Tuesday, August 24, 2010

1963 Post Cereal Baseball Mini Pennant Stickers

Today's post covers a sticker set that may have been released by Post Cereal in the early 1960's, but I have not been able to confirm since I haven't found much information about the set other than one auction listing.

Here is a look at the pennants from the set that I have been able to find:


As you can see I've got the Orioles pennant in a top loader, so this should give an idea as to the size of these pennants.









Most of the pennants use the team's official logo, but in some cases the logos are a bit different, as is the case with the Dodgers pennant:





Here is an interesting variation of the Mets logo without the word Mets


and a similar situation with the Yankees logo:






The Giants also have a logo variation without the name Giants on the baseball logo:



In addition to the teams, there were pennants for the leagues as well:


I haven't been able to find an American League pennant yet.

Since we have the expansion teams from 1962 and the Braves pennant indicates they were in Milwaukee, that narrows the dates that these could have been issued to between 1962 to 1965, since the Braves moved to Atlanta for the 1966 season.

I have been able to locate (or at least find pictures of) 19 of the 20 teams that were in the league from 1962 - 1965 with one exception - Houston. I'm not sure if there is a pennant for the Houston team, and if so, whether it is the Colt 45s or the Astros since I'm not 100% sure of the year(s) these were issued. Perhaps this is yet another Astros oddity where they were left out of a set, or maybe I just haven't come across one yet (as I haven't found the AL pennant either).

The backs of the pennants have instructions on how to attach the stickers, and indicate that they can be reused.


Unfortunately, there is no information on the back regarding the year they were made or who issued them, which is why they remain somewhat of a mystery. If these had been a Post Cereal promotion, I would think that they would have included their name on the back, which is why I'm a bit uncertain whether or not these were truly issued by Post Cereal.

I mentioned that I have seen these listed as being from 1963 and issued by Post Cereal. Here is the only place I've seen these identified as such:

This was a listing in an Auctions Collect.com auction catalog from 2009:

Unfortunately I haven't been able to find a Post Cereal box or ad mentioning these pennants. This example of a Post Cereal box with the 1963 Post Cereal cards does not mention any promotion where pennants could be found in cereal boxes nor is there any type of mail in offer:

Perhaps the pennants were a different promotion and not tied into the card promotion and were included on different boxes, but at this point given there is nothing on the pennant mentioning Post, and the 1963 cereal box example doesn't mention them even though the box includes baseball cards, I'm going to say that they "may" have been issued by Post, but so far we don't have much in terms of confirmation.

UPDATE: 2/2012

Thanks to Greg, we now have confirmation that these were in fact available in boxes of Post Cereal in 1963:


The front of this box of Post Rice Krinkles indicates there is a miniature Major League pennant inside the box, and the back shows the Red Sox pennant along with 4 cards:


The box indicates there are 19 team pennants, which confirms that there was no pennant made for the Houston Colt .45s. In fact the box even says "Except Houston" right under the information about the stickers and just above Tom Cheney's card. For some reason, it looks like the National League pennant was issued in its place (which brings the set to 20 pennants). That would explain why there appears to be no corresponding AL pennant.

The Post Cereal cards have stats from the 1962 season, so this confirms that this would have been a 1963 release.

I'd like to say thanks to Greg for this fantastic find! This box answers all of the questions I had not been able to previously answer.

7 comments:

bill said...

Hello, my name is bill. I have a complete set of these mini pennants, and have not peeled off the back paper. I believe they are in mint condition. please e-mail me at jbillyjo@aol.com

Susan said...

I have a complete set of the National League stickers. They are in awesome condition and still in the envelope. The return address is Baseball Pennants, Box 5008, St. Paul 4, Minnesota. Nothing indicates that it was a Post cereal promotion.

Anonymous said...

Like Susan, I have the original envelope that my stickers came in. I do not, however, have the Braves sticker. I have the NL sticker but also have not see an AL one. I have 10 AL teams and 7 NL teams (no Braves)

Greg said...

This may help. I am attaching a link to a picture of the front and back of a Post cereal box from 1963 that shows a drawing of the Red Sox pennant that seems to match the one displayed in the article. Maybe there was a mail in offer on the side panel of the cereal box?

http://www.legendaryauctions.com/LotDetail.aspx?lotid=119447&searchby=1&searchvalue=box&page=0&sortby=0&displayby=2&lotsperpage=100&category=1&seo=1963-Post-Cereal-Uncut-Box-Back-Panels-Collection-(4-Different)-Including-Complete-Box!

Greg

Greg said...

This may help. I am attaching a link to a picture of the front and back of a Post cereal box from 1963 that shows a drawing of the Red Sox pennant that seems to match the one displayed in the article. Maybe there was a mail in offer on the side panel of the cereal box?

http://www.legendaryauctions.com/LotDetail.aspx?lotid=119447&searchby=1&searchvalue=box&page=0&sortby=0&displayby=2&lotsperpage=100&category=1&seo=1963-Post-Cereal-Uncut-Box-Back-Panels-Collection-(4-Different)-Including-Complete-Box!

Greg

Greg said...

Hi Again~~

Found this link...sorry, can't figure out how to attach a picture....shows the entire set with a description.

http://www.legendaryauctions.com/LotDetail.aspx?lotid=119448&searchby=1&searchvalue=box&&auctionid=73&page=0&sortby=0&displayby=2&lotsperpage=100&category=1

Greg

Fleerfan said...

Greg,

Thanks for this excellent discovery! I've been searching for some kind of proof that these were issued by Post Cereal, but had not been able to find anything until your link to the auction with the Post Cereal boxes.

Thank you so much for sending the information. I will update the blog with the pictures you've found!