A Look At Previously Featured Oddball Sets

1975 McDonald's Quarterbacks

The McDonald's fast food chain released a four-card NFL quarterback set to select areas in 1975. The promotion gave you a "quarter back" when you redeemed the coupon portion of a card while buying a Big Mac value meal. The four cards featured Terry Bradshaw of the Steelers, Ken Stabler of the Raiders, Al Woodall of the Jets and Joe Ferguson of the Bills.

These cards are not easy to find (a recent Ebay search turned up a mere two Ken Stabler cards). When they are found, specimens are usually intact and in NRMT or better condition, leading us to believe a quantity of these made it out of McDonald's via the back door. Expect to pay between $10 - $20 for the set when one surfaces.

1980 Stop-N-Go 3-D Set

Patrons of Stop n Go convenience stores who purchased a fountain drink during the 1979 and 1980 football seasons were treated to a complimentary 3-D football card. The 1980 set featured 48 cards, with a heavy emphasis on players from the Rams, Oilers, Cowboys, 49ers, and Chargers (due to store locations). Nice complete sets are somewhat difficult to find today, and the quantity of surviving near mint cards is modest compared to many other issues of the day.

Star collectors will find beautiful cards of players like Joe Greene, Jack Ham, Archie Manning, Ray Guy, Mel Blount, Ahmad Rashad, Franco Harris, Bob Griese, and Cliff Branch in this visually pleasing set.

1986 Jeno's Pizza Rolls

These cards could be found one per box inside specially marked Jeno's Pizza Rolls boxes back in 1986. The set featured action photos of each of the 28 NFL teams and the cards were printed on thin white cardboard. Keen eyes will find a ton of Hall of Famers in the set such as Walter Payton, Joe Montana, Terry Bradshaw, Joe Namath, Dan Marino, Fran Tarkenton and Marcus Allen. A "Play Book" was available by mail and was created to house the cards. This paperback booklet featured an action photo of Terry Bradshaw on the cover.

The set can be found today in the $15 range. The Play Book sells for about $3. It's a great little set that many collectors do not realize exists!

1993 Score Ore-Ida Quarterback Club

Score teamed with food company Ore-Ida in 1993 to create an 18-card quarterback set, which could be obtained by mailing six proof-of-purchase tabs and $1.50. As one would expect, the set is loaded with QB stars of the day, including John Elway, Steve Young, Warren Moon, Phil Simms, Brett Favre, Troy Aikman, Dan Marino, and Jim Kelly. Whlie the design of this set is similar to the regular 1993 Score issue, the photos and numbers on these cards are different. Boomer Esiason of the Jets and Jeff Hostetler of the Raiders are shown in their new uniforms.

It is fairly difficult to find this set today, possibly due to the fact that the Ore-Ida name isn't mentioned anywhere on the cards, causing sellers to list this set incorrectly (many collectors mistake these for promo cards for the regular set). It also appears this was a relatively small promotion with limited advertising, so many fans weren't aware the cards were even available. It's hard to establish an exact value for this set, but the $25 - $30 range seems to be a fair price for a set in mint condition.

1984/85 Islanders News Set

Oddball sets often contain hidden cardboard treasures that remain relatively unknown to the casual collecting public. The "Exhibit A" we will use to prove this belief is the 1984/85 Islander News set. A Pat Lafontaine rookie, two Mike Bossys, two Denis Potvins, two Bryan Trottiers, two Billy Smiths and a Clark Gillies are just a few of the names collectors will find in this gem of a 37-card team set.

The set is easy to find on the internet, and will cost buyers anywhere from two to ten dollars. We don't consider these cards rare by any means, but odds are you'll own the only set on your block.

