1937 Kellogg’s Pep Sports Stamps Set (F273)

‘It’s In The Details’

Title F273 Kellogg’s Pep Sports Stamps
Year 1937
Size 1 1/8″ x 1 3/4″
Images Color
Type Food
Number in Set
90

F273 Kellogg’s Pep Sports Stamps Overview

F273 Kellogg Pep Stamps.jpgKellogg’s produced a series of collectible sports stamps in 1937, distributing them in packages of their Pep Cereal brand products.

Four stamps were included to each sheet and the set included various sports celebrities, including both football and baseball stars. Other sports represented in the set included boxing, tennis, golf, swimming, aviation, and auto racing. Baseball was a focal point but certainly not the only big deal. In fact, none of the panels included more than one baseball player.

A total of 90 were in the set and given that each panel included four stamps, six had to be double-printed. Each box of cereal included only one panel so that meant you had to buy an awful lot of cereal just to have a chance at finishing a set – which was obviously Kellogg’s goal.

Full color images are printed against a solid colored background to produce the picture on the front and the athletes’ names are on the bottom.

Today, you’ll most commonly encounter these individually cut and removed from the sheets. However, a good number of uncut sheets are also available.

F273 Kellogg’s Pep Sports Stamps Backs, Sheets, and Album

Collectors were encouraged to save the stamps and then put them into a special album produced by the company. The back of a sheet of four stamps included the message that collectors could mail in ten cents and a Kellogg’s Pep Cereal box top for the album. Each of these sheets of four stamps was actually advertised by Kellogg’s as a ‘set’ and designated a specific number. For example, Set No. 15 included Bronko Nagurski, Lew Fonseca, Harry Cooper, and Jess Willard.

Because the message spanned the entire sheet and was not on each individual stamps, depending on the placement of the stamp when separated, only a portion of the text is on the back. While most athletes appeared only on a specific sheet, a few such as football star Red Grange and baseball great Tris Speaker, were on more than one.

In addition to the places for collectors to save the stamps, the book also included five different miniature board games of sorts to provide ‘endless pleasure’ as indicated on the back. One of those games was a baseball game that has miniature game pieces, as seen below. These could be considered by some to be a sort of card strip.

F273 Kellogg Pep Stamps Album Baseball Game Pieces

F273 Kellogg’s Pep Stamps Checklist

There are 90 stamps in the entire set and more than 1/3 are baseball and football players. A total of 18 from each sport were included in the set and below is the complete checklist of all cards. Baseball and football cards are denoted.

  1. Bill Alexander (Football)
  2. Luke Appling (Baseball)
  3. Billy Arnold
  4. Bruce Barnes
  5. Matty Bell (Football)
  6. Jack Britton
  7. Mordecai Brown (Baseball)
  8. Tony Canzoneri
  9. Georgia Coleman
  10. Harry Cooper
  11. James Corbett
  12. Buster Crabbe
  13. Fritz Crisler (Football)
  14. Bill Cummings
  15. Bill Cunningham (Football)
  16. Ralph De Palma
  17. Dick Degener
  18. Jack Delaney
  19. Lou Diegel
  20. Jimmy Doolittle
  21. Leo Durocher (Baseball)
  22. Olin Dutra
  23. Equipoise
  24. Johnny Evers (Baseball)
  25. Exterminator
  26. Rick Ferrell (Baseball)
  27. Lew Fonseca (Baseball)
  28. Bob Fitzsimmons
  29. Gallant Fox
  30. Red Grange (Football)
  31. Ralph Guldahl
  32. Walter Hagen
  33. Gabby Hartnett (Baseball)
  34. Billy Herman (Baseball)
  35. Walter Johnson (Baseball)
  36. Howard Jones (Football)
  37. Andy Kerr (Football)
  38. Harry Kipke (Football)
  39. Benny Leonard
  40. Lou Little (Football)
  41. George Lott
  42. Tommy Loughran
  43. Ed Madigan (Football)
  44. Helene Madison
  45. Joe Medwick (Baseball)
  46. Dick Merrill
  47. Tommy Milton
  48. Charles Myer (Baseball)
  49. Bronko Nagurski (Football)
  50. Ernie Nevers (Football)
  51. Clyde Pangborn
  52. Jimmie Phelan (Football)
  53. Henry Picard
  54. Pompoon
  55. Johnny Revolta
  56. Vincent Richards
  57. Eddie Rickenbacker
  58. Mauri Rose
  59. Barney Ross
  60. Norman Ross
  61. Paul Runyan
  62. Gene Sarazen
  63. George Selkirk (Baseball)
  64. Bill Shakespeare (Football)
  65. Jack Sharkey
  66. Wilbur Shaw
  67. Denny Shute
  68. Tris Speaker (Baseball)
  69. Les Stoefen
  70. Sun Beau
  71. Bill Terry (Baseball)
  72. Frank Thomas (Football)
  73. Tiny Thornhill (Football)
  74. Jim Thorpe (Football)
  75. Bill Tilden
  76. Joe Tinker (Baseball)
  77. Top Flight
  78. Gene Tunney
  79. Arky Vaughan (Baseball)
  80. Ellsworth Vines
  81. George Von Elm
  82. Wallace Wade (Football)
  83. Mickey Walker
  84. Paul Waner (Baseball)
  85. Sam West (Baseball)
  86. Jess Willard
  87. Al Williams
  88. Roger Williams
  89. Lenore Wingard
  90. Craig Wood