Under The Tree: William “The Fridge” Perry G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero

Apparently when William “The Fridge” Perry wasn’t scoring touchdowns in the Super Bowl he was a Physical Training Instructor for G.I. Joe.

That’s correct. Legendary Chicago Bears Super Bowl Champion William “The Fridge” Perry was made into a G.I. Joe action figure in 1986. This was only the second time an actual living person was incorporated into this specific toy line. Wrestling fans might remember that Sgt. Slaughter was the first.

You simply couldn’t visit your local toy store to purchase this figure. Hasbro only made it available through a mail-in offer. Specially marked G.I. Joe figures contained a “Fridge” Proof Of Purchase Certificate. Collecting (5) of these certificates would entitle you to a free William “The Fridge” Perry G.I. Joe action figure.

Hasbro began this promotion in 1986. But the figures didn’t start shipping until 1987. You could redeem your certificates from 1986 all the way to 1989.

When your figure arrived it came in a small package. Along with the figure is his football on a chain weapon and bio card.

The quality control on the figure’s paint job could have been better. Its common to find figures where the colors on his wrist bands are reversed. Every possible paint combination known to man can be found on the wrist bands. Sometimes they go blue/orange on one hand, and on the other hand orange/blue. Variation fans can go nuts!

Another variation that exists is where his belt buckle has a silver G.I. Joe logo printed on it versus the standard red one.

Card of the Day: William Perry 1994 Fleer #374

U.S. Caramel’s Rare 1932 President William McKinley Card

U.S. Presidents are no strangers when it comes to cards. Entire sets dedicated to those who have held the highest office in the land have been made for decades. Some of these cards can be found today very easily, while others are next to impossible.

On this Presidents’ Day I’d like to talk about the 1932 U.S. Caramel Presidents set, specifically the William McKinley card.

A total of (31) cards make up the 1932 U.S. Caramel Presidents set. Each card features a U.S. President. (1) card came packaged with a caramel candy. Upon completing the set, you could redeem your cards for a 1-pound box of chocolate.

Purposely printed in fewer quantities, only a handful of William McKinley’s cards are known to exist. U.S. Caramel did this so they wouldn’t be handing out free chocolate to everyone. Plus they knew people would hunt for the McKinley card therefore selling more candy.

Why the canceled stamp and hole punch? U.S. Caramel would do this to those sets people sent in to deter them from using the same cards again and again in order to obtain free chocolate. If you wanted another box of chocolate, you would need to put the set together again.

Tactics like this were very common at the time. The Charles (Lindy) Lindstrom card from U.S. Caramel’s Famous Athletes set was printed in very few quantities as well.

If you think its cruel to purposely print fewer copies of a card to intentionally make a promotion difficult, that’s nothing. At least U.S. Caramel included those cards. Goudey completely left out Napoleon Lajoie #106 from their 1933 set in order to sell more gum. They had customers looking for a card that didn’t exist until later on.

Card of the Day: William Shatner 2019 Leaf Pop Century Sci-Fi Signatures

Card of the Day: William McKinley 1932 U.S. Caramel Presidents

Card of the Day: William Taft 2011 TRISTAR Obak #99

Card of the Day: William Wrigley Jr. 2009 TRISTAR Obak #95

Card of the Day: William Perry 2005 Upper Deck Legends Auto

Card of the Day: William Lyman 1988 Swell Greats #73

Card of the Day: William H. Taft 1952 Bowman U.S. Presidents #29