Talking turkey

Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers and friends. Tonight, I have for you a quick look at a quirky little oddball set from Mr. Turkey.

Mr. Turkey, for those of you who may not know, was/is a division of Sara Lee Foods and a trademark for the company's production of turkey and other meat products. I've never seen its food products for sale and don't know if it's still around. Most of what I turned up online was about a scary listeria outbreak in the late 1990s.

Sorry to bring that up on this holiday.

The Mr. Turkey Superstar set was issued in 1992 and featured a star player from each of the 26 major league teams at the time. Cards were printed on the meat carton and also sold individually by mailing into the company. (That seems a little more sanitary).

As you can see, the cards are gloriously unlicensed with a pinstripe design. But the best part is it brands some well-known unpleasant players as certifiable turkeys!

Darryl Strawberry is the Dodgers' representative. Yeah, he had one turkey of a season in 1993!

Let's look at the checklist and see what other turkeys we can find:

1. Jim Abbott
2. Roberto Alomar Turkey Spitter
3. Sandy Alomar Jr.
4. Craig Biggio
5. George Brett
6. Will Clark Jive Turkey
7. Roger Clemens Steroid-Injected Turkey
8. Cecil Fielder Ate a Few Turkeys
9. Carlton Fisk
10. Andres Galarraga
11. Dwight Gooden
12. Ken Griffey Jr.
13. Tony Gwynn
14. Rickey Henderson
15. Dave Justice Turkey for Not Hanging On to Halle Berry
16. Don Mattingly Pulled Some Managing Turkeys
17. Dale Murphy
18. Kirby Puckett
19. Carl Ripken Jr.
20. Nolan Ryan
21. Chris Sabo
22. Ryne Sandberg
23. Ozzie Smith
24. Darryl Strawberry 1993!
25. Andy VanSlyke
26. Robin Yount

The backs are very primitive. But they contain an appropriate "Let's Talk Turkey" write-up at the bottom.

Three years later Mr. Turkey issued a five-card set of five retired players and that was the last of Mr. Turkey's forays into the hobby.

Enjoy the remainder of your holiday.

You better not be reading this standing in any store line, turkey.