Winfield in the Round (Part 1) - [Insert Brand] Discs

     While you don't see them so often anymore, in the past 40 years, there have been a great many sets of the rounded persuasion issued by a multitide of companies.  Rather than stretch these out over a dozen posts, I thought I'd just tackle all of the circular cards currently collated in my collection, from oldest to most recent.  Since there are so many, this will be a multi-part post.

1974 McDonalds Discs

     Given that the Padres were owned by Ray Kroc,  it should come as no surprise that he should use his newly acquired baseball team as a way to cross promote with McDonalds.  What is more surprising is how little actual McDonalds/Padres branded merchandise was actually produced.  I suppose Kroc was more interested in having others pay him for sponsorships than effectively paying himself between the Padres and McDonalds.  In any case, in the year Kroc purchased the San Diego Padres, local McDonalds released a set set of 13 player discs, along with this nifty baseball-shaped holder to store them in. 

1977 Burger Chef

     Burger Chef, which according to Wikipedia, by the early 1980s was second only to McDonalds in the number of franchises across the United States, issued a set of 216 baseball player discs attached to the packaging of their Fun Meals (an idea McDonalds later stole for the Happy Meal...lawsuits soon followed).  The Fun Meal boxes were organized by team, so I ended up picking up a whole set of the Padres complete with original boxes to snag this Winfield.  The discs are standard Michael Schechter & Associates fare, with MLBPA, but without MLB licensing.  AS a result, they looked exactly like a dozen other disc issues from 1975-1980.  The backs of the discs all feature characters of the Burger Chef franchise (Burgerini, Count Fangburger, Burgerilla, etc).  For a franchise that was so large, I honestly don't remember ever seeing one in my life.  The chain was eventually bought by Hardees and most of the locations were either converted, or sans new franchise deal, converted into local restaurants or just shuttered.

1981-1982 FBI Discs
      The 1982 set of discs, issued on the bottoms of bottles of Fanta's Bantam flavored fizzy drinks, are fairly well documented and nearly impossible to find for anything less than $50 each.

     In recent years, an even more rare, and thus hugely more expensive, 1981 set has been uncovered and slowly documented.  The 1981 will likely be forever on my Dave Winfield Want List.

1983 Roy Rogers Discs/Lids

     In 1983, the Roy Rogers chain of fast food restaurants in New York issued a set of 12 Yankees discs as drink cup lids.  Measuring about 3.5" in diameter, they can be found either with the red plastic rim attached, or like this one, with the rim removed.  The lids all had perforations just about where the player signature starts for inserting a drinking straw.  Finding lids with both intact rims and unpunched straw holes can be a challenge.  I finally picked this one up in a lot of discs (Griffey, Nettles and Randolph) on eBay for about $7.  This was a long search that I am glad to have finally concluded.


    For the definitive guide to these next items, have a look at Eric Swartz's 7-11 Slurpee Coin Web Site. 


1984 7-Eleven Super Star Sports Coins

     After a limited test release in 1983, 7-Eleven issued three regional 24-player sets of these lenticular 1.75" diameter discs, free with purchase of a large Slurpee.  The numbering on these sets never made any sense to me, but Winfield was in the Eastern region's set.

1985 7-Eleven Super Star Sports Coins

      With the apparently great success of the 1984 discs, as a follow up, 7-Eleven issued a whopping six sets in 1985, five regional and one for the World Champion Detroit Tigers.  While no players appeared in all six sets, Dave Winfield was in five of them.  Again, the only way to tell them apart is by the color on the reverse.

Southeast was blue with the letters "DT" at the bottom.

 East was black with the letters "JH" on the bottom.

Southwest was purple with the letters "PJ" on the bottom.

I actually found this one in the middle of the street in Texas back in 1985 before I even collected cards.  Not really sure why I kept it.

West was green with the letters "DH" at the bottom.

The Great Lakes region was an auburn color with the letters "AC" on the bottom.










     In 1985, there were also promos issued.  Dave Winfield had two.  One that was 2.25" in diameter with a black border on the reverse and the letters "DH" at the bottom.  The other is much larger, approximately 5" in diameter, featuring the same photo as the other 1985 coins, but with nothing on the reverse.

1986 7-Eleven Triple Stars

      7-Eleven went a slightly different direction in 1986, picking groups of three players for each coin.  Again there were multiple regional issues, but Winfield only appeared in the East set, pictured above.

1987 7-Eleven Super Star Sports Coins

     In 1987 7-Eleven returned to the original formula of regional sets of individual players for each coin.  Dave Winfield appeared only in the East set, which had a greenish back and the letters "CM" at the bottom on.

...to be continued...

