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
Kellogg’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’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.
- Bill Alexander (Football)
- Luke Appling (Baseball)
- Billy Arnold
- Bruce Barnes
- Matty Bell (Football)
- Jack Britton
- Mordecai Brown (Baseball)
- Tony Canzoneri
- Georgia Coleman
- Harry Cooper
- James Corbett
- Buster Crabbe
- Fritz Crisler (Football)
- Bill Cummings
- Bill Cunningham (Football)
- Ralph De Palma
- Dick Degener
- Jack Delaney
- Lou Diegel
- Jimmy Doolittle
- Leo Durocher (Baseball)
- Olin Dutra
- Equipoise
- Johnny Evers (Baseball)
- Exterminator
- Rick Ferrell (Baseball)
- Lew Fonseca (Baseball)
- Bob Fitzsimmons
- Gallant Fox
- Red Grange (Football)
- Ralph Guldahl
- Walter Hagen
- Gabby Hartnett (Baseball)
- Billy Herman (Baseball)
- Walter Johnson (Baseball)
- Howard Jones (Football)
- Andy Kerr (Football)
- Harry Kipke (Football)
- Benny Leonard
- Lou Little (Football)
- George Lott
- Tommy Loughran
- Ed Madigan (Football)
- Helene Madison
- Joe Medwick (Baseball)
- Dick Merrill
- Tommy Milton
- Charles Myer (Baseball)
- Bronko Nagurski (Football)
- Ernie Nevers (Football)
- Clyde Pangborn
- Jimmie Phelan (Football)
- Henry Picard
- Pompoon
- Johnny Revolta
- Vincent Richards
- Eddie Rickenbacker
- Mauri Rose
- Barney Ross
- Norman Ross
- Paul Runyan
- Gene Sarazen
- George Selkirk (Baseball)
- Bill Shakespeare (Football)
- Jack Sharkey
- Wilbur Shaw
- Denny Shute
- Tris Speaker (Baseball)
- Les Stoefen
- Sun Beau
- Bill Terry (Baseball)
- Frank Thomas (Football)
- Tiny Thornhill (Football)
- Jim Thorpe (Football)
- Bill Tilden
- Joe Tinker (Baseball)
- Top Flight
- Gene Tunney
- Arky Vaughan (Baseball)
- Ellsworth Vines
- George Von Elm
- Wallace Wade (Football)
- Mickey Walker
- Paul Waner (Baseball)
- Sam West (Baseball)
- Jess Willard
- Al Williams
- Roger Williams
- Lenore Wingard
- Craig Wood
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