If I Can't Play With My Food, Can I At Least Display It?

Retail exclusives are far from new in our hobby.  For many years now, certain insert sets and parallel colors have been divided up among in certain big box retail locations; you had your Target reds, your Walmart blues, etc.  Furthermore, products like the snowy Holiday set were made available only at Wally World and several well-loved lines (like Finest or just about any flashy, high-end stuff) are only found in hobby shops.  Like I said, having certain things only available to the public in certain locations is a concept that is far from new.

Additionally, while we're on that topic, retail exclusivity does not always refer to baseball cards - in fact, you can find examples of this all throughout the sports memorabilia market.  Recently, in the Chicagoland area, local grocery chain, Jewel-Osco, has partnered with the Anthony Rizzo Foundation and a longtime Chicago Cubs sponsor to entice the attention of local North Side baseball fans:

Reynolds Wrap aluminum foil has long been a staple of kitchens across America ("trusted since 1947," after all) and, for the past several seasons, have sponsored the rain tarp at Wrigley Field.  For the record, I think that this is one of the most ingenious and "pun-eriffic" sponsorships in the history of professional sports.  What company would make a better sponsor for the protective covering of the Wrigley infield, keeping it safe from moisture and other, outside elements.  Plus, tarps are typically a deep blue, the same color sported by the ubiquitous Reynolds Wrap box.

Anyway, back to the promotion.  For a limited time, Reynolds Wrap is changing their industry standard moniker to honor the heart and soul of the Cubs lineup, first baseman Anthony Rizzo, a development which was announced via "press conference" back on April 1st:

Apparently, this name change came about as the result of a bet between Rizzo and the Reynolds Wrap people, which dictated that if the Cubs should win the World Series in 2016, the company would have to change the name of their marquee product to honor the prodigious slugger.  Well, as Rizz says in the video above, "we all know how THAT ended."

Seeing as the announcement hit the internet on April Fools Day, many took this news to be an April Fools  prank.  I can't say that I'd blame anyone who assumed such, seeing as anything you read or see on the internet on that day should be taken with a whole shaker of salt.  However, I can personally verify that "Rizzo Wrap" is no mere prank:

Nope - this is a real deal and you better believe that I stopped by the neighborhood Jewel to pick one of these bad boys up.  First of all, my wife and I have issues with cooking proper portions, so aluminum foil is absolutely always useful in our borderline gluttonous household.  Second of all, though it may be gimmicky and an obvious ploy to get Cubs fans to shell out money for their product, but it certainly makes for an interesting, offbeat addition to my Chicago Cubs shrine.

Now, it's natural that the Reynolds Wrap people would choose Anthony Rizzo to make this bet with; after all, the middle of the order presence has been part of the nucleus of the Cubs powerhouse since 2012 and his acquisition has since been seen as one of the turning points of the then-listless franchise.  All of that important detail aside, there's an even bigger reason why Reynolds Wrap should choose Rizzo to emblazon on their aluminum foil - he gets them a lot of extra exposure.

You see, Anthony Rizzo has a history of making fantastic catches at the tarp.  The two above are highlight reel worthy themselves, with the former even earning it's own bobblehead tribute via stadium giveaway.  That said, I know of at least one or two more that I could not readily find on YouTube.  In summation, as Rizzo sees it, the Reynolds Wrap tarp is as normal a part of Wrigley Field as first base or the batter's box.

If you live in Chicago or the surrounding suburbs, you can pick up your own box of Rizzo Wrap from your nearest Jewel-Osco all throughout the summer, while supplies last.  Although, it's too bad that this product wasn't available during the winter months - maybe if the Cubs had safely wrapped their bats in Rizzo Wrap during the offseason, the offense would be a little more fresh.  Zing!

We left a few too many runners on base today. https://t.co/mqn5plsrtT pic.twitter.com/hkMTUNoUc2

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) June 25, 2017

*Sigh* Story of the season, boys.

Meanwhile, speaking of Jewel, Rizzo Wrap isn't the only Cubs promotional product stocked on their store shelves.  In fact, the retailer has a whole shelving unit dedicated to nothing but "Cub-ified" items, near the produce section.  One can buy everything from Rizzo Wrap, to World Champion Fannie May s'mores candy, to the latest Cubs-endorsed breakfast cereal.  First, we started this trend with a couple editions of "RizzOs."  Then, we hopped on board the David Ross love-train with "Grandpa Rossy Crunch."  Now, roaring into Jewels everywhere, we have...

..."Zorilla Crunch!"  Like Ben Zobrist, this breakfast cereal is an underrated and versatile part of the Chicago sports fan's healthy, balanced breakfast.  Hopefully, seeing as the man has been injured for most of 2017, Zobrist will make use of his "good source of 12 vitamins and minerals" to maintain proper nutrition and nurse himself back to health.

