1977 Kellogg’s Set Highlighted By New Players, Design Changes

For the eighth consecutive year, Kellogg’s produced a baseball card set for collectors with cards being included in its popular boxes of cereal. While much remained the same from previous years, an infusion of a few big name players and continued design changes helped the 1977 Kellogg’s issue stand out from prior releases.

1977 Kellogg’s Basics

Kellogg’s stuck with its popular 2 1/8″ x 3 1/4″ size for the third year in a row. Also for the third consecutive season, the company maintained its 57-card set.

While Kellogg’s changed the rounded outline that contained the player photos (utilizing a multi-colored orange look), much of the fronts remained the same from 1976. Also included on the fronts were the player’s last name, position, and replicated autograph. The backs were similar, too, with a small player portrait, statistical information, team logos, and a brief biography. Backs were also printed in blue ink, as in previous years. One significant note is that the pictures of the players on the back was the last time they would appear on their vintage Kellogg’s sets.

1977 Kellogg’s Set Variations

While the 1977 Kellogg’s set included fewer variances than in 1976, several still existed. There weren’t any variations in the statistics displayed on the backs, but there are a few cards with different biographies.

The first printing included a line stating “58” of his Dodger home runs in the previous two seasons. A subsequent printing corrected that number to 48. Wayne Garland’s No. 21 card and Ken Reitz’s No. 38 card have slight differences in their biographies to reflect trades. Finally, Kellogg’s has both error and corrected versions of card No. 16, Lyman Bostock. Bostock’s error card actually shows a picture of Yankee pitcher Dock Ellis on the back. The corrected card includes Bostock’s real picture.

1977 Kellogg’s Stars

The 1977 Kellogg’s set featured plenty of stars. The release is headlined, in part, by two players who appeared in the sets for the first time – George Brett and Dave Winfield. Brett and Winfield had both played well in the years prior to securing their first Kellogg’s card and Brett, in particular, had really developed into a star. In 1976, he led the league in hits, batting average, triples, and total bases, and also finished second in the Most Valuable Player race behind only Thurman Munson.

In addition to Brett and Winfield, there was the usual large collection of star players. Others included Munson, Pete Rose, Rod Carew, Steve Carlton, Rollie Fingers, George Foster, Fergie Jenkins, Steve Garvey, Dave Parker, and more.

Several big names from the 1970s are missing, though, including Nolan Ryan, Mike Schmidt, Robin Yount and Reggie Jackson. Jackson had been a mainstay in the set and this was the first time since 1971 he had not been included. Whatever the reason, it certainly was not because of his performance. Jackson had another banner year with 27 home runs while leading the league in slugging percentage (.502). It’s a shame his card was not included since it was his lone year in Baltimore and Jackson simply doesn’t have many Orioles cards.

Missed Rookie Cards

Kellogg’s failed to capitalize on several potential key rookie cards in the set. Most notably, two Hall of Famers, Bruce Sutter and Andre Dawson, had their first mainstream cards in the 1977 Topps set. Another big name, Dale Murphy, also has the 1977 Topps card as his rookie edition. All three players were left out of the 1977 Kellogg’s release although Dawson and Murphy were still unproven at the time.

1977 Kellogg’s Prices

Ungraded commons are generally available for $1-$3.

The most desirable cards in the set are those of Brett and Rose. Brett’s card is usually in the $10-$20 range for a decent example, while ungraded Rose cards are usually closer to the $5-$10 range.

Complete sets were available as a mail-in offer and aren’t too hard to find for around $50-$100, depending on condition. High-quality graded sets sell for more, though – one mint/gem mint set recently sold for $300.

You can see 1977 Kellogg’s cards on eBay by clicking here.

 1977 Kellogg’s Checklist

1. George Foster
2. Bert Campaneris
3. Fergie Jenkins
4. Dock Ellis
5. John Montefusco
6. George Brett
7. John Candelaria
8. Fred Norman
9. Bill Travers
10. Hal McRae
11. Doug Rau
12. Greg Luzinski
13. Ralph Garr
14. Steve Garvey
15. Rick Manning
16. Lyman Bostock
17. Randy Jones
18. Ron Cey
19. Dave Parker
20. Pete Rose
21. Wayne Garland
22. Bill North
23. Thurman Munson
24. Tom Poquette
25. Ron LeFlore
26. Mark Fidrych
27. Sixto Lezcano
28. Dave Winfield
29. Jerry Koosman
30. Mike Hargrove
31. Willie Montanez
32. Don Stanhouse
33. Jay Johnstone
34. Bake McBride
35. Dave Kingman
36. Freddie Patek
37. Garry Maddox
38. Ken Reitz
39. Bobby Grich
40. Cesar Geronimo
41. Jim Lonborg
42. Ed Figueroa
43. Bill Madlock
44. Jerry Remy
45. Frank Tanana
46. Al Oliver
47. Charlie Hough
48. Lou Piniella
49. Ken Griffey, Sr.
50. Jose Cruz
51. Rollie Fingers
52. Chris Chambliss
53. Rod Carew
54. Andy Messersmith
55. Mickey Rivers
56. Butch Wynegar
57. Steve Carlton

Related Stories:

1972 Kellogg’s Sets Offered Collectors Best Of Current And Former Players 1973 Kellogg’s Set Broke With Tradition 1974 Kellogg’s Baseball Set Brought 3D Back 1975 Kellogg’s Set Featured Smaller Cards But Larger Set 1980 Kellogg’s Baseball Set Went Skinny 1981 Kellogg’s Set Included New Size, New Distribution 1983 Kellogg’s Set Was The Company’s Final ‘Vintage’ Issue Remembering Schmidt’s Titanic Single In 1974 1976 Kellogg’s Set Included Many Stars, A Key Rookie, Short Prints, And … Errors

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About Anson Whaley

Anson Whaley is a contributor to Sports Collectors Daily and has been an avid pre-war and vintage card collector for more than 20 years. He manages a pre-war sports card blog and database at www.prewarcards.com . You can email him at [email protected] or find him on Twitter @PreWarCards.