1969 - Globe Imports, Sports Illustrated and Nabisco Flakes

 I've been slowly going through those vintage Sports Illustrated I picked up recently. I was leafing through a 1970 issue when I saw this add.

I thought the photos looked familiar, and quickly enough, being the card nerd that I am, I figured it out.

They're the source of the 1969 Globe Playing card photos! Most of them, anyway. (I don't have a Yaz playing card, which is not part of the "base" set and is pretty rare). 

 I thought I had stumbled upon something pretty big, as I hadn't seen a reference to SI posters last time I looked up the Globe set. However, this was covered pretty well on a variety of forum posts many years ago. Apparently the SI photos (which were licensed and have logos) appeared in 1969 on not just the black-and-white Globe cards but also color Nabisco Flakes cards, which are also logoless. Those Flakes cards look nice but they seem to be a lot more rare and expensive than the Globes.

There were 48 SI posters, 24 Nabisco cards, and 55 players total on Globe Playing cards, due to a few instances of a card being issued with different players at different times. (There is a Babe Ruth from a Globe celebrities set that is sometimes incorrectly lumped in with this set.) I put together a little chart to show who is in what set:

Clete Boyer	Atlanta Braves	G		S
Hank Aaron	Atlanta Braves		N	S
Frank Robinson	Baltimore Orioles	G	N	S
Brooks Robinson	Baltimore Orioles	G	N	S
Carl Yastrzemski	Boston Red Sox	G		S
Reggie Smith	Boston Red Sox	G		S
Jim Lonborg	Boston Red Sox	G	N	S
Tony Conigliaro	Boston Red Sox	G		S
Rick Reichardt	California Angels	G		S
Jim Fregosi	California Angels	G	N	S
Don Mincher	California Angels	G
Billy Williams	Chicago Cubs	G		S
Ernie Banks	Chicago Cubs	G		S
Ron Santo	Chicago Cubs	G	N	S
Joel Horlen	Chicago White Sox	G		S
Tommy John	Chicago White Sox	G	N	S
Pete Rose	Cincinnati Reds	G	N	S
Jim Maloney	Cincinnati Reds	G		S
Max Alvis	Cleveland Indians	G		S
Tony Horton	Cleveland Indians	G	N
Ken Harrelson	Cleveland Indians	G
Earl Wilson	Detroit Tigers	G		S
Bill Freehan	Detroit Tigers	G	N	S
Al Kaline	Detroit Tigers	G	N	S
Denny McLain	Detroit Tigers	G
Mickey Lolich	Detroit Tigers			S
Bob Aspromonte	Houston Astros	G
Jim Wynn	Houston Astros	G		S
Don Drysdale	Los Angeles Dodgers	G		S
Willie Davis	Los Angeles Dodgers	G
Al Ferrara	Los Angeles Dodgers	G	N
Tony Oliva	Minnesota Twins	G	N	S
Harmon Killebrew	Minnesota Twins	G		S
Cesar Tovar	Minnesota Twins	G		S
Chico Cardenas	Minnesota Twins	G
Rusty Staub	Montreal Expos	G	N
Jerry Koosman	New York Mets	G		S
Bud Harrelson	New York Mets	G		S
Ron Swoboda	New York Mets	G		S
Tom Seaver	New York Mets	G	N	S
Mickey Mantle	New York Yankees	G		S
Mel Stottlemyre	New York Yankees	G	N	S
Rick Monday	Oakland Athletics	G	N	S
Bert Campaneris	Oakland Athletics	G		S
Reggie Jackson	Oakland Athletics			S
Richie Allen	Philadelphia Phillies	G	N
Johnny Callison	Philadelphia Phillies	G
Chris Short	Philadelphia Phillies	G		S
Gene Alley	Pittsburgh Pirates	G		S
Roberto Clemente	Pittsburgh Pirates		N	S
Bill Mazeroski	Pittsburgh Pirates			S
Mike McCormick	San Francisco Giants	G		S
Juan Marichal	San Francisco Giants	G	N	S
Willie Mays	San Francisco Giants	G	N	S
Willie McCovey	San Francisco Giants	G		S
Tim McCarver	St. Louis Cardinals	G
Bob Gibson	St. Louis Cardinals	G	N	S
Curt Flood	St. Louis Cardinals	G
Lou Brock	St. Louis Cardinals	G	N	S
Orlando Cepeda	St. Louis Cardinals	G
Paul Casanova	Washington Senators	G	N	S
Frank Howard	Washington Senators			S

Two players are in the Nabisco set but do not appear in the Globe set - just Aaron and Clemente. In both cases the Nabisco card does match the SI poster. In four cases a player got an SI poster but not a Globe or Nabisco card - Mickey Lolich, Reggie Jackson, Bill Mazeroski and Frank Howard. I thought maybe it would be interesting to see where the other photos came from, but apparently they were just '68 SI posters that were no longer being offered by the time this advertisement was printed. Still, it was a fun little further dive into this weird oddball set.