Anthony Rizzo is well on his way to being an all-time franchise great, Grandpa Rossy is a baseball folk hero, and Ben Zobrist took home the MVP honors for the Cubs' first World Series title in 108 years.  All in all, not a bad selection of players to have represent your team on kitchen tables as the sun rises each morning.

The box is basically a carbon copy of the RizzOs box from earlier in the year, except, of course, with "cartoon-ized," logo-scrubbed images of Zobs replacing that of Rizzo.  For frame of reference, here's a side-by-side comparison:

I have a feeling that the cereal line will be stopping at "Zorilla," as they've clearly run out of creative inspiration, at this point.  I mean, even for Rossy's box, the only thing they really changed was the color and, especially frustrating for OCD collectors, shrink the size:

On the other hand, maybe the decision to stick with a mostly uniform design is actually a plus for the OCD crowd.

As for the inside of the box, the cereal contained within is a knock-off brand of Lucky Charms.  I'm not really sure what the connection between "Zorilla" and Lucky Charms is... maybe it was the only kind of cereal lying around the warehouse at the time? At any rate, any cereal with marshmallows is almost certainly a winner, so I'll let this one slide.

Moving on, we've covered the front of and the inside of the box - what do we have on the back?  Any kid will tell you that the rear panel is the most interesting panel of a cereal box.

Any self-respecting cereal has a puzzle, word scramble, story, coloring panel, etc. on the back to keep the attention of toasted oat-spooning children (eyes on the box means eyes on the brand, y'know). This brand is no exception, as the minds behind this Cubs promotional item made sure to include an engaging maze for Windy City kids to work through while they consume their Lucky Char.... I mean "Zorilla Crunch."

Apparently, BenZo needs your help to hit another home run and win the game.  For god's sake people, get to work!  The Cubs have been hovering around .500 all season and need every win they can get to keep pace with the surprising Brewers... even if it's a fictional, maze game on the back of the cereal.  EVERY game counts! (BTW, the answer will be included at the end of this post, if you're a Brew Crew fan or would otherwise not be inclined to help out)

As I've mentioned in both of my posts about "RizzO's" and my musing on "Grandpa Rossy Flakes" (which really should have been knock-off raisin bran, if you think about it) what these specially-branded boxes of cereal are missing is the inclusion of an oddball baseball card - the artwork just screams for the unlicensed baseball card treatment.  C'mon - a set of these just NEEDS to be produced, right?

Unfortunately, the closest we come to such a glorious thing on or in any of these boxes is the Ben Zobrist bio found on one of the side panels, where you get some of the now-injured veteran's vitals, plus career highlights and achievements.  Personally, I always forget that Zobrist is a back-to-back World Series champ; surely his brief stint on the Royals will go down in the annals of short-term stop history.

Plus, there's also Ben's Twitter handle, in case you have your smart phone out at the breakfast table (if so, rude) and the solution to the maze we covered on the back panel.  However, I've taken the liberty of blurring it out here - no spoilers!

On the opposite side of the vitals, we have  nutrition facts, as required by the Food and Drug Administration.  Just underneath that and the ingredient list, we have the markings of Jewel-Osco and PLB Sports, the distributor for the full line of 2016 Championship Edition cereals.  In addition, the Pennsylvania-based, food marketing company is behind an assortment of other athlete-branded and endorsed lines of food throughout the country.  Their resume includes work with not only Major League Baseball, but also the NFL, NBA, and NHL, as well.

On that latter note...

PLB and Jewel got me to bite (figuratively and literally) on yet another box of cereal, this past winter; though, Keith Krunch clearly did not turn out to be "the breakfast of champions" for the Blackhawks.

As you can plainly see, the Chicago sports, food-based memorabilia market has exploded in the last year plus.  Accordingly, so too has my knick-knack display area, which is the top of my ancient dresser:

Sharing real estate with my new Rizzo Wrap, Zorilla Crunch and all of the rest of my branded cereal boxes are my autographed baseball collection, a brick from the original Wrigley Field bleachers a few NASCAR die-casts, and a pair of stuffed bears.  I'm sure all of these items will appear at some point on the blog in the future for further explanation and dissection; but, for now, they're too busy battling for coveted space.

Speaking of which, sadly, I had to boot my box of "Slammin' Sammy's Frosted Flakes" until I can get a shelf set up in my new office/hobby hidy hole.  Seeing as the wife and I just moved about a week ago, I've got a long way to go in the unpacking and setting up process before that becomes a priority.

On that note, I was hoping to get a nice chunk of that done today, while the wife is at work and I'm enjoying my summer hours, which include Mondays off (yay for working for a school district).  In order to do so, I'm going to need my energy, so I better make sure that I start my day off right with a proper breakfast.  I think I know just the thing:

And, come lunch time, I know I'm set for refueling, because I made sure to "Rizzo Wrap" my pizza leftovers from last night:

See?  This stuff isn't just fun, it's functional too!  Thank you to the Chicago Cubs, Jewel-Osco, PLB Sports, The Anthony Rizzo Foundation, Anthony Rizzo himself, Reynolds Wrap, and Ben Zobrist for helping me figure out two of my three meals on this fine summer day.

