There's too much candy in the house

Big day tomorrow. A full slate of football to watch as usual, plus Game 5 of the World Series and ... oh, yeah, we're supposed to hand out candy to kids for four hours.

 

Halloween on a Sunday means I can't hide behind my "I have to work" excuse for avoiding the parade of urchins scrambling up my porch. I like the little dudes (except the ones who yank the door open), there's just so many of them.

I think that's how it will happen anyway. With last year's COVID Halloween, it's difficult to know what to expect. But I'm anticipating many candy addicts. As I've mentioned before, people come in from the country, park their tractors on the street and send the kids out to demand treats from suburbanites.

So between sports and squirts -- and no daughter around to do our door-attendant bidding -- I'll be too busy to blog tomorrow. This is my Halloween post.

I remember well being a kid on Halloween, carting an orange plastic pumpkin around. My main mission was all the candy that pumpkin could fit. And just candy. No gum, no cookies, no chips and definitely no apples or pencils. Even the candy had to be specific. Who's giving out stupid taffy? I was as particular then as I am about my cards now.

I decided to look through my collection, find the food-issue cards that are connected to candy and rate them according to my favorite candies. There aren't a lot of these sets. Food like cookies, ice cream, chips, cereal and hot dogs seem to dominate food issues over the years. And there are some that I just don't have. No Upper Deck Twizzlers. No O'Henry Blue Jays. Sad face. I love O'Henries.

OK, let's see where my candy tastes reside:

7. Cracker Jack (1982 Topps Cracker Jack)

Cracker Jack is one of those food products that has dominated cards over the years, reappearing every few years for a new set. Outside of that glorious 1914 set, this one is the most enjoyable to me. It not only displays the actual candy product but also presents the old-timers in a mish-mash of the 1978 and 1979 Topps designs, at least three years after those designs first appeared!

The cards were issued in nine-card sheets, an AL panel and an NL panel.

Cracker Jacks never appealed to me as a kid. Mostly what I wanted out of those boxes was the prize inside, no matter how lame. The tiny little pinball machines ruled.

 

 

6. Caramels (1922 E120 American Caramel)

The 1922 American Caramel E120 set isn't really considered a "food-issue set," even though it was produced by something called the American Caramel Company that made caramels. But I'm including it here.

This set is considered the king of candy sets from this period and it is one of the few pre-war sets that interests me.

Can't say I was much of a caramel fan as a kid. Those yellow cubes got stuck in your teeth and when I ended up getting braces, I was convinced my orthodontist would off me right there in the dentist chair if he found caramel in my teeth.

 

 

5. Milk Duds (1971 Milk Duds)

Milk Duds were a regular visitor to my orange pumpkin on Halloween. It reappeared in my kid's holiday stash when she trick-or-treated. I don't know how they've survived so long. Maybe because the boxes are cute? It's a step above caramel cubes because chocolate is involved, but again that orthodontist is gonna be pissed.

However, if the boxes I received featured "cards" on the side, I'd want as many Milk Duds in my pumpkin as possible. These were issued in 1971, I would've been six. I don't remember seeing player pictures on Milk Duds then but I knew nothing about baseball either. (There are 69 cards in the set -- that's a lot of Milk Duds, even at like four duds a box).

The card above is a UER as Claude Osteen's name is misspelled.

 

4. Butterfinger (1934 R310 Butterfinger)

Again, not really a "food-issue" set even though food is right in the name of the card. But heck, these aren't even cards.

They are large, measure 7 3/4-by-9 1/2, and photos were printed on paper (like this one) or cardboard (I guess the cardboard ones would be "cards"). I don't know how they were distributed. The Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards says they were issued as a premium.

I received this one of Brooklyn Dodgers infielder Jim Jordan from card bud Mark Hoyle. It will never leave its plastic protector.

 

Butterfingers are OK. An odd mix of mushy and solid and not much fun to eat. They seem like what people settled for in a peanut candy before Reese's Cups came along.

 

 

3. Clark Bar (1993 Upper Deck Clark Reggie Jackson)

 

A three-card Reggie Jackson set was issued by Upper Deck and the Clark candy company in conjunction with the re-release of the Reggie Bar.

 

The original Reggie Bar from the 1970s was issued by the Curtis Candy Company. I remember the original Reggie Bar well, even though it lasted for only about five years. I remember it being sold in grocery store check-out aisles and I bought one or two. They were OK. For a candy PATTY.

Clark produced the Reggie Bars that came out in '93. I never sampled one. I'm ranking this based on the actual Clark bar that you still see in vending machines. I admit I had to look up what was in a Clark bar. It's a chocolate-coated, crispy peanut/taffy thing. Sounds like it would bore kids out of their minds.

But I'm bumping this up because of the Reggie Bar association.

2. Nestlé Crunch (1984 Nestlé)

 

Nestlé, like Cracker Jack, has reappeared over and over in card sets. I have representatives of a couple of different '80s Nestlé sets.

 

The '84 Nestlé set resembles the '84 Topps set in every way, except for the logo in the top right corner. There is a Nestlé card for all 792 cards in the Topps set. Nestlé was originally issued in sheets and a few collectors bought up most of the sheets to cut them up and sell them, which explains why I only have one of these -- which apparently an enterprising hoarder cut with dull scissors.

 

Nestlé Crunch was ever-present at Halloween when I was a kid. I liked them well enough, probably in the top 6 or 7 of candy bars I received. Again, not the most exciting.

 

 

1. M&M's (1987 M&M's Star Lineup)

The golden era of food-issue sets is the 1980s, that's a fact, despite my love for '70s Kellogg's and Hostess. So much variety and weird little sets, a bunch of nonlicensed stuff, some not particularly well-made when you compare it to something like Kellogg's. But lots of fun.

The M&M's Star Lineup set was one of several '80s sets issued by MSA. They appeared in large-size M&M bags, two to a panel.

Not the greatest looking cards -- except for the little M&M guy -- but it doesn't matter because M&M's are one of the kings of candy!

I loved M&M's then and it's still the one candy item (the peanut version) that I have trouble resisting when I walk past the work vending machine upstairs.

It's pretty obvious to me that some candy products have been slacking when it comes to partnering with a card set. Top-of-the-line go-to's like Reese's, Hershey bars and Snickers and even personal favorites like Mounds (I love coconut) have been absent from cards. Pair up cards with Bottle Caps, that sounds like a good way to get my attention.

 

Food-issue sets have all but disappeared in the last 15 years or so. This reminds me that if Topps is about to lose its license in a couple of years, it could land in my good graces by teaming up with a bunch of candy companies who have never showed up in cards before and making a bunch of great, colorful, unlicensed stuff.

OK, that's it. I need to stock the candy and brace for kiddies.

I sure hope they keep their visits to halftime.