The San Diego Chicken: A Baseball Card History
By Ryan Cracknell | Hobby Editor
There are mascots and there’s the San Diego Chicken. When you think of baseball in the 1980s, the Famous Chicken is up there with the likes of Darryl Strawberry, Dale Murphy, Nolan Ryan, Rickey Henderson, Cal Ripken and Dave Winfield, to name a few. And he did so simply by entertaining crowds.
But as famous as the San Diego Chicken is, he doesn’t have as many baseball cards as you might expect. In fact, other than a few very recent rarities, it’s possible to get a full run of major San Diego Chicken cards without having to spend much money or effort.
In case you need a primer on the San Diego Chicken’s accolades, here they are straight from the beak:
And if that wasn’t enough, sit back and remember the joy of The Baseball Bunch where he starred with Johnny Bench:
The first San Diego Chicken cards date back to 1979 and 1980 with a couple of Padres team issues. Donruss included the mascot in their sets from 1982 to 1984. These are his most prominent and easy-to-find cards. Since then, there have been a couple of sporadic cards but not much.
That changed with 2016 Donruss Baseball where the San Diego Chicken played a big part. First, there’s the base set and its many parallels. Getting the most attention, though, are the memorabilia cards featuring pieces of his costume. These are proving to be strong sellers on the secondary market thus far.
In case you’re looking to build a collection of San Diego Chicken cards, here’s a checklist of what’s cataloged in the Beckett Baseball Card Database.
San Diego Chicken Baseball Card Checklist
1979 Padres Family Fun #4
1980 Padres Family Fun #18
1982 Donruss #531 ERR – No Trademark
1982 Donruss #531 CORR – With Trademark
1983 Donruss #645
1984 Donruss #651
1984 Padres Smokey #4
1985 Dallas National Collectors Convention #7
1992 Triple Play #138
2003 Donruss Anniversary 1983 #19
2003 Donruss Recollection Autographs #48 /10
2016 Donruss #151
2016 Donruss Black Border #151 /199
2016 Donruss Pink Border #151
2016 Donruss Press Proof Gold #151 /99
2016 Donruss Printing Plates Black #151 1/1
2016 Donruss Printing Plates Cyan #151 1/1
2016 Donruss Printing Plates Magenta #151 1/1
2016 Donruss Printing Plates Yellow #151 1/1
2016 Donruss Stat Line Career #151 /42
2016 Donruss Stat Line Season #151 /400
2016 Donruss Test Proof Black #151 /25
2016 Donruss Test Proof Cyan #151 /49
2016 Donruss Test Proof Magenta #151 /10
2016 Donruss Test Proof Yellow #151 /5
2016 Donruss San Diego Chicken Silhoutte Materials #1 /82
2016 Donruss San Diego Chicken Silhoutte Materials Green #1 /25
2016 Donruss San Diego Chicken Silhoutte Materials Prime #1 /10
2016 Donruss San Diego Chicken Silhoutte Materials Autographs #1 /82
2016 Donruss San Diego Chicken Silhoutte Materials Autographs Green #1 /25
2016 Donruss San Diego Chicken Silhoutte Materials Autographs Prime #1 /10
In addition to these, you might find the iconic mascot as part of the background of some other cards, such as this 1992 Upper Deck Cecil Fielder:
Comments? Questions? Contact Ryan Cracknell on Twitter @tradercracks.
Hi
The San Diego Chicken will be appearing for Panini at All Star Sports Cards in Santee, CA, He will be there on March 19, 2016 from 11 to 1 signing autographs!
http://blog.paniniamerica.net/2016/03/07/panini-america-famous-san-diego-chicken-teaming-up-for-all-star-sports-cards-visit/