Bravos de Margarita's New 2012-13 Manager: Hensley Meulens

 Hensley Meulens ratificado como mánager de Bravos de Margarita

      While it's a bit late, congratulations are in order for Hensley Meulens.  After being the fill-in manager for the end of the past two seasons for the last place Bravos de Margarita of the Venezuelan Winter League (after the initial managers were dismissed), Meulens has been announced as the full-time manager of the team for next season.  Hopefully he will have better luck with the team, starting at the beginning, rather than being handed the task of pulling them out of the cellar with one month left to play.

     Sadly, Meulens has no Venezuelan cards, so I have nothing to accompany this post.  Hopefully that will change if he is successful guiding the Bravos to the playoffs next season.  It's not easy finding checklists for the sets Lineup produces, so I'm not sure if they even have cards for their managers, but here's hoping.  I really wish there was a more consistent trade between the US and Venezuela, because paying upwards of $5 per card when ordering from the one or two Venezuelan sellers on eBay is hard on the wallet.

2005 La Liga Mexicana de Beisbol set update

     The more I dig, the more I keep finding on the 2005 Beisbol Cards set for the Mexican League.   Just yesterday, Google coughed up a listing on a site called Ofertopia.com for 158 different cards from the set.  I can't quite make out what the purpose of Ofertopia may be as there never seems to be any contact or payment information in the listings.  I don't know of these are just historical listings from MercadoLibre or what.  But taking that list and eliminating all of the cards Arturo and I have, left me with a list of 93 more cards.  Unfortunately, there are no images that are large enough to make out details, so I don't have any way to accurately number the cards yet, but here is the list of 93 cards, sorted by team:

****ACEREROS DE MONCLOVA****
AC?? Edgar Vega
AC?? Leobardo Arauz
AC?? Lino Rivera

****DIABLOS ROJOS DE MEXICO***
DR?? Roberto Saucedo
DR?? Oscar Robles
DR?? Víctor Bojórquez
DR?? José Luis "Borrego" Sandoval
DR?? Manuel Velez
DR?? Daniel Fernandez
DR?? Roberto "Metralleta"  Ramirez
DR?? Ray Martinez

***GUERREROS DE OAXACA***
GU?? Francisco Madero
GU?? Josmir Romero
GU?? José de Jesús Jiménez
GU?? José Montenegro
GU?? Jose Isaias Avalos
GU?? Abraham Valencia
GU?? Angel Peña                   
GU?? Juan Carlos Pulido

***LANGOSTEROS DE CANCUN***
LA?? Ruben Quinones
LA?? Langostino y Chirchie  (Mascots)
LA?? Raul Sanchez
LA?? Juan Jose Pacho
LA?? Oscar Salazar
LA?? Hector Chavarria
LA?? Conrado Garza

**LEONES DE YUCATAN**
LE?? Luis Navarro
LE?? Hector Castaneda
LE?? Juan Carlos Canizales
LE?? Willie Romero
LE?? Luis "El Rayo" Arredondo
LE?? Scott Bullet
LE?? Juan Manuel Palafox
LE?? Raul Rodríguez
LE?? Eddy Diaz

**PERICOS DE PUEBLA***
PE?? José Juan Nuñez
PE?? Luis Carlos Martínez
PE?? Omar Espinoza
PE?? Darrel  Sherman
PE?? Cristian Alaniz
PE?? Manny Martinez
PE?? Pedro Iturbe
PE?? Julio Miguel Trapaga
PE?? Armando Valdez
PE?? Jesús Arredondo

**PIRATAS DE CAMPECHE**
PI?? Roque Sanchez
PI?? Francisco "Paquin" Estrada
PI?? Hector Paez
PI?? Francisco Campos
PI?? Juan Jesús Alvarez
PI?? Willis Roberts
PI?? Roberto Vizcarra

****POTROS DE TIJUANA****
PO?? Cesar Peña
PO?? Randall Simon

****AGUILAS DE VERAZRUZ****
RA?? Amaury Garcia
RA?? Leobardo Moreno
RA?? Manuel Casarin
RA?? Eloy Arano

***RIELEROS DE AGUASCALIENTES***
RI?? Ildefonso Lara
RI?? Lino Urdaneta
RI?? Alex Taveras
RI?? Eduardo Ríos
RI?? Rontrez Johnson
RI?? Alexander Delgado
RI?? Grimaldo Martinez
RI?? Francisco Rivera
RI?? Flavio Orea

***SULTANES DE MONTERREY***
SU?? Demond Smith
SU?? Rigoberto Loya
SU?? Miguel Flores
SU?? Mario Valdez
SU?? Charles "Bubba" Smith
SU?? Heber Gomez
SU?? Isaura Pineda
SU?? Sergio Mora

***TIGRES DE LA ANGELOPOLIS***
TI?? Adan Munoz Rodriguez
TI?? Matias Carrillo
TI?? Jorge Vazquez
TI?? Cecilio Garibaldi
TI?? Guillermo Vazquez
TI?? Jesús Guzman
TI?? Carlos "Chispa" Gastelum
TI?? Javier Robles

