|
|
|
|
The 7-Eleven Plastic Major League Baseball Cups from 1972 and 1973: An Accurate Cupography at LastThis article first appeared in CGN #60 June/July 2000
After wondering for a long time when these 7-Eleven cups came out and how many there were in the "set" (I didn't know that there were two sets), I luckily chanced upon Mark K. Larson's Complete Guide to Baseball Memorabilia, Krause Publications, 1996. In this book (pages 458-460), I found complete listings for these undated sets. Believe me: I couldn't have pieced this information together without him, even though I had accumulated quite a few of the cups. It's nice to know how many there are out there that you just have to have! What follows is an excerpt from a book Mark and I are planning to do on sports drinkware, so if it doesn't sound like me, it's because it's going to go in our book. I'm pretty sure the information is accurate. I'm not too sure about values. I do know that these cups are getting difficult to find, especially in nice condition. The big name players cost more everywhere you go. Flea market vendors aren't totally stupid. Condition is all. Pay for what you want to end up with. I've always thought that these cups were pretty neat. The complete sets are certainly challenging, but my feeling is that they can with enough perseverence and currency be completed. If you finish the sets, you'll have something not many other collectors have--if that's important to you. I collect these things for my son who some day may find them interesting; I don't expect to make any money on them. I also don't expect to pay more than $5 to $10 for any of these cups, though Larson prices some of them at $50 or more. If you like 70s vintage stuff, baseball, and plastic, these cups might be just the thing for you! 7-Eleven [1972] Major League Baseball Players There are 60 cups in this undated set of Major League baseball players. Each cup features a lifelike colored sketch of the player above his name and team name. A brief biography of the player, the team logo, and the 7-Eleven logo appear on the reverse. The player's name and name of his team appear flush left with the biography between the biography and the 7-Eleven logo. This flush left alignment of text is an identifier for this 1972 series. Incidentally, the player's name and team name are also much larger on the 1972 cups than on the 1973 cups. Eighteen Hall of Fame players appear in this set, and twenty-one players from this set can be found in the 1973 set of cups. Of these twenty-one players, seven players got newly designed images (Dick Allen, Lou Brock, Cesar Cedeno, Ralph Garr, Willie Mays, Vada Pinson and Tom Seaver); the other fourteen were unchanged. The value of the cups varies according to the player's fame and the cup's condition. Prices range from $5 for "common" players to $35-$50 for the really big names (Roberto Clemente, Hank Aaron, Brooks Robinson, Carl Yastrzemski, Tom Seaver, Willie Stargell). These cups are getting difficult to find, so supply and demand become effective determiners of value. We show the following 1972 cups: Steve Blass, Pitcher,
Pittsburgh Pirates A complete listing of the 1972 cups: Hank Aaron 7-Eleven [1973] Major League Baseball Players This set consists of eighty undated cups, twenty of which are old-time Hall of Fame players which share the overall style and format of the rest of the set but are done mostly in gold and brown colors with a halo of black stars surrounding the player's head. On the reverse, the player's name and team name appear centered (not flush left) above the player's biography. The 7-Eleven logo appears at the top, and the player's team logo appears at the bottom of all but the Hall of Fame cups. As with the 1972 cups, player fame, condition, and supply and demand considerations tend to determine value. Prices range from $4 for more "common" players to a high of $50 or $55 for others. We show the following 1973 cups: Rich Allen, Outfield,
Chicago White Sox A complete listing of the 1973 series of cups (7-Eleven Hall of Famers indicated by an asterisk *): Hank Aaron By Mike Kelly |
|
This site was last updated 02/20/10