Cereal boxes were once again high on the list of young fans’ grocery lists in the year of the bi-centennial as Kellogg’s returned with another non-traditional three dimensional baseball card set. The 1976 Kellogg’s release was similar to other series’ but had some variances, too.
1976 Kellogg’s Basics
For the second straight year, Kellogg’s produced a slightly miniaturized version of cards, again going with the smaller 2 1/8″ x 3 1/4″ size seen in 1975. The amount of cards in the set also remained the same from the previous year as Kellogg’s printed a 57-card release.
As usual, the design was changed. The biggest difference was that, for the first time since the 1970 debut set, stars were removed from the fronts of the cards. Instead, player pictures were encased inside of a three-line border with the background remaining white. As usual, however, the player’s name, position, and replica signature were included on the fronts along with the headline ‘3-D Super Stars.’
1976 Kellogg’s Set Variations
Kellogg’s had really begun
to clean up its act after its 1972 release included an incredible 
20 errors and corrected issues. Over the next few years, the company would produce only a handful of cards with errors and subsequent corrections. In 1976, however, Kellogg’s was back to numerous printing errors.
Several statistical errors are notable. Those include:
- No. 30 Frank Tanana (2.62 ERA and 2.63 ERA)
- No. 32 Tom Seaver (1967 PCT and 1967 Pct)
- No. 45 Jorge Orta (1615 AB and 1616 AB)
- No. 47 Vida Blue (“pitched more innings” or “struck out more batters”)
- No. 49 Jon Matlack (86 earned runs in 1975 and 87 earned runs in 1975)
- No. 51 Mike Hargrove (934 at bats and 935 at bats)
- No. 52 Paul Lindblad (1975 ERA of 2.72 and 1975 ERA of 2.73)
- No. 56 Greg Gross (302 games and 334 games)
Those errors were more than the company had produced/corrected in the previous three years combined.
In addition to those, several other variations exist. No. 6 Clay Carroll has both Reds and White Sox cards as the result of joining Chicago for the 1976 season. All-star pitcher Jim Kaat also had a new team in 1976 and has cards with both White Sox and Phillies logos on the back. Finally, Mickey Rivers (No. 41) and Vida Blue (No. 47) both have variations of their biographies on the reverse.
1976 Kellogg’s Stars
Numerous stars were included in the set, headlined by Reggie Jackson and Pete Rose. Other notable star cards include Carl Yastrzemski, Catfish Hunter, Joe Morgan, Willie Stargell, Tom Seaver, Johnny Bench, Jim Palmer, Lou Brock, Rod Carew, and Thurman Munson, among others.
And while potential ‘rookie’ cards of both Hall of Famers Gary Carter and Jim Rice were missed in Kellogg’s 1975 release, they both were included in the 1976 issue. Other possible rookie cards in 1975 would have been those of stars Ken Griffey, Sr. and Fred Lynn. Both, however, also landed in the 1976 Kellogg’s set, making their official debuts.
Two big omissions were Nolan Ryan and Mike Schmidt – both of whom appeared in previous sets. While Kellogg’s undoubtedly wanted to make way for some new players, leaving those two out was a bit of a head-scratcher. Also missing were Hall of Famers George Brett and Robin Yount, who had rookie cards in the 1975 Topps set.
1976 Kellogg’s Short Prints
One of the fascinating things in the 1976 Kellogg’s set was the apparent short-printing of the first three cards – Steve Hargan, Claudell Washington, and Don Gullett. None of them are impossible to find, but they are generally not as plentiful on eBay at any given time. As a result, these usually command larger asking prices than the typical common in the set.
Key Rookie Card
Most Kellogg’s issues relied on big names and didn’t include the top rookie cards. One exception is found in the 1976 Kellogg’s set as a first-year card of Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley is included. Eck’s career began in 1975 and Kellogg’s had the foresight to include him in this release. His main rookie card is his 1976 Topps card, but his 1976 Kellogg’s card was a nice addition.
1976 Kellogg’s Prices
Ungraded commons and even some stars are easy to find at under $5. The variations as well as the errors/corrections vary greatly by example. The bigger names in higher condition will also vary by condition and player. In high-grade, the Eckersley rookie card is still very affordable.
As with most of Kellogg’s cards, these are prone to cracking. That makes the high-grade cards highly desired with those having undergone the scrutiny of third-party grading very sought after but still generally very inexpensive with many selling for barely the cost of the authentication fee.
Complete sets are typically available for $125-$200.
You can see 1976 Kellogg’s baseball cards on eBay here.
1976 Kellogg’s Checklist
- Steve Hargan
- Claudell Washington
- Don Gullett
- Randy Jones
- Catfish Hunter
- Clay Carroll
- Joe Rudi
- Reggie Jackson
- Felix Milan
- Jim Rice
- Bert Blyleven
- Ken Singleton
- Don Sutton
- Joe Morgan
- Dave Parker
- Dave Cash
- Ron LeFlore
- Greg Luzinski
- Dennis Eckersley
- Bill Madlock
- George Scott
- Willie Stargell
- Al Hrabosky
- Carl Yastrzemski
- Jim Kaat
- Marty Perez
- Bob Watson
- Eric Soderholm
- Bill Lee
- Frank Tanana
- Fred Lynn
- Tom Seaver
- Steve Busby
- Gary Carter
- Rick Wise
- Johnny Bench
- Jim Palmer
- Bobby Murcer
- Von Joshua
- Lou Brock
- Mickey Rivers
- Manny Sanguillen
- Jerry Reuss
- Ken Griffey, Sr.
- Jorge Orta
- John Mayberry
- Vida Blue
- Rod Carew
- Jon Matlack
- Boog Powell
- Mike Hargrove
- Paul Lindblad
- Thurman Munson
- Steve Garvey
- Pete Rose
- Greg Gross
- Ted Simmons
Related Stories:
Collecting Hockey Hall of Famers: Mike Bossy
1983 Kellogg’s Set Was The Company’s Final ‘Vintage’ Issue
1981 Kellogg’s Set Included New Size, New Distribution
1980 Kellogg’s Baseball Set Went Skinny
1977 Kellogg’s Set Highlighted By New Players, Design Changes
1975 Kellogg’s Set Featured Smaller Cards But Larger Set
1972 Kellogg’s Sets Offered Collectors Best Of Current And Former Players
40 Years Later: 6 Clutch Cards From The 1976 Topps Set
