1977 Burger King Baseball

By Patrick Mondout

Topps produced a 22 card set for Burger King in 1977 featuring the New York Yankees. The cards were distributed in New York area Burger Kings in cellophane packs of three cards with an unnumbered checklist.

As these were printed later than the regular set of 660 Topps cards, a proper Reggie Jackson-as-a-Yankee card was featured (in contrast to the badly airbrushed '77 Topps example which itself robbed us of a 'Reggie as an Oriole' card since the Baltimore uniform was painted over). Mike Torrez (A's), Bucky Dent (White Sox), Jim Wynn (Braves), Paul Blair (Orioles), and Carlos May (White Sox) are also updated to with their Yankee uniforms.

The Yankees set actually became a 23 card set when Lou Piniella was added at the insistence of the Yankees (according to Sy Berger of Topps in the August 27, 1977 issue of The Sporting News). The other 22 cards are not scarce as dealers were able to get them in quantity from contacts at Burger King and most '77 Burger King Yankees sets are sold without the Piniella.

The story of how card #23 (Lou Piniella) of the 22 card set came about was revealed in Sparky Lyle's book The Bronx Zoo. In it, Lyle tells how Piniella was incensed at being left out of the set and went to George Steinbrenner to ask why he had been dissed. Sweet Lou was Steinbrenner's pet according to Lyle and The Boss told Burger King to issue the card! Burger King got Topps to print them, but not nearly in the same numbers as the other cards.

As most Burger King cards look exactly the same as the regular Topps issue and surprisingly carry no Burger King advertisement, the only way to tell a standard '77 Topps Piniella from the BK counterpart is by card number. As you can see below, he is #23 in the BK set, but he is #96 in the larger Topps set. You can get lucky in card shops and on eBay and find #23 being sold as if it were #96. In fact, as infrequently as it appears on eBay, it may be your best chance at scoring one.

The checklist card details an offer that allows you to turn in 5 of the checklists to a Burger King manager in return for a free general admission ticket to a Yankees game or $1.50 off any other ticket.

This would be the first of four consecutive years that Burger King would distribute Topps cards. The cards from 1977 to 1979 are virtually identical to their regular Topps card from that year with four exceptions:

1. The card numbers on the back range from 1-23 and do not correspond to any card in the "regular" Topps set.
2. Players who have been traded or signed as free agents with the team since the regular Topps set was printed are photographed (rather than airbrushed) in their new team's uniform.
3. A few cards feature different photographs. The Graig Nettles below, for example, is cropped in such a way as to have his face take up more of the card than on his regular Topps card. These are noted in the checklist below.
4. The All-Star and "rookie trophy" designations do not appear. For example, the '77 Topps Willie Randolph has a "Topps Rookie All-Star" gold trophy on the front, but his '77 Burger King card does not.

1977 Burger King at a Glance Lou Piniella Checklist Graig Nettles

This set is also mentioned here. Here is a complete checklist for the Yankees set:

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