1987 Kraft Samples
Mike Fried wrote and explained how he learned about the Kraft samples:
I was lucky enough to have the Kraft rep responsible for them come to my table at a card show and offer me a set. Like the couple of dealers he showed them to when he walked in the door with his son, I thought they were just cards cut off boxes. But I had a moment and he told me the paper they were printed on was different than that used to print the boxes.
He said they'd been made for him to give to store managers to keep them interested in Kraft's baseball card promotion. He didn't give them out because the boxes sold themselves. His manager told him to throw them away, but he kept some for himself. I ended up getting the dozen or so sets he had (his son wanted rookie cards).
Since then, only two other sets have turned up. They came from the estate of a guy who worked in MLB's licensing department and had approved the Kraft baseball promotion. The only thing else is one folded uncut sheet picturing one complete set. It was sold on eBay about 15 years. The sheet was great to see as it proved what
the Kraft rep told me about them being a special printing different than the food boxes.
Along with using white stock instead of gray stock, another difference is the layout of the cards on the sheet. In the picture below you can see the standard layout for the Mac and Cheese boxes, with a space in between each card so each card has it's own dotted cut line on each side. On the factory sheet, the cards are laid out in pairs with a shared dotted cut line. So when these are cut down to singles correctly, each card cannot have the dotted cut line around all fours sides.
Mike Fried wrote and explained how he learned about the Kraft samples:
I was lucky enough to have the Kraft rep responsible for them come to my table at a card show and offer me a set. Like the couple of dealers he showed them to when he walked in the door with his son, I thought they were just cards cut off boxes. But I had a moment and he told me the paper they were printed on was different than that used to print the boxes.
He said they'd been made for him to give to store managers to keep them interested in Kraft's baseball card promotion. He didn't give them out because the boxes sold themselves. His manager told him to throw them away, but he kept some for himself. I ended up getting the dozen or so sets he had (his son wanted rookie cards).
Since then, only two other sets have turned up. They came from the estate of a guy who worked in MLB's licensing department and had approved the Kraft baseball promotion. The only thing else is one folded uncut sheet picturing one complete set. It was sold on eBay about 15 years. The sheet was great to see as it proved what
the Kraft rep told me about them being a special printing different than the food boxes.
Along with using white stock instead of gray stock, another difference is the layout of the cards on the sheet. In the picture below you can see the standard layout for the Mac and Cheese boxes, with a space in between each card so each card has it's own dotted cut line on each side. On the factory sheet, the cards are laid out in pairs with a shared dotted cut line. So when these are cut down to singles correctly, each card cannot have the dotted cut line around all fours sides.