For now though, I hope this is the end of this retail exclusive, food-based, Chicago sports collectible explosion.  Don't get me wrong, it gives me great pleasure to sit back and admire my Rizzo, Rossy, Zobrist, and Keith boxes, as part of my suddenly exploding food tie-in collection. However, storage and display space are becoming an issue... they take up a little more space than the 2.5" x 3.5" cardboard rectangles that I normally focus on.  Heck, poor ol' Sammy already got booted due to lack of space and I don't think my wife would be too happy if I started replacing the family photos with another round of cereal boxes.

At any rate, it's time to "Rizzo Wrap" this post up.  Before I go, I have to ask, does anyone else out there on the blogosphere collect these sort of non-card oddities?  Wheaties boxes have a notably strong market, that's for sure; but has your team ever put out anything like "Rizzo Wrap" or these custom-branded cereals?  If so, do you see them as a fun distraction or an annoyance?  Do you actually acquire them or do you just admire them from afar?  Please feel free to leave your answers to in the comments section below.  Oh and speaking of answers, allow me to reveal the answer to the maze found on the back of the "Zorilla Crunch" box.  I think BenZo deviated from the base paths, just a tad bit; so, I don't think the run is going to count.  Thanks for playing though!

Eating Cereal with a Star

Almost since the night that the Cubs ended the longest championship drought in professional sports and David Ross hung up his catcher's gear for good last November, the charismatic backstop has been on an almost non-stop, farewell victory lap.  Since David Ross became the oldest player to hit a home run in World Series play and that final out was recorded against the Cleveland Indians, "Grandpa Rossy" has been hired as a special assistant to Cubs GM, Theo Epstein, embarked on a broadcasting career with the "World Wide Leader in Sports," ESPN, has appeared on famed television talk-shows, like Ellen DeGeneres, sung the stretch and tossed out the first pitch at Wrigley, and written an autobiographical book about his time on the diamond, among other endeavors in the public limelight.

However, the stop on Rossy's retirement tour that has, no doubt, generated the most interest among baseball fans and television viewers is his unexpectedly long tenure on ABC's juggernaut reality show, Dancing with the Stars:

"G-pa" has been a major ratings generator for the show, even getting me to pay attention to the silly show for the first time in it's twenty-four seasons of existence.

Admittedly, I fully expected the aged catcher to be among the first of the B-list candidates to be voted off of the long-running contest.  After all, signal-caller knees aren't famous for being limber and David's have taken nearly 6,000 innings worth of abuse - they do call him "Grampa" for a reason.  Nevertheless, much like the Cubs being the perennial underdogs, "Gramps" danced his way all the way to the finals of the program, besting even an Olympic gymnast in Simone Biles.  There's simply no doubting that, in the immortal words of Jacobin Mugatu, Rossy "is so hot right now."

With that being the case, perhaps it shouldn't come as a surprise that the most popular backup catcher in the lengthy history of Chicago baseball now has his very own line of breakfast cereal.  First, Sammy Sosa started the tradition of Windy City baseball-themed cereal with his "Slammin' Sammy's Frosted Flakes" waaaaayyyyyy back in 1999.  Then, Anthony Rizzo muscled his way onto breakfast tables across the state of Illinois with his own "RizzO's" toasted oats, a touch over one year ago, with a revival of the brand coming just recently hitting Jewel-Osco shelves.

Now, striking while the iron is hot, we get "Grandpa Rossy Crunch," as part of a properly balanced breakfast:

Next to the RizzO's at your local, Chicagoland Jewel, you can now find the second of the "2016 Championship Edition" line of breakfast cereals.  Gracing the front of the box, we have a cartoon-ified version of the cult hero cracking his now-famous World Series long ball, superimposed over the capacity-filled Wrigley Field bleachers, with ivy and bunting abound.  The real thing might have occurred in Cleveland's Progressive Field, but I think we can all agree that the Friendly Confines make for a better setting.  The pennant-frame for the cereal name is also a nice, subtle touch.

Of course, like Anthony Rizzo's contribution to the Second City fans' diet, the day-starter is not actually licensed by Major League Baseball and thus requires the removal of all Cubs markings by airbrushing and Photoshopping.  That said, while the misplaced uniform number and blue "R" hat are rather noticeable, I wouldn't say that they detract too much from the artwork which graces the front of the box.

What about the back?

