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Sunday, March 29, 2015

A Look at and Checklists for Kellogg's MLB Japanese Issues

From 2007-2010, Kellogg's issued small sets featuring MLB stars. These were included with the company's food products, which as far as I've seen here would mean mostly cereal. Of course, the checklists focused heavily on Japanese stars in the MLB, but it's not exclusively for former NPB players.

The sets all feature the Kellogg's logo on front and back as well as the manufacturer's logo. Upper Deck issued the 2007-2009 sets, with Topps taking over in 2010 after Upper Deck lost their license.

With very small checklists, collecting full sets shouldn't be too hard, and is a project I am considering. On the other hand, singles usually aren't cheap. I should note that my checklists (including spelling) are based mostly on the SCF database. 
 The 2007 set has 10 cards, with three Japanese players:

  1. Hideki Matsui
  2. Kenji Johjima
  3. Tadahito Iguchi
  4. Ryan Howard
  5. David Wright
  6. David Ortiz
  7. Ivan Rodriguez
  8. Alex Rodriguez
  9. Albert Pujols
  10. Justin Verlander

 2008 again has 10 cards, and three Japanese players. Note that the SCF database is incorrect; based on a bit of research the below list should be accurate.

  1. Daisuke Matsuzaka
  2. Hideki Matsui
  3. Takashi Saito
  4. Jimmy Rollins
  5. Vladimir Guerrero
  6. Manny Ramirez
  7. Joe Mauer
  8. Josh Beckett
  9. Grady Sizemore
  10. Jose Reyes

I don't have any 2009s yet to check the design, or to even verify the manufacturer. The SCF database lists a checklist of six players:

  1. Akinori Iwamura
  2. Daisuke Matsuzaka
  3. Kosuke Fukudome
  4. Alfonso Soriano
  5. Alex Rodriguez
  6. Josh Hamilton 


The last year of issue was 2010, with Topps taking over due to Upper Deck's loss of licensing with MLB Properties.

  1. Hideki Matsui
  2. Akinori Iwamura
  3. Hideki Okajima
  4. Chase Utley
  5. David Wright
  6. CC Sabathia
All in all, a total of 32 cards seem to have been issued. The key cards will definitely be the Matsuis for a set builder.
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6 comments:

  1. SeanApril 4, 2015 at 6:27 AM

    I think they were all released with cereal. In 2010 I put the set together one box of Frosted Flakes (I think) at a time. Pretty cool sets, I actually didn`t know about the ones from 2007-09, I might try to track some down.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ryan GApril 17, 2015 at 6:39 AM

    I've decided to go ahead and build the sets. I picked up a bunch just after writing this post, but I've been a bit lazy about it lately.

    ReplyDelete
  3. RunForeKelloggsDecember 21, 2016 at 5:09 AM

    They sure don't seem to show up on ebay very frequently.

    ReplyDelete
  4. RunForeKelloggsOctober 3, 2020 at 7:33 PM

    Did you ever find these? I still have yet to find any from 2009.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ryan GOctober 12, 2020 at 5:10 AM

      Looking at my lists I don’t seem to have any. I thought I had a full set, but either I was mistaken or I’ve just had some bad record keeping. I have no way to check right now. But I’m starting to think it just doesn’t exist. Perhaps whoever added it to the SCF list was just wrong - I can’t even find the original list now.

      Delete
    2. Jason PresleyMay 14, 2024 at 5:10 AM

      I know it has been ages since this post, but we finally found the 2009 cards were printed right on the cereal boxes without a partnership with Topps or Upper Deck.

      Delete

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