1986 Meadow Gold Baseball Cards

While digging through a bargain bin at a show back in 2022, I found this Double Play Bubble Gum Cooler wrapper featuring Wade Boggs. When I found it, it was in stored in a Card Saver or similar case. I hadn’t seen this piece before, but since it featured Wade Boggs, I added it to the pile. When I first saw it, I think I passed on it initially before coming back to it. I did the double take thing where I was like nah, well actually yea, I probably should. I have a binder for stuff like this and it’s stored exactly as you see it and into a 4-pocket page. This isn’t an item I’d specifically seek out, but for practically nothing, I’m happy to add it.

The Double Play Bubble Gum Cooler was a bubble-gum-flavored ice cream pop (or bar) issued by Meadow Gold in 1986. They made other delicious dairy treats too. The company capitalized on the booming baseball card market of the 1980s by producing three original Meadow Gold baseball cards sets issued alongside product packaging. Showcased here are details on these three sets.

Set Information:

Set	Total Cards
Stat Back	20
Blank Back	16
Milk	12

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1986 Meadow Gold Stat Back:

Of the three sets Meadow Gold produced in 1986, this 20-card set is the only one that contained stats on card backs. Cards were issued in two-card panels printed on boxes of Meadow Gold popsicles, fudgesicles, and bubblegum coolers. They were distributed in the West and Midwest and considered one of the tougher 1986 regional sets to complete. Cards from this set were only licensed by the MLBPA, which is why team logos were airbrushed out of player depictions. Cards are printed on white card stock with red text on the backs, and measure in at 2-9/16×3.5, which makes them somewhat awkward to store. Hence why I mention the storage method above. Two uncorrected spelling errors exist – Ripkin and Sutcliff. The nameplates are printed in black.

Card #	Player	Card #	Player
1	George Brett	11	Cal Ripken Jr. UER
2	Fernando Valenzuela	12	Ryne Sandberg
3	Dwight Gooden	13	Carlton Fisk
4	Dale Murphy	14	Jim Rice
5	Don Mattingly	15	Steve Garvey
6	Reggie Jackson	16	Mike Schmidt
7	Dave Winfield	17	Bruce Sutter
8	Pete Rose	18	Pedro Guerrero
9	Wade Boggs	19	Rick Sutcliffe UER
10	Willie McGee	20	Rich Gossage

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1986 Meadow Gold Blank Back:

This version of 1986 Meadow Gold baseball cards is made up of 16 unnumbered, blank backed, cards that were issued one per package of half-gallon cartons of Meadow Gold Double Play ice cream. Due to lack of MLBPA licensing, team logos were airbrushed out. The Willie McGee is apparently a tougher card to find. Cards measure in at 2-3/8×3.5, which makes them easy to store using traditional methods. Some photos used on the stat back variety were used in this set too. The nameplates are printed in blue.

Card #	Player	Card #	Player
1	Wade Boggs	9	Willie McGee
2	George Brett	10	Dale Murphy
3	Carlton Fisk	11	Cal Ripken Jr.
4	Steve Garvey	12	Pete Rose
5	Dwight Gooden	13	Ryne Sandberg
6	Pedro Guerrero	14	Mike Schmidt
7	Reggie Jackson	15	Fernando Valenzuela
8	Don Mattingly	16	Dave Winfield

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1986 Meadow Gold Milk:

These cards were printed on pint, quart, and half-gallon cartons of Meadow Gold milk. They measure in at 2.5×3-3/16, which makes them easy to store. Cards from this set were licensed by Mike Schechter Associates. Cards feature drawings instead of photos, and can be found in red, brown, or black ink. The use of drawings instead of photos made them somewhat less popular with collectors at the time. The 12 cards are unnumbered, blank backed, and printed on the white wax cardboard commonly used for milk cartons.

Card #	Player	Card #	Player
1	Wade Boggs	7	Dale Murphy
2	George Brett	8	Cal Ripken Jr.
3	Steve Carlton	9	Pete Rose
4	Dwight Gooden	10	Ryne Sandberg
5	Don Mattingly	11	Mike Schmidt
6	Willie McGee	12	Fernando Valenzuela

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