***TUNEROS DE SAN LUIS****
TU?? Pat O'Sullivan
TU?? Darryl Brinkley
TU?? Luis Bustillos
TU?? Edgar Leyva
TU?? Nestro Renovato
TU?? Enrique Martinez
TU?? Sharnol Adriana
TU?? Dave Doster

****VAQUEROS LAGUNA****
VA?? Ramón Espinosa
VA?? Cornelio García

      If you add those to the updated list from my previous post (click here to see the earlier post), we have a total of 180 cards.  Combining the two lists, the per team card totals look like this:

Acereros - 14
Diablos Rojos - 11
Guerreros - 18
Langosteros - 13
Leones - 13
Pericos- 15
Piratas - 15
Potros - 13
Rojos del Aguilas - 13
Rieleros - 11
Sultanes - 13
Tigres - 14
Tuneros - 14
Vaqueros - 3

    With only three cards representing the Vaqueros, I'm willing to bet the set is closer to 200 cards.  Odd that the Guerreros have so many more cards that the rest of the set so far.   As always, more information will be provided as it is uncovered.  I have to travel to San Diego in January, so I may see if I can find any local card shops that have some history behind them and ask if they know anything about cards from Mexico.

    More to come!

Mexican Baseball Cards and Stickers

     I'm sure the few of you that read my ramblings have noticed that my interests typically lean toward the less-than-mainstream.  In this particular instance, however, it is rather surprising just how far outside the mainstream this subject happens to be.  Mexico has consistently had professional baseball since 1925, when La Liga Mexicana de Beisbol (LMB) was organized. And since that time, it has had significant interactions with the sport north of the Rio Grande, at various times serving as a source for talent, an alternative to the Major Leagues, another venue for players of color to ply their trade during the days of racial segregation, a supplement to the minor league system, a place to play ball in winter (in La Liga Mexicana del Pacifico, LMP or the Mexican Pacific League) and a place for aging Latin stars (and in some cases, blackballed Americans) to finish up their careers.

Japanese, Korean, Taiwanese and Minor League Baseball Card Checklists (Online)

(click here to skip the wandering preamble and get straight to the important stuff)

     A few years ago, when I seriously got back into collecting baseball cards, I decided to pick up where I left off on my Hensley Meulens collection.  I had mostly stopped collecting and following baseball after the strike in 1994.  Then came school, marriage, the beginnings of a career, and for awhile there, I was more concerned with just keeping the lights on, the rent paid, gas in the car and food on the table, so I had almost no idea what had happened in the intervening 8-9 years I was away from the hobby.  When I got back into it, I found that Dave Winfield had been elected into the Hall of Fame, Matt Williams was named in the Mitchell Report and Meulens had spent three years in Japan (later making a couple of unsuccessful returns to the Majors).

   As I started to jump back into things, I discovered the joys (and pains) of eBay, online trading sites (SportsCardForum and The Bench Trading being the main two I've settled into, later expanding to Freedom Cardboard, mostly for the conversation), the expansive sites based around statistics (Baseball Almanac, Baseball Reference and The Baseball Cube being my most frequented) and all manner of collector's blogs and hobby news sites.  But that only showed me that there were some glaring gaps in my collection and knowledge from outside the mainstream of the North American hobby.

     As I caught up with lots of the Meulens cards I'd missed, I had to find resources for the Japanese cards about which, up to this point, I knew absolutely nothing.  As I hunted for information on them, I encountered great sites like JapaneseBaseball.com, The Japanese Baseball Card Blog, Rob's Japanese Cards and Prestige Collectibles.  Through Rob Fitts' site, I was able to pick up most of Meulens' BBM and Takara cards, but came up short on the Calbee cards.  I only knew those cards existed because Beckett happened to include a few years of Japanese cards in their online price guide.  However, I knew there had to be more, and just in learning about the BBM and Takara sets, I knew Beckett was far from complete or accurate in their listings.  Everyone I encountered or asked for help suggested I pick up a copy of Gary Engel's Japanese Baseball Card Checklist & Price Guide.  So I picked up the 6th edition.  And learned that there was an enormous world of baseball cards in Japan.  And Hensley Meulens had a few more cards that I needed to find. (A 7th edition was released in early 2010 and is available from Prestige Collectibles.)

Bam-Bam Takes The Helm (Again)

     Twice in as many seasons, the Bravos de Margarita of the Venezuelan winter league have parted ways with their manager as the playoff drive gets underway. Finding the team in last place with a 15-27 record, team vice-president, Tobías Enrique Carrero,  relieved manager Don Baylor of his duties, in what is described as a "mutual decision" (sure it was).

Baylor cesa funciones en Bravos

     Also twice in as many seasons, the Bravos have handed the reins over to hitting coach Hensley Meulens. One has to wonder if the team might have just appointed Bam-Bam as manager for the season were he not potentially tied up with the Giants in the playoffs this year.

Getting to be a habit.

     In any case, congratulations, once again, Mr. Meulens. I wish you well!