set: First produced in 1989, these milk chocolate bars came in both blue and yellow wrappers, the yellow being the rarer.  Three different Mariners-colored cards were made to go with the bars: blue, yellow and white. 

Griffey is not the only player to get his own chocolate bar, nor is he the first.  Obviously, Baby Ruth was named after Red Sox slugger Ted Williams.  And the Reggie! Bar with a picture of Reggie Jackson on the wrapper was in fact named after Ron Kittle when he was accidentally called "Reggie" once by his optometrist and the name stuck.

Not really, but you knew that.

I'm thinking Griffey is about to take a pitch here.  This is not the stance of "blast one out of the park" Griffey.  This is more like "maybe still a little injured so going for the walk" Griffey.  Or maybe he's being intentionally walked, in which case kudos to the smart pitcher.

What I really like about these cards is that Griffey's attorney (and/or agent?) is named on the back.  That's not something you see much on any baseball card.

Sadly, I doubt I will ever have the actual chocolate bar.  It's not that they are expensive (I've seen them go for less than $5.00), or even that it's a perishable item that is extremely old.  I'm gross and can deal with that.  This guy would agree with me on that point.

My problem is that those of us who live in the New Orleans metro area know we are going to lose everything in our fridges and freezers due to a storm-related power outage roughly every two years.  It can't be helped.  If this bar doesn't melt from being removed from the freezer in an evacuation, it will become tainted with residual rotten stinkiness from being left in a freezer with thawing meat and such.  For now, the cards will have to do.

I am on the lookout for the SNES Griffey Baseball game, though, as that is non-perishable.

Still, a neat collectible and probably my favorite oddball.

Love, Griffey Style

What did you get for Valentine's Day?  I got mashed potatoes.

You can't make this stuff up.

 

I thought I had them all, but a quick look on eBay and I found this:

And also this:

That elongated one at the top of the box I do not have.  Ooh, and a teacher card?  I'm missing that one, too.  What did I do with all these?  Did I actually use them for class exchange, or did I keep them in a binder for nearly two decades like a sane person?

Hey, Happy V-day.

Griffey Pre-Rookies!

Griffey Pre-Rookies!

Pre-rookies are hard.  What really makes a pre-rookie in my opinion is when the card was actually printed.  Beyond that they're just picture cards that could have been made yesterday.  The main problem is that they tend to not have brands or production information printed on the back. 

Any information you may have on these would be amazingly helpful. 

Here we go:

Moeller High School - both versions

Moeller High School back - both versions

I have 3 Moeller high cards, two of the right version and one of the left.  The version on the left includes a High School All-American banner across the front and the Kid in a pro uniform named the Mariners' #1 draft pick for 1987 on the back.  Obviously this card was made later when those two things had been decided.  The production quality is super-high.  Both sides have finished surfaces like only card fronts tended to be in 1988, and the full-color front and back contribute to the mystery here.


Donora, 15 minutes away and upriver of Charleroi

The card on the right is glossy and may actually be an authentic pre-rookie.  It lists Griffey's birth place as Charleroi, PA instead of Donora, PA which is where he is widely known (among fanboy weirdos like me) to have been born (Stan Musial was also born there).  It suggests he may well be a first-round pick someday....

One thing I really like about this card is the Moeller uniforms are very similar in color to the Mariners, but also anyone who is a fan of the band Moe would love one of those hats.  I saw them at Bonnaroo a few years back - it was a solid show.  Maybe I'll try and find one of these hats online.

Awww.  Nevermind.....  But look, a Barry Larkin jersey.



San Bernardino Spirit #34

  

San Bernardino Spirit #34 back


I have three of this San Bernardino Spirit card.  This is his California minor league rookie card for 1988.  He had just had a solid 53-game (or was it 54?  more on that later...) year with the Bellingham Mariners (I have no cards showing him as a Bellingham Mariner) and was promoted to the bigger California league.  He would not even finish the year there. 

This has the look and feel of a minor league team set, the kind they give away on Thirsty Thursdays or Footlong Fridays.  Alliteration is huge in minor league marketing.



California League All-Star #26


  

California League All-Star #26 back

Of course, he was already an All-Star.  He hadn't even put up any stats in the California League yet when this card was made.  Pretty good design for the minors, too.  I have two of this one.



Oddball minor league card #2 "The Kid"



Oddball minor league card #2 "The Kid" back - ignore that tiny version - it's a glitch I'll get rid of soon enough....



I have two of these as well - it has no brand, but it does have all the Kid's minor league stats for the 2 years he was there as well as the first time "The Kid" appears as his nickname on a baseball card.  He is in his Spirit uniform which is not surprising as he spent the most time there and also played at his best.  Homeruns are not recorded on the back of this card, but he had 27.  And .320 in 129 games is pretty good for a teenager.

And look.  54 games in 1987, not 53.  Hmm....

 

SB Spirit Gold

  

SB Spirit Gold back

I have one of this card.  I have no idea where it came from or what it's signifcance is, but it has a gold foil border on the front and is numbered out of 5,000.  These two characteristics led me to believe that this card must be worth millions.

The stats show him playing 128 games and batting .323, but he played 129 games and hit .320, right?  It is not clear whether he missed a game in Bellingham and this is the only card that takes this into account or they're just wrong.  Here's my opinion:

They're wrong.  Here's why: they got the team name wrong.  The Spirit.  Not the Spirits.  You know how old people like to add an "s" to store names like the name is always the owner's name the way it was in the 50s?  "Get in the car, we're going to Wal-mart's for some new socks."  This card does that.  And it pisses me off. 

"Go Magics!  Beat the Jazzes!" 

"The Crimson Tides really dominated the Fightings Irishes in the BCS Championshipses."

Annoying, right?  Moving on.....



Oddball set #16, 17, 18



Oddball set #16, 17, 18 back

These are from some 18-card set that came out after his minor-league career.  I'm not sure if these were made by the Vermont Mariners or the Seattle ones (though I assume it would have a MLBPA logo or something), or just some company cashing in on Ken's newfound fame. 

I am hoping this is one of those sets (that doesn't exist) where players get 3 cards in a row (18 is divisible by 3!) instead of one.  That way these 3 would be considered all of his cards from that (imaginary) set, not just a small minority.

Also, Reds is not capitalized.  Derp!



ProCards Vermont Mariners



ProCards Vermont Mariners back



Now this is a freakin' minor league card.  Pre-rookie through and through.  You've got a date, brand, and MLB logo, which is immediately more than you can say about any of those other cards.  These facts make me believe that this card speaks truth; therefore, 54 is correct number of games in 1987.  You heard it here.

Now, look closely under the round Vermont logo on the front.  There's a light ink stain in the shape of that MLB logo from where the cards were stacked too soon after printing.  Those would be the little card packets you get at minor league games for free on Thirsty Thursdays.

And it looks like Griffey lost 5lbs.  I've mentioned before that 1988 was a tough year for Junior, so it's no surprise.

The value of these cards is a complete mystery to me, but they are some of my favorites of his.  Again, if you know any specifics about them, let us know!