At the Trade Deadline 44: The Prowling Cat Cleans Out His Clutter, and I'm Reaping All the Benefits, Part 4

A while back the Prowling Cat posted a bunch of stuff he was planning on donating if he couldn't find someone in the blogosphere to give it to, and I put my name in the hat for several of the items. He sent out one shipment of stuff to me near the end of 2015 and just recently I got hit with a second wave of cards. I think out of this batch I originally just requested two things, but he sent more than that. The really cool thing is that the bulk of these items were food issue sets from the 80's.

I don't know if there is anything better than food-sponsored baseball cards. I was going to buy food anyway, but packaging cards with that food makes things so much better. Unfortunately this kind of thing has mostly gone by the wayside these days, but food issues had a long hobby run. My kids got Pokemon cards in their Happy Meals recently and some Canadian coffee place gave away hockey cards with their drinks last year, but as far as I know those are some of the relatively few food promotions out there. When I was a kid it seemed like you couldn't turn around without finding baseball card in your cereals and snacks. This first set in my package from the Prowling Cat is a 1986 Topps Quaker Chewy Granola Bars issue that touts itself as the 1st Annual Collectors' Edition. The card fronts feature some pretty nice portrait photos while the backs have a good amount of biographical data, 1985 stats, career stats, and a bulleted list of career highlights.

There are plenty of stars in this checklist, some teams like the Mets and Cardinals receiving extra attention. That jacket that Dave Parker is wearing looks incredibly uncomfortable, like someone coated a trash bag in rubber and added a zipper and sleeves to it.

Normally I'd have more to say about these cards, but I've got like twenty minutes until midnight and if I don't hit publish on this thing soon I will break my streak of posting every day this year so far. I am thinking that the streak might break in April anyhow, but there's no use in breaking it before I have to. Nice to see Fernando Valenzuela wearing a helmet on a card. Nolan Ryan looks like he might be trying to suppress some kind of gastrointestinal issue long enough for the picture to be taken. Maybe he's looking into the sunlight or something.

Don Mattingly is one of the few people on this earth who should always have a mustache. There are all types of mustaches on this scan, from Saberhagen's barely-there look to Wade Boggs and his uber-stache. I'm guessing that bulge in George Brett's cheek is just him eating some tasty Quaker Chewy Granola Bars.

That whole top row of photographs is pretty good. Reggie Jackson looks surprised to be having his photo taken, Eddie Murray is rocking all kinds of hair, Phil Niekro looks like somebody's grandpa, and I think they must have borrowed Dan Quisenberry's mugshot from the local precinct.

Thanks for the cards, Prowling Cat! There is plenty more to post from this package over the next little while.