Getting cereal for Christmas — without any of the calories

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Topps made it easy to enjoy a box of cereal whenever you wanted when it
released these pint-sized boxes to big box retailers in 1996. These boxes were
created for 1996 Topps Series 1 and 2, and Stadium Club. I received a 1996 Stadium Club Cereal Box set for Christmas. Since, I am working on the 2015 manifestation,
the hubby thought it would be fun to look back an early release.
The 1996 Stadium Club cereal boxes were different in a
few ways from the hobby version. First, each box came with 113 cards and a
random Mickey Mantle Retrospective card. There were no other inserts included.
Second, the cards had silver foil compared to gold found in hobby boxes.
This was the first – and seemingly only – time Stadium
Club was distributed this way. I don’t know how many of the cereal boxes were
made, but the silver foil cards seem to be a little more difficult to find
nowadays.

1996 Stadium Club “Mickey Mantle Cereal” Derek Jeter #123
The PSA pop report shows a breakdown of how often Derek Jeter #123 was graded, which was the one player graded most often from the 1996
Stadium Club set.
Regular hobby: 57
Mickey Mantle Cereal Box: 18
Jeter had another card in the set, #260, but the grading
on these is even.
Regular hobby: 18
Mickey Mantle Cereal Box: 18
In total, PSA has graded 116 cards from the Mickey Mantle
Cereal Box set – about 20 percent of all the 1996 Stadium Club base cards it
has graded.
To compare it to Beckett, it has only graded 20 regular Jeter
(card #123) Stadium Club cards compared to two of the silver foil cards.

1996 Stadium Club Derek Jeter #123
PSA 10 version of the silver Jeter cards, of which there
are just six, sell for a good penny. Two recently finished auctions ended at
$287 and $114, respectively. The one I pulled from my Christmas Day cereal box looks
to be in good condition – almost good enough to make a girl want to grade a
card.

2010 Topps Legends Gold Chrome Target Cereal
Cereal boxes were short-lived. However, Topps did bring
the format back in 2009 and 2010 for Target and Wal-Mart. Collectors would get
55 cards for $9.99, including with one exclusive chrome refractor for $9.99,
and the checklist for the chrome cards included players such as Babe Ruth, Lou
Gehrig, Roger Maris and others. There was also a Jeter on this checklist – a card
I do not have. There were Platinum (WalMart) and Gold (Target) versions.

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7 thoughts on “Getting cereal for Christmas — without any of the calories

  1. Hubby? You mean all these years of sexy box breaks, you been married?
    Anyhoo, have a bunch of the later cereal cards.
    010 Topps Legends Gold Chrome Target Cereal #GC1 Babe Ruth
    gwynn_fanX
    2010 Topps Legends Gold Chrome Target Cereal #GC2 Honus Wagner
    gwynn_fanX
    2010 Topps Legends Gold Chrome Target Cereal #GC4 Nolan Ryan
    gwynn_fanX
    2010 Topps Legends Gold Chrome Target Cereal #GC8 George Sisler
    gwynn_fanX
    2010 Topps Legends Gold Chrome Target Cereal #GC9 Roger Maris
    gwynn_fanX
    2010 Topps Legends Gold Chrome Target Cereal #GC10 Lou Gehrig
    gwynn_fanX
    2010 Topps Legends Gold Chrome Target Cereal #GC18 Jimmie Foxx
    gwynn_fanX
    2010 Topps Legends Gold Chrome Target Cereal #GC19 Babe Ruth
    gwynn_fanX
    2010 Topps Legends Gold Chrome Target Cereal #GC20 Honus Wagner
    gwynn_fanX
    2010 Topps Legends Platinum Chrome Wal Mart Cereal #PC1 Mickey Mantle
    gwynn_fanX

    As for Derek, I have these on my beckett site. (You do remember beckett, right? Though when I reupped my bb price guide, I got routed to India.)
    http://www.beckett.com/organize#c=0&s=jeter

    lmk Bob

  2. Suzy , Just got turned on to your Blog from my business partner and close friend , a mutual friend of yours , Carlo . You and I met once at the Baltimore National as we rifled through some 3200 count Jeter boxes . As they say in life , " timing is everything " and as I read your last couple of posts , Carlo and I might some cards fro you if you are interested . We just sent another order to PSA that included 5 of the Walmart and Target cereal box refractors you were referring to and even better than that we sent in two 1997 Stadium Club Instavision " SAMPLE " cards . One of those would be real nice paired up with your recently acquired Members Only version . You know how to get in touch with Carlo or get him through the guys at the baseball card shop . As far as your want list goes , I have 14,000 plus Jeter cards scattered throughout the house , so you need to be a little more specific ! Good Luck with the Blog and your collection . John ( stressreelief , #2 Jeter Master PSA Registry )

  3. I think the 2009 chrome refractors are sweet looking cards. I have a few. Maybe I need to add another 2015 collecting goal. I thought collecting goals were supposed to narrow down your collecting. Not working.

  4. Hey John, I remember meeting you at the National. I bought a ton of cards from Carlo. I see him at the White Plains too sometimes. I have his number somewhere. You have more Jeter cards scattered than I do in my collection. My plan for 2015 is to finally make a want list. That might take awhile. 🙂

  5. I tried cataloguing them once with carlo in excel about two years ago . we got to 7500 cards and quit . It is an almost impossible task . I've learned to focus on groups . The two I am trying to complete now are the 98 tek run which I am two cards short and the 2005 throwback threads polo grounds cards which I am missing about 12 of the 46 variations . I believe at last count , the overall Jeter checklist was at 14,500 different cards produced and that was about 6 months ago . To get to the point of having even half of that checklist would be an amazing accomplishment . You're younger than I am so I figure you have a better shot ! My mad money lately has also found a liking for Odell Beckham . Thinking of starting a second registry which also has me thinking of getting a second job ! Just a horrible disease we all have. later , John

    1. I thought I about getting some Odell Beckham Jr. cards, but now I look at the prices and shy away. I think I will stay focused on getting Jeter cards. … Your collection is insane.

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