The entire back panel is used for what is basically an advertisement for the ol' catcher's aforementioned memoir, Teammate.  As a die-hard Cubs fan, this particular book obviously catches my interest, as anything with the logo of the Chicago National League Ballclub will do.  That said, I hear that there is plenty of information within these pages which will appeal to the general baseball fan, including how Rossy successfully made the transition from clubhouse problem to exceptional teammate, his character growth and rise to notoriety in Boston, and how a drunk-dialed phone call from Jon Lester helped convince him to sign on the dotted line with the Cubbies.

If any of that "catches" your fancy, the back panel would like to make it clear that you can pick up a copy this May (*checks calendar* that's now!).  Furthermore, you can also visit the official website for the piece of literary gold for a chance to win some Cubs tickets or an exclusive, autographed baseball cap from the man himself.

As I've mentioned in both of my posts about RizzO's, what these specially-branded boxes of cereal are missing is the inclusion of an oddball baseball card - the artwork just screams for the unlicensed baseball card treatment.  Unfortunately, the closest we come to such a thing on any of these boxes is the David Ross bio found on one of the side panels of Grandpa Rossy Crunch, where you get some of the veteran's vitals, plus career highlights and achievements.  Also - his Twitter handle, because we live in a social media-obsessed world.

It's still not a card, though.

On the opposite side, we have the nutrition facts, as required by the Food and Drug Administration.  Along with that, we have the markings of Jewel-Osco - the sole stocker of the new breakfast staple - and PLB Sports, the distributor for RizzO's, Grandpa Rossy Crunch, the full line of 2016 Championship Edition cereals (more on that in a minute), and many other athlete-branded lines of food throughout the country.

Because I can, allow me to present to you my full collection of Chicago Cubs breakfast cereal boxes, in all of their Northside glory.  In seeing all of these gems together and in one place, I've now noticed that, apparently, Cubs fans are only allowed to eat off-brand Frosted Flakes and Cheerios - who knew?

The collection that you see above is already guaranteed to expand by at least one before the year 2017 has expired.  You might be asking yourself. how can I be so sure?  Well, all it takes is one, quick visit to the official website for PLB Sports:

Looks like the World Series MVP will be joining his championship teammates, getting a spot in the most important meal of the day.  As of now, Zobs appears to be the last in the line of 2016 Championship Edition cereals.  I can't help but wonder what kind of cereal "Zorilla Crunch" will "ape."  Didn't Cocoa Krispies used to have a monkey as a mascot?

For now though, I'll just have to sit back and admire my Sosa, Rizzo, and now Grandpa Ross boxes, as part of my suddenly blossoming cereal box collection.  Heaven forbid someone like Kris Bryant or Jake Arrieta appear on a Wheaties box or something... forget family photos and the dog's ashes - I need shelf space!!!

I feel as though I should also mention that this is not Ross' only connection to the breakfast cereal industry either.  You see, he also has an endorsement deal with Kellogg's Raisin Bran; I guess his contract doesn't preclude from also throwing his face on another brand of cereal.  Furthermore, he sure does appear to like those flaky cereals, doesn't he?

In the end, you might say that he's attempting to "milk" the cereal market for all that it's worth!

Great day in Chicago, chilling with @kelloggsus & Team Sunny and brightening commuters' day...Check it out! #SimplePleasures #ad

A post shared by David Ross (@grandparossy_3) on Mar 3, 2017 at 7:44am PST

That David Ross... he's so hot right now.

Hungry for a Championship

Ever since Tom Ricketts and his family loosened their purse strings and spent gobs of money to purchase their beloved baseball team, way back in 2010, ownership has been hungry for a World Series Championship.  Ever since these new, financially-inclined owners went out and got their man, Theo Epstein, to lead the franchise in 2012, he and his front office cohorts have been hungry for a World Series Championship.  Ever since this new Theocracy went out and began their lengthy rebuild by acquiring long-favored prospect Anthony Rizzo via trade, the players on the roster have been hungry for a World Series Championship.  After 108 years of historic and oftentimes laughable futility, there's no doubt that generations of Chicago Cubs fans were absolutely STARVING for a World Series Championship.

What do you do when you're hungry?  You eat, duh, and that's just what the 2016 Chicago Cubs did - they feasted on the rest of the National League and, then, the Cleveland Indians on their way to that World Series Championship.

Now that this hunger has been temporarily satiated, it's still important that you don't forget to eat some actual food, as well; you can't live off that excitement forever.  Thankfully, in the same way that Anthony Rizzo helped  to satisfy the hunger of a title-starved fan-base, Mr. Rizzo is now helping those same die-hards start off their day with a balanced breakfast in their belly.

That's right, Cubs fans - RizzO's are back... and, like Madonna or David Bowie, with a whole new look:

Last year, the popular Cubs first baseman and his Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation partnered with Chicago-area grocer, Jewel-Osco, and distributor, PLB Sports, to raise money and awareness for cancer research by branding a line of breakfast cereal in Anthony's name.  Given that his last name ends with such a pronounced vowel, it's no surprise that the powers that be went with their own version of Honey Nut Cheerios - they are shaped like "O's" and all.