1983 Topps Stickers

Topps commissioned Italian sticker-makers Panini in 1983 to create a star-studded baseball sticker set (for the third consecutive year). Similar to both prior years, the fronts contained simple player photos, thin white borders and tiny sticker numbers in the bottom left corners. Twenty-eight foil stickers are found in the set, each containing a star player. A complete set consists of 330 stickers, including special playoff and World Series stickers. Because of the small set size, each team is represented by eight players (not including special subsets). Thankfully, someone at Topps had the foresight to include a subset of promising young players at the end of the set, allowing Wade Boggs and Ryne Sandberg to be represented during their rookie card year. Cal Ripken's first two stickers are also included in this set.

Like all of Topps' other sticker issues from the 1980s, this set is not expensive today. We feel this set is undervalued in the $10 range, especially with the big names and rookies that lay claim to this nifty Topps issue. But, as is always the case, supply and demand has the final word on value -- and sticker sets continue to be second-best compared to their cardboard cousins.

1984 Drake's Big Hitters

For the fourth year in a row, Topps produced a set of 33 baseball cards for Drake's, the popular snack company which sells baked goods to the northeastern United States. Cards could be found both inside product packages and by sending away for a complete set by mail. As was typical with other small sets of this nature, many Hall of Fame and star players are found in the lineup. Wade Boggs, George Brett, Rod Carew, Andre Dawson, Steve Garvey, Reggie Jackson, Dale Murphy, Eddie Murray, Cal Ripken Jr, Pete Rose, Mike Schmidt, Dave Winfield, and even a "rookie" year Darryl Strawberry card are included in this nice set.

The complete set can be found today on the internet for under five dollars.

1984 LA Dodgers Police

Police sets consist of those nifty cards cops used to hand out to kids back in the dark ages (the 1980s). Police sets always seemed to have a simple and uncluttered look -- unlike the major card releases of the day -- and were even considered amateurish by some holier-than-thou collectors within our ranks. Love them or hate them, these aging cards remain as inexpensive reminders of when cards and collectors had the right to keep things simple.

The look and feel of the 1984 Dodgers issue typifies police sets of the era, which is a good thing in our opinion. The most notable card in the set is Orel Hershiser, who appears a full year before his "rookie" card releases. The final card in the set features a pitcher named Richard Rodas, whose major league career supposedly spanned 9 2/3 innings of service. Members of The Consummate Card Collector staff are currently investigating rumors that the phantom hurler was included in the set solely because of his nephewship to Grady Rodas, the guy who allegedly printed police cards back in 1984.

1990 Kay Bee Kings of Baseball

For the fifth (and final) year, Topps created a 33 card boxed set for toy retailer Kay Bee. While the set contains its share of players who weren't "Kings of Baseball" by any means (Doyle Alexander and Jerry Reuss come to mind), lots of stars and Hall of Famers are included. Collectors who enjoy oddball sets will be thrilled to find Nolan Ryan, George Brett, Carlton Fisk, Robin Yount, Ozzie Smith, Dave Winfield, Tony Gwynn , and Kirby Puckett cards present in this small set.

Kings of Baseball sets originally retailed for $2 in 1990. Due to a general lack of interest today in boxed sets, as well as overproduction, they can still be found online for the same $2 or less. Unopened boxes should be wrapped in clear plastic and have a small Topps Magazine ad card inside the box.

1997 7-11 Colorado Rockies Set

"Motion" cards, which capture one to two seconds of video-style movement through lenticular technology, stormed on the hobby scene in the mid-1990s. The motion can be seen by slowly tilting the card from top to bottom. While many hobbyists find this technology fascinating, motion cards never seemed to grab a real foothold in the hearts (or wallets) of most collectors.

Convenience retailer 7-11 and Coca-Cola teamed up in 1997 to release a four-card Colorado Rockies motion card set. The set features two cards each of Ellis Burks and Dante Bichette. Both players have a card that pictures a batting swing, and another that features a baserunning slide. Like most regional team sets, the supply of these cards seems limited -- but collector interest is even less. The set can usually be purchased for six dollars or less when it surfaces.