1979 Kellogg's... do these variations exist?

[Cliff Bowman]

This has been somewhat touched on here before with the 1979 Kellogg's Rod Carew card. It is known that thirteen of the sixty 1979 Kellogg's cards are only available in two of the three different printings, but I have come to the conclusion that there are nine more to add that list. I have never seen Rod Carew, Buddy Bell, Garry Maddox, Willie McCovey, Steve Carlton, Dave Parker, Pete Rose, Vida Blue, or Richie Zisk in what would be the second printing, copyright next to Tony the Tiger and no copyright next to the team logo, or in the case of Maddox, Carlton, and Rose the old square Phillies logo rather than the new "P" logo. I'm not sure exactly how they were printed, but in the mail in factory sets that come in four card panels I noticed that the nine cards in question are all on three panels, which I think is too much of a coincidence. If anyone has ever seen or has one of these nine cards in the second printing version, please let me know.

[sschauer]

I believe you are correct as the Rose I have never seen and I've looked for a long time. I was surprised to find both variations the 1978 triples 33 or 3 in unopened form so that shows 1st printing / 2nd printing if you can verify that in the mail in set it doesnt have the other supposed variation I can sleep well.

[runbrett]

I have been searching for as many variations as possible. I haven't found any of the ones that you mentioned.

Have you noticed that some of the team logos have been changed along the way? Some are slight and some are more obvious.

[Cliff Bowman]

Originally Posted by runbrett

I have been searching for as many variations as possible. I haven't found any of the ones that you mentioned.

Have you noticed that some of the team logos have been changed along the way? Some are slight and some are more obvious.

The Cardinals, Cubs, and Phillies logo changes are very noticeable, the Royals and Reds are more subtle. I couldn't tell the difference in the Reds until I noticed that the logos' sleeves are black in the first two printings, clear in the third.

[flkersn]

I may be able to help, but first I need some clarification and education. My understanding is that there were two distinct "cereal box" printings of these cards: both with the registration mark low on the tiger logo, but one printing with copyright marks by the team logo and one printing without. Further there was a third printing with the logo on the "scarf" of Tony, but no copyright marks by the team logo. In this printing Rau and Monday were exceptions because there was no registration in the scarf.

If this is not true please help me out.

Also there is mention of 12 (and possibly 9 more). What are these 12 and which set (as described above) is this referring to.

[Cliff Bowman]

The first printing has Tony the Tiger with the copyright in his scarf, no copyright next to the team logo, and is the printing with all of the statistical errors. The second printing has the copyright in the lower right corner next to Tony the Tiger, no copyright next to the team logo, and has the statistical errors corrected. These two printings were only available in the cereal boxes. The third printing is the same as the second except that forty three of the cards have a copyright next to the team logo. The third printing is the very common mail in factory set. The thirteen cards (not including the four Phillies) that do no not have a copyright next to the team logo are (Red Sox) Carl Yastrzemski, Fred Lynn, Dwight Evans, Jim Rice, Dennis Eckersley, (Astros) Craig Reynolds, J R Richard, Terry Puhl, (A's) John Henry Johnson, Mario Guerrero, (Blue Jays) Roy Howell, (Brewers) Paul Molitor, (White Sox) Wayne Nordhagen. These thirteen cards are the same in both the second and third printings. Six of the nine cards in question, Richie Zisk, Rod Carew, Willie McCovey, Vida Blue, Buddy Bell, Dave Parker, cannot be found in the second printing version, copyright next to Tony the Tiger and no copyright next to the team logo. Three of the cards in question, all Phillies, Pete Rose, Steve Carlton, Garry Maddox, cannot be found be in the second printing version of copyright next to Tony the Tiger and old square Phillies logo rather than the new "P" logo, which is how Larry Bowa is in the second printing. In other words, those nine cards can only be found with two different printings, not three. This is only my opinion, but I believe that only the nine cards were completely updated in the second printing while the others weren't until the third printing. Edited to add that the team logos of the Phillies, Cardinals, Cubs, Royals, and Reds were changed in varying degrees from the second printing to the third printing, and that two Dodgers, Rick Monday and Doug Rau, were mistakenly printed with no copyright next to Tony the Tiger in both the second and third printings.

[flkersn]

Great info, Cliff! I have been struggling for a couple of years trying to figure this out.