SSPC Randy Jones Card (1976)

Now despite this card having the year 1975 on the back, it was indeed produced AFTER the 1975 season and for the 1976 season. SSPC (Sports Stars Publishing Company) was a one off set that was produced by a card dealer. He was apparently sick of the way Topps was producing cards, calling them to “flashy” and opted to create a nice simple & basic card set. Soon after he started selling them Topps forced him to stop creating cards with active Major Leaguers. He then switched the name to TCMA and began selling cards of Minor Leaguers & retired ball players.

*Bonus tip: Former ESPN host & current political annoyance Keith Olbermann edited the backs of every card in the set

RJ Catch Up Time

I somehow fell a bit behind in my RJ a day. So here are 6 items to now give you 28 RJ’s in 28 days. First up is the 1993 Upper Deck Sheet to commemorate 25 years of Padres baseball. I’m not sure if it was a stadium giveaway or not. RJ, Graig Nettles, Steve Garvey, Dick Williams & Nate Colbert are shown. I’m not really sure why Nettles was represented over Tony Gwynn but maybe they didn’t want to list any active players.

Next up is a 1976/1978 Wiffle Ball disc. Here’s the thing regarding the year….it says 1976 on the disc but in listings there is no 1976 Wiffle Ball set but there is a 1978 set. So I’m not really sure what to list it as. Unlike the other ’76 discs that are 3 3/8″ around, this one is a much smaller 2 3/8″ and instead of a pink front it is yellow.

Speaking of the “other ’76 discs” here is a 1976 Crane Disc. For the most part it’s the same as the other ’76 discs….except it actually says Crane on the top of the front instead of having 4 stars. The Crane Potato Chip is no longer around. The quick research I did shows that they were bought out by Borden Foods in 1988. Borden Foods was then shut down in 2001.

Another out of business company is Burger Chef. The last one closed down in 1996 but they still gave us this awesome 1977 Burger Chef Disc with the “Where Wolf” character on the back. Apparently at their peak they were 2nd to McDonalds and are actually the creators of the first kids meal.

This card was a part of the 2003 Padres Carl’s Jr. stadium giveaway set. Fans voted on the All-Time team earlier in the season and then they made this set to giveaway to fans on August 10th, 2003. The others in the set were…Manager Bruce Bochy, SP Kevin Brown & Gaylord Perry, RP Trevor Hoffman, C Benito Santiago, 1B Steve Garvey, 2B Roberto Alomar, SS Ozzie Smith, 3B Ken Caminiti, OF Dave Winfield, Steve Finley & Tony Gwynn.

Lastly we have a deck of RJ Playing cards. I honestly don’t know when these were made nor do I know what the story is behind them. But it’s a full on playing deck of cards. I remember getting these at a card show at the Scottish Rite Center in Mission Valley back in the 80’s though. Man those shows were fun to go to, but I haven’t been to one since probably middle school.

Topps & O-Pee-Chee Randy Jones Cards (1976)

Here are the 1976 Topps & O-Pee-Chee Randy Jones cards (#310). Really the only difference is the O-Pee-Chee card (2nd one) has a brighter back and then a bunch of French on it.