This cereal was a big-seller throughout the course of the 2016 season and became something of a local sensation.  Thus, the cereal is back again for 2017, this time with a key update.  This year's version of the product is therefore labeled as the 2016 Championship Edition.  You might say that these RizzO's are more like little World Series rings.

With me being the incessant collector that I am, having already picked up the previous edition of the Cubs-tinged breakfast cereal, I couldn't help but to pick up another box of my own in order to complete the run, of course.  So, one night, after work, my wife and I hopped into the car for the expressed purpose of picking up a box... and some odds n' ends on our grocery list, but that wasn't where my focus lied.

As you can see from the previous two photographs, Jewel was more than prepared for crazy Cubs fan turnout and this player-licensed breakfast cereal was well-stocked in multiple locations throughout the store.  Although, having already been out for a week or so and with it already being marked with clearance prices, I have to wonder, will the 2017 edition of RizzO's be nearly as well-received as it's predecessor?  Has the gag already run it's course?

At any rate, I had my new collector's box of knock-off Cheerios (and bananas, apples, and mixed nuts) and I was a happy camper.

Here's a closer look at the front of the updated box.  Instead of featuring an image of Rizzo at the plate after a majestic, home run stroke, we see Anthony with his arms in the air, in a state of pure jubilation, immediately after catching the final out of the 2016 World Series. While the real deal happened in the birthplace of rock & roll, here the cartoon-ified Rizzo is placed on a background which features the capacity-filled Wrigley Field bleachers, with ivy and bunting abound.  Of course, like last year's version, the key part of a balanced breakfast is not licensed by Major League Baseball and thus required the removal of all Cubs markings by airbrush and Photoshopping.

I said this last year and I'll say it again now, it's a shame that the people behind this promotion didn't also include a trading card inside of their cereal, in the mold of the old Kellogg's or Post promos.  I would love to own this same artwork, in 2.5" by 3.5" cardboard form for my binders.

C'est la vie.

On the backside, there's a bare-bones advertisement for purchasing the Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation's latest t-shirt, manufactured in partnership with the 108 Stitches company, the same company behind former Cubs reliever, Jason Motte's, "K Cancer" t-shirts.  There's not much to this particular top, but the blending of the "z's" in Rizzo with his uniform number of 44 is pretty neat.  Plus, the proceeds go to an excellent charity.

Speaking of which, if you have any questions about what the Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation is and what exactly it is they do, all you have to do is visit the side panel of the cereal box:

Here we get a nice rundown of the foundation's stated goals and their background, if you were curious.  If you didn't already know, when Anthony Rizzo was still a prospect in the Red Sox system,  he was diagnosed with limited state classical Hodgkin's lymphoma in April 2008 and underwent six months of chemotherapy.  Ever since he got the news that his cancer was in remission, Rizz has been trying to give back and use his status to assist with those afflicted with the dreadful disease.

Opposite of that, on the other side of the box, we have the nutrition facts, as required by the Food & Drug Administration.

With that, we've covered each and every panel of the 2016 Championship Edition of RizzO's.

Here's a side-by-side of the two editions, so that you can compare and contrast and/or admire my blossoming cereal box collection.  In addition to these two promotions, I also have a box of Blackhawks' defenceman, Duncan Keith's "Keith Krunch" from last winter, as well as an old box of Slammin' Sammy's Frosted Flakes, released in the aftermath of the great home run race.  As cool as these goofy, little promotions are, I'm running out of space on my mantle and if, heaven forbid, a Cub should appear on a box of Wheaties anytime soon, I don't know what I'm going to do with these things.

Sidenote - seriously, a Cub has never, ever appeared on the front of a box of Wheaties.  Not Sammy Sosa, not Ryne Sandberg, not Ernie Banks... what gives?

Well, that's a lie, I know exactly what I'm going to do.  I'm going to run to the store, buy a box, pour myself a big bowl of whatever and make space somewhere for the latest cereal box edition to my miscellaneous sports memorabilia collection.  I may no longer be starved for a World Series Championship (though I wouldn't mind another), but I still need something to put on the breakfast table.

Breakfast - it's the most important meal of the day, serving it up Rizz's way.

-----------------------------------------------------*UPDATE*------------------------------------------------------

After perusing the official website for PBL Sports, I've discovered that my dilemma will be coming to fruition much sooner than I anticipated. Apparently, Anthony Rizzo is not going to be the only member of the cure-busting, 2016 World Series Champions to get his own brand of cereal, this year:

Looks like the World Series MVP will be getting the balanced breakfast treatment as well, which seems only fair. I wonder what kind of cereal "Zorilla Crunch" will "ape."

But, even that's not all:

Allegedly, this is already even on the market! How did I miss this?

