Tag Archives: silver’s

SUPERSTAR BASEBALL CARDS LONG JOHN SILVER’s

Leave a reply

The Baseball Card Craze and Long John Silver’s Promotions

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, baseball cards were all the rage among kids and collectors alike. Nearly every place kids frequented seemed to offer baseball cards as promotions or prizes. One such establishment taking advantage of the baseball card craze was the Long John Silver’s seafood chain.

Long John Silver’s realized that kids loved baseball cards and would flock to any establishment giving them away. So throughout the late 80s and early 90s, the chain rolled out numerous baseball card promotions sure to attract young customers. Some promotions included including packs of cards with kids’ meals, running contests where entry was a baseball card, and even whole sets given away with a certain amount of purchases.

Baseball cards were the perfect promotional tie-in for Long John Silver’s. The nostalgia and collectability aspect attracted kids, while the fairly low production costs meant the chain could give away packs or full sets profitably. All the while, kids would associate Long John Silver’s with fun baseball prizes and be more likely to stop in frequently. The marketing strategy proved very successful for the chain.

Some notable Long John Silver’s baseball card promotions from the era included:

1988 “Kids Eat Free” Contest – To promote its new kids’ meal options, LJS ran a summer-long contest where kids could mail in the front of a 1988 Topps baseball card for a chance to win free kids’ meals for a year. Dozens of local winners were chosen.

1990 All-Star Game Set Giveaway – In conjunction with the 1990 MLB All-Star Game held in Chicago that year, Long John Silver’s distributed complete sets of 1990 All-Star Game commons to customers who purchased a kids’ meal. Each set included 24 red-bordered cards.

1991 Rookie Cups Promotion – To highlight the best rookie players, LJS offered baseball card attached to the outside of kid’s drink cups featuring the Top 50 rookie prospects as voted by baseball experts. Cards could also be redeemed for food prizes.

1992 World Series Champs Inserts – When the Toronto Blue Jays won the 1992 World Series, LJS distributed special green-bordered Champions insert cards of Blue Jays players to first 250 customers each day for a month afterwards.

1993 Home Run Kings Sweepstakes – Touting the home run prowess of stars like McGwire and Bonds, LJS ran a season-long contest where entries were the 1993 Topps Home Run Kings subset cards. Grand prizes included sets autographed by sluggers.

The clever Long John Silver’s promotions introduced new kids to the hobby while satisfying existing collectors. For parents, the added baseball card perks meant satisfied kids more likely to enjoy their meal. And the promotions were a winner for LJS, keeping the chain’s brand fresh in kid customers’ minds yearly through the cards.

While the promotions mostly centered around mainstream Topps issues of the time, LJS sometimes partnered with regional or independent card companies too. The Gateway Grizzlies, a Midwest minor league team, even produced exclusive “Shrimpboat” caricature cards for giveaways at select coastal Long John Silver’s locations one summer.

By catering campaigns to yearly sporting events, new product releases, and baseball milestones, Long John Silver’s managed to sustain its baseball card promotions for several seasons running. The strategies introduced baseball memorabilia to a new generation of fans who fondly remember collecting at their local Long John’s. Even after the earlier baseball card boom faded, the promotions left a lasting impact linking the chain to childhood summer pleasures for many.

Long John Silver’s creative use of the immense baseball card popularity was a textbook example of attracting kids to restaurants through clever prizes doubling as collectibles. The strategies brought in customers both young and old during baseball’s peak collecting years. Decades later, the promotions remain fondly remembered as a unique piece of sports and fast food history from the late 20th century.

LONG JOHN SILVER’s BASEBALL CARDS

Leave a reply

Long John Silver’s baseball cards have an interesting history stretching back to the early days of the seafood restaurant chain. While not as widely collected today as some other sports card issues of the 1970s and 80s, the Long John Silver’s cards helped drive promotional success for the brand while also providing a nostalgic connection to baseball for many children during that era.

Founded in 1969 in Lexington, Kentucky, Long John Silver’s aimed to bring the experience of seafood dining to mainstream America through a fast food style restaurant concept. In the early 1970s as the chain was expanding nationwide, marketing executives sought novel promotional ideas to raise brand awareness and drive traffic to locations. Inspired by the booming popularity of baseball cards among young collectors, LJS debuted their first set of baseball stars in 1974 packaged with kids’ meals.

The inaugural ’74 Long John Silver’s baseball card series featured 60 total cards showing headshots and stats for many of the game’s biggest names at the time like Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, and Nolan Ryan. Each packet of cards retailed for 49 cents and came wrapped in a colorful Long John Silver’s branded wrapper. While the photographs and design elements were basic, children eagerly traded and added the LJS issues to growing collections alongside more established brands like Topps and Fleer.

Encouraged by the initial success, Long John Silver’s released a new series each year throughout the mid-70s containing 60 cards with the current season’s top players. Some notable rookie cards first appeared in LJS sets including George Brett’s 1975 debut. The affordable price point and availability made the promotions hugely popular among kids. Restaurant locations would run special “trade days” where children could meet up to swap and complete sets enhancing the social aspect as well.

By 1977, Long John Silver’s baseball cards had evolved with glossier finishes, more statistics listed on the back of each card, and inclusion of some action shots rather than just headshots. That year also saw the debut of multi-player cards showing two or more stars on a single card front – a creative concept not yet widely used by other manufacturers. Quality continued improving through subsequent yearly issues as the brand invested more resources into creative design and photography.

Rising printing costs contributed to the end of Long John Silver’s traditional card offerings after 1979. The next several years saw variants like sticker sets and small promotional items replace full series runs until 1986 when the seafood chain partnered with Rittenhouse Archives for a collector-oriented ’75-’79 complete reprint set in cello packets. Featuring 132 cards over the five year span, it represented the last baseball-related collectible from LJS for many years.

By the 1990s, the nostalgia factor surrounding vintage Long John Silver’s cards grew tremendously. Old childhood collections were re-discovered and card shows saw intensifying demand from collectors seeking to finish sets. In response, Rittenhouse in 1997 launched the Master Collector Series devoted to classic food/beverage brands like LJS with decades worth of cards individually graded and encapsulated facilitating resale value.

Today Long John Silver’s baseball cards from the mid 1970s remain unique artifacts capturing a unique time period. Their affordable, mass produced scope introduced the hobby to countless new fans. While production ended over 35 years ago, the charm of completing iconic early sets endures. Specialty reprint issues have helped preserve the legacy for future generations. As one of the earliest “non-traditional” sports card pioneers, Long John Silver’s left an indelible mark during baseball card boom years. Their promotions artfully blended two quintessential pastimes of the 1970s American experience – our national pastime and childhood collecting adventures.

In summary, Long John Silver’s baseball cards hold a special niche in the broader story of sports card history. Issued during some of the game’s golden eras and made widely accessible to young fans, the annual LJS series from 1974-1979 introduced baseball card collecting to untold thousands while serving their intended role of boosting one of America’s first national fast food chains. While production lifespan proved relatively brief, enduring nostalgia ensures the humble cardboard promotions maintain treasured status for collectors today seeking a taste of 1970s baseball memories.