Hippies of 1983 Represent!

Every now and then, I'm reminded of why I was never into baseball until 1990. My geographic location had something to do with it, but alot of the players from the 80's never appealed to me. Mostly because they all looked like old men from a Boston concert (the band, not the city).

Last week, I picked up a cheapie "Ralston-Purina" baseball card set on eBay. It features 33 cards from 1984 (stats & pics from the 1983 season), with a good selection of Hall of Famers: like Eddie Murray, Jim Palmer, George Brett, Ozzie Smith and Steve Carlton. Plus some of the forgotten stars of that era: guys like Dan Quisenberry or Ron Guidry. Sort of like an All-Star Team selection process, they make sure to pick a guy from every team, which explains how Dave Concepcion or Greg Luzinski got included. I figured I could've spent 10-20 bucks to get "real" cards of the Hall of Famers...or the two bucks I spent here, to get all of them plus their forgotten contemporaries.

But check out Eddie Murray, rockin' the bushy fro' and Harley Race mustache:



Here's an example of Bruce Sutter rockin' the "Old guys at a Boston Concert" look.

Mr. Sutter, please schedule an appointment with Mr. Norelco at your earliest convenience.

Now, when I think "Purina", I think of dog food. I had forgotten that they had a line of kiddie cereal back in the 80's. Dog food...and kiddie cereal. Hmmm. The back of each card includes a line that tells kids to look for more cards in boxes of Cookie Crisp or Donkey Kong Cereal. Wow. Another thing I had forgotten about: Donkey Kong Cereal.