Seeing as "Grampa Rossy" was one of the most popular personalities on the club and continues to shine in the public eye through Dancing with the Stars, this also seems like a natural selection. Guess I have to add "Grandpa Rossy Crunch" to the shopping list, as well.

My wife is going to be SO thrilled.

Keith Krunch

PHEW!

The Cubs live again to fight another day.  Thank goodness the Cubs were finally able to scratch up a little bit of offense last night and Aroldis Chapman was able to channel his inner Goose Gossage with an eight-out save.  With a travel day, this Cubs fan can catch his breath a little bit today before Game Six kicks off tomorrow.  Even though Josh Tomlin blanked the Cubs last time around, I like our chances with Arrieta on the mound.

These are nerve-wracking times.

I must admit, I wasn't feeling nearly as optimistic when the day began yesterday.  Pessimism has always been one of my finer qualities.  However, I did feel a little bit better after taking in a hardy breakfast - it is the most important meal of the day, after all.

The Cubs are playing later into the year than ever before, but that hasn't stopped the Blackhawks from trying to steal back a little bit of the spotlight.  You may remember that Anthony Rizzo had his own personally-licensed cereal this spring (RizzO's); well, those same folks are back again for winter with Duncan Keith and "Keith Krunch."  It makes a great part of the Chicago sports fan's balanced breakfast, as exemplified with my protein bar and some Advocare Spark (a vitamin-based energy supplement).

RizzO's were a rip-roaring hit, so why not try again with the team that had heretofore been the toast of the town?  Not to mention, it's for a good cause, as a sizable portion of the proceeds will be going to Duncan's off-ice charity - Keith Relief.

The Blackhawks' defenceman and alternate captain often gets lost in the spotlight shuffle behind names like Kane, Toews and Hossa; nevertheless, he's been a steady contributor to all three of the Stanley Cup Champion teams.  Thus, it's only appropriate that he should get his own breakfast cereal - a meal that is often forgotten, but critically important!

By the way, the cereal is just Frosted Flakes repackaged in a hockey-themed box.  If you eat too much of this sugary treat, you'll lost a tooth or two just like a real hockey player.

Traditionally, cereal boxes offer some sort of puzzle or game on the back panel of their box as entertaiment.  "Keith Krunch" is no different, as the back side of the souvenir packaging includes a rink-themed maze, allowing the literal consumer to assist the two-way defender in scoring a goal, in between spoonfuls.  Alongside, some fun facts about the longtime Blackhawk are offered, as well.

**SPOILER ALERT**  If you're dead-set on figuring out the maze by yourself, the next panel is going to ruin that experience for you.

On one side, we get the backstory on Keith Relief, so we breakfast patrons can know what our purchase went towards funding.  As you can read above, the cause is quite noble, helping young children and their families alleviate the financial and emotional burdens of medical crises.   Furthermore, there's that spoiler I was warning you about a minute ago.

On the opposite side, you get the nutrition information for Keith Krunch, as is mandated by the FDA.  I wouldn't exactly call this stuff health food.

So, there you have it - Keith Krunch is a real thing and is sitting on the shelves of your local Jewel right now (if you live near Chicago).  Like I said in my post about RizzO's, I sure would have liked to find an oddball trading card on one of these side-panels.  Oh well, it was still a pretty fun item to come across while grocery shopping.  This box will look quite nice perched on my TV stand, in between my RizzO's and my Slammin' Sammy's.

Please disregard my fiancee's rubber duck collection, which is also displayed prominently in said location.

Oh and speaking of sugary treats, happy Halloween!  I'll tell you what, there's nothing scarier to me than a Monday morning...

...well, except for the Cubs precarious World Series situation.  I don't know if my nerves can handle all this suspense!

A MAGnificent Garage Sale Day

When I was a kid, waking up on that special morning was always a joyous moment.  After sleeping very little due to my immense excitement, I would hop out of bed, check the weather outside my window and then enthusiastically wake up my parents before rushing downstairs in anticipation of a mountain of toys and fun-tastic finds.

Why am I talking about Christmas in the middle of May?  Well, I'm not - I'm talking about my village's annual "garage sale day," which has been my Christmas ever since I was a child.

Having been born a penny-pinching, scavenger and a natural collector ever since my first bucket of patterned super balls, the vast and seemingly endless array of garage sales, peddling all sorts of mysterious items, appealed to me on the deepest of levels.  Nothing has changed today; as an adult, I've planned work schedules, family functions and even vacations around this special day.

This past Saturday, my Christmas came.  

After a slow start, including one card guy who felt the need to tell me how old everything I picked up was and what a great deal the price was (being pushy will just push me away, sir), I was finally able to track down a garage with just the right stuff.

Held together with a rusty, ancient paper clip, was a set of Keith Magnuson oddball cards, which had seen better days, for the price of three bucks.  Included within that bind was this 1970 team-issued post card featuring a baby-faced photo of the Chicago sporting legend.

As you can see, it's got thumb-tack holes, some paper loss, wrinkles and, based on the backside, it looks as though it was affixed to the inside of a scrapbook at one time:

That said, these sorts of things don't pop up very often and, when they do, get a significant hometown fee.  My interest was certainly piqued, especially since Mr. Magnuson was not yet represented in my Blackhawks All-Time Roster Collection.

Like I said, there were multiple oddities of Keith found clipped together, including this seemingly homemade card:

This well-framed and joyous shot of the defenceman is printed on thick, cardstock-like photo paper with a matte finish.  Additionally, it's standard-sized with rounded corners; if Mother's Cookies made hockey cards, I think that this is what they'd look like.

However, I can find no information on this particular card and one can kind of see the faded markings of Kodak on the reverse; thus, I'm leaning towards a vintage custom.  Still pretty nifty, though.

On the other hand, there's no doubting who was behind this next card:

I have a feeling that this postcard-sized premium was issued by 7Up - the Uncola; it's just a hunch.

You see, Keith Magnuson had a long relationship with the soda brand as a spokesman and, after his playing career came to an end, as a Chicago-area salesman for the pop company.  Keith even played a strong role in getting the "uncola" served in the omnipotent restaurant chain that is McDonald's.

I guess that 7Up made it into Chicken Unlimited's doors as well, judging by the fact that his facsimile signature here also includes that fast-food chain's name.  Perhaps these were given away at those establishments?

The last card in the stack was very similar to the above premium, but with one key difference:

Well, okay, two key differences - no white white border and the facsimile signature is real... wait, what?

That's right, I was able to score an autographed card of the late, great Keith Magnuson for three bucks.  Of course, it's inscribed to some guy named Thomas, who apparently didn't take very good care of it either; nevertheless, this was an exceptionally pleasant surprise of a find.

**EDIT** As pointed out by Once a Cub, I should be blaming Theresa for the condition.  Damn my eyes!  Sorry Thomas.

Hot damn - that honestly might rank as my greatest Garage Sale Day find of all-time.  At the very least, it's now the cornerstone of my Hawks collection.

The seller must have been a collector, through and through, himself - seeing as he had wide-offerings of all sorts of memorabilia.  His tables were crammed with Disney stuff, die-cast cars, Beanie Babies and even cereal boxes - one of which was this bad boy:

Just a couple of weeks ago, in my post about RizzO's, I discussed how I wanted to track down a box of the only other Chicago Cub to have his own cereal, or even grace the front of a cereal box.  Seriously, not a single one has ever even appeared on a Wheaties box (to my knowledge).

I remember having a couple boxes of these for breakfast, back in the day; unfortunately, childhood Tony did not think ahead and save future Tony one of the boxes.  But, have no worries childhood Tony, your mistake has finally been rectified.

As you can see from the front, this was issued in 1999 in the wake of the epic home run race from the previous year.  Sadly, the "super-limited edition" card was no longer resting inside this now-empty cardboard shell.

In case you were curious, here's the back of "Slammin' Sammy's Frosted Flakes."  Do you think it's too late to send away for all of this (unlicensed) swag?  I really want to "slam it like Sammy!"

Anyway, this was something that I've been searching out for a long time.  Usually the price on these gets trumped up by cereal box collectors and vendors who see the name "Sammy Sosa;" courtesy of this awesome garage sale, I got it for a solitary green Washington.  Score!

Furthermore, I never would have found my "Mega Magnuson" find without Slammin' Sammy.  Knowing that I'd be looking for this box, my brother kindly pointed this sale site out to me when we ran into each other at the pushy guy's garage.  Woot!

From here, the rest of Garage Sale day was pretty much a dud - I didn't find a single thing before or after that really caught my eye.  That said, I'm quite satisfied with what I did track down - I mean, just look at how great these look together:

Sidenote - my fiancee collects rubber ducks and Buddha statuettes, as you can see above.

With that, I now have approximately 363 more days to prepare until that next magical Saturday morning, where I can wake up and catch the smell of superb deals and exploration wafting through the air... or is that must?  Well, I guess that's not EXACTLY true, since all of the neighboring communities now hold similar exhibitions and I plan on making the rounds through all of them.

I'm a fiend.

In conclusion, I'm just curious, what are some of your best garage sale finds?  If you found something better or more meaningful to you than my Magnuson oddballs and Sosa cereal box, please mention it in the comments - it'll give me inspiration for the next garage sale scavenger hunt.

I'm Super Cereal, Guys

They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day; so, why not start the day off right with a big ol' bowl of power and energy brought to you by RizzOs?

Part of a well-balanced breakfast for any self-respecting Cubs fan.

