Blogger has been having some... issues. The post that I did yesterday seems to have vanished. So here is the card I did by request of William Noetling.

After I showed a Canadian card in my last post, I feel it necessary to drop a little bit of patriotism your way:

Back in the late '80s, Post cereal made a cereal to honor one of my favorite Muppets. The Swedish Chef finally got to bring his cuisine to the American public.

I never saw it in stores, but even if I had we wouldn't have bought it. We never had sugary cereal at my house. Anything that called itself "Cinnamonamony", no matter how hilarious, would be put right back on the shelf. As I got older and was allowed to make adult decisions, like choosing breakfast cereal, I was immediately attracted back to Croonchy Stars. Not for the Muppet on the box, nor the cinnamonamony-sweet crunch, but it was the prize inside I craved:

Other than my previously mentioned baseball card collections, and the occasional Allen & Ginter cards, I don't buy too many baseball cards. By "too many", I mean not more than I can fit in the few dozen 5000 count boxes that are spilling out from under my desk.

I hadn't collected the flagship (read: basic) Topps set since the early '90s. But that all changed last year. Topps came out with the Million Card Giveaway. The concept of getting a code in a pack of cards, and having it magically transmogrified (Dayf's term) into a baseball card drew me in hook, line, and sinker.

At least twice a week on my lunch break, I would drive to Target or Wal-Mart and buy a few packs, hoping for one of the code cards. The ability to enter the codes via my iPhone, meant that I wouldn't even have to leave the parking lot before my card was in my digital portfolio. Most of the cards were junk that I wouldn't bother keeping, but being able to trade cards on the site made it so much more fun. Earlier this year, I had 61 of my cards shipped. I paid about $20 for the honor, but it was worth it to me.

I was a little leery that Topps was going to do it again this year. There is no way it could be as much fun. Great, I thought... I'm going to get all of the crappy cards that I didn't have shipped last year. 

I have to hand it to Topps. They actually made it more fun this year. The Diamond Dig is pretty interesting, and they added some pretty cool new cards into the mix. With my very first code this year, I got a card from 1956. I love cards from the fifties! Shortly after that, a code netted me a 1962 Rookie Catchers card. Yup, none other than Bob Uecker's rookie card! Sweet! I also got one of the new Diamond Die Cut cards. Mine was Justin Morneau, but I offered it in trade with a couple of '60s commons and got myself a Tony Gwynn Die Cut!


Here's the screen where I input the code:


As you can see by the ring chart on the left, I have done this a few times. Let's see what we get...

Hmmm... Well... Thanks. I guess.

That was a long way to go for that... Thanks for getting to the end.

I have always loved 3D cards. Especially the ones that use lenticular technology. The '70s and early '80s Kellogg's cards were my favorites... Until I saw the 1995 Fish Flix Herring Team insert cards. Wow! The fish seem to boomerang right out at you!

I found an oldie, but a goodie, while helping clean out my Grandparents' attic. Having no concept of the value, my Grandpa said I could keep it as long as I would post it on his favorite blog:

I feel a little bad about my last post. Mmmrhubarb was nice enough to point out some of Kermit's previous advertising work. If I am going to keep posting cards on this blog, I am going to have to step my game up. Research is going to be important.

I spent this morning searching the internet for more Muppet advertising. There were a ton of commercials and advertisements, but I found one that particularly caught my interest. It is an interesting crossover between Muppets and baseball cards. (Stupid idea... I know.)

As you probably know, the world of Muppets didn't begin with the Muppet Show. Many people will place Sesame Street as the origin of the Muppets. Sure, Kermit got his start as a reporter on Sesame Street, but there was a Muppet way before that. I may not be old enough to have seen it, but in the early '60s Rowlf the Dog was the first Muppet to become a star. He was cast member on The Jimmy Dean Show way before he played Dr. Bob in Veterinarian's Hospital on the Muppet Show.

Here is one of his few cards that pays tribute to his first gig:

Sorry it has been so long since my introductory post. I went on a little road trip. Luckily, I was able to pick up a few new Muppets cards. I scored a (nearly) complete 1972 Electric Mayhem team set for a song*.

I am still on the lookout for Animal's Boyhood Photos of the Stars card. Maybe I'll find it some day.

Coming later this week, The Baseball Card Blog will introduce a new tabbed page at the top of the blog devoted to PunkRockPaint's inter-stellar Star Wars...The Retro Baseball Card Set. Get it? inter-stellar? As in outer...space? Aw... forget it. 

Thanks for the wonderful introduction, Ben. If you missed it, you can scroll down to the previous post. I guess I should probably tell you a little bit about myself: