1972 McDonalds Dodgers Photo Ball Discs Test Issue

[4reals]

1972 Dodgers Photo Ball Discs Test Issue - It took me ten years to accumulate 4 of the set of 18 seen in the first pic. I paid between $20-30 for each of them. I’ve seen a couple others over the years but didn’t buy them because the sellers wanted upwards of $100 each for them which I would never pay. This week I was able to score an entire team set of all 18! I never thought I would realistically complete this team set so I am super stoked, of course! When they arrived I thought I would sell off the duplicates but after putting them side by side with the others I realized the team set is a larger diameter. You can see cropping variations on all four duplicates I own. On two of the four smaller ones some of the stats on the back are cut off. Since this was a test set designed for McDonalds that was never actually distributed to the public I can surmise that the smaller variations were early test runs that they determined were too small and adjusted the design to allow more space for the stats on the back. McDonalds did eventually release the design in the San Diego market with a 1974 team set of the Padres. The notches on the bottom of the discs allowed the photos to sit in a hollow plastic baseball holder.


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[71buc]

Very cool congratulations on the great pick up . Somewhere I have a pinback that has that Sutton image. We're any of these others used that way?

[mrmopar]

So glad no Garvey in the set!

[Mark70Z]

Joe,

So basically what your saying is that you “still” need 14 of the small variation of the ‘72 Dodgers test discs?!?

JK of course; I love these type of oddball items and in this case I’ve never even seen this test issue before. Those are some very cool discs. If you have an opportunity could you post a picture of the backs of one of the discs that you have dups? Would like to see the back examples as well.

[ALR-bishop]

No, I think you got it exactly right Mark

[4reals]

Mark, I guess you’re right! Fourteen to go, lol. Here are the back pics you requested along with a pic of the 1974 padres ball. Not sure if a test Dodgers ball or blank ball with no team logo was created. Haven’t seen one. Just realized the Jim Lefebvre is an error with the misspelling of his last name.




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[Cliff Bowman]

Originally Posted by 4reals

Not sure if a test Dodgers ball or blank ball with no team logo was created. Haven’t seen one.

Here is a 1972 McDonald's Dodgers Ball and 13 of the discs that sold for only $65 in an auction in 2014, probably because hardly anyone knew of their existence, including me until I saw this thread .

[4reals]

Sweet, Cliff! Thanks for sharing!


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