First baseman Anthony Rizzo has his own box of branded cereal, now being sold in Chicagoland area Jewel-Osco stores.  It's a way to promote his Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation and proceeds from the sales of his cereal go towards fighting cancer, a demon he's been lucky enough to slay.

When I found out this was a thing, I shamelessly ran out to the nearest grocer and bought myself a box... because I'm a man-child.  Accordingly, a Saturday morning seemed like the perfect setting to break it out; I can eat my big bowl of cereal plopped down in front of the TV with some Saturday morning cartoons.

While I do that, here's a closer look at the box itself - featuring a "cartoon" Rizz taking a powerful cut in what appears to be Wrigley Field, set against Cubbie blue pinstripes.  The artwork was created by Ron Kantronitz, who appears to have also done the artwork for Jerome Bettis HOF Crunch.  He likes his cereal art.

Also, if you look really closely, you'll see and "R" on his helmet instead of a Cubs "C."  Thus, apparently the franchise let him do this one alone.

The back details all the good work that the Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation does in the field of cancer research and lists the charities to which are benefiting from cereal purchases.

Here are the side panels, if you were that interested in my box of cereal.  On one side, we get Anthony's vital statistical information on the diamond and his resume of honors.  On the other side, of course, we find the vital nutritional information for the cereal, as required by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

As for the cereal itself, it's just a box of re-branded, generic Cheerios.  However, anyone who buys this isn't truly buying it for the cereal contained within - they're buying it for the super cool box and the charitable contributions.  The cereal is second banana here.

Furthermore, this isn't the first time that a Cub has had their own brand of cereal released in the Windy City either:

 I know that I had a box of these "Slammin' Sammy's" when I was a kid, released in the after glow of Sosa's 66 homer barrage in 1998.  Unfortunately, it got lost somewhere along the way and this scan lifted from Ebay will have to do.  Mine didn't come with the special, "limited" 1 of 1,000 baseball card either.  Harumph.

On that note, it's a shame that the RizzO's didn't come with it's own companion trading card as well; this would have been a good opportunity for a fun, unlicensed oddball.

Breakfast cereals and sports have a long relationship (eat your Wheaties, kids!) and as such, sports trading card have an almost equally long relationship with your main course at breakfast.  While Wheaties was putting sporting celebrities on the front of their boxes, they were also often including cut-out cards on the back too:

Borrowed from Mears Online Auctions

From there, the idea only continued to grow.  These little pictures of athletes were a good way to get young boys and girls to clamor for the cereal you were trying to shill.

Of course, Post is probably the most prolific of the breakfast giants to apply this concept, originally distributing them on the backs of their cereal boxes in the early 60's:

(1961)

(1962)

Of course, when the junk wax era exploded into the collecting landscape and branded trading card sets were produced by everyone from Woolworth's to Fruit of the Loom, Post revisited this idea:

                                  (1990)                                                                        (1991)

 (1992)

 (1994)

Then Major League Baseball and the MLB Player's Union saw the benefits and money that could be made from these little pictures of their membership and exclusive licenses became a thing, bursting the junk wax bubble and the oddball trading card market.

That said, Post did try one more time in 2002, creating a special set with Topps that was inserted into their products.  However, it was didn't reach anywhere near the success of their previous ventures.

However, while Post might have been the earliest adopter and produced a bunch of sets across multiple decades, the baseball cards put out by Kelloggs in the 70's and 80's might still be the most famous of the cereal issues:

                                           (1979)                                                        (1980)

(1981)

                                                                        (1991)

The whole 3D gimmick really allowed Kellogg's cards to stand out from the Topps products of the time and created a product that is still highly desirable and sought out today.  After all, what one of us collectors doesn't get giddy about finding a Kellogg's card in a trade package?

Of course, there have been plenty of other cereal brands that have also had trading cards as part of their marketing scheme over the years; however, the only other such branding represented in my collection is through Quaker Oats' popular Cap'n Crunch brand:

This was another partnership with the iconic baseball card manufacturer, with cards being inserted into boxes of the cereal most known for tearing up the roof of your mouth (but tasting so very good while doing so).  The year was 1989 and it must not have been deemed a success because it never returned.

So, there you have it - we started out with a box of novelty/charity branded cereal and ended up with a full rundown of all of the cereal-issued cards in my baseball card collection.  What a wild ride this "Post" has been!  *rimshot*

I know I miss the days of finding baseball cards in my boxes of cereal (in fact, my first baseball card ever was a 1994 Post Mark Whitten).  Perhaps if Topps' first foray into food-issue cards in many moons (the Marketside Pizza release) is a success, the floodgates might open and I'll be able to add cards to my collection and Frosted Flakes to my stomach at the same time.

In the meantime, I'll just drown my sorrows with a second... ok, third.... helping of RizzOs (I love breakfast cereal) and hope.

Cereal cards are a good idea - how come no one at Topps will listen to me?  I'm super cereal!