LeRoy Pennysaver & News

LE ROY PENNYSAVER & NEWS - OCTOBER 31, 2021 by Lynne Belluscio At one time, Jell-O was part of General Foods and I recently pulled out an April 1950 issue of the General Food Newsletter that we have in the archives. The article “Play Ball!” mentions that Post Cereal of General Foods and the Schaefer Brewing C o m p a n y Aw e r e A t h e sponsors of all of the radio broadcasts of the Dodger Games. The announcers were Red Barber, Connie Desmond, and Vince Scully and “they will describe the action play by play over StationAWMGM.”AThe article went on to say that the history of baseball was part of the General Foods story. “The first game on record was played on the site of the present Maxwell House plant in Hoboken, New Jersey.” The historic first game of baseball was played on June 19, 1846 on what was known as theElysianFields. The teams that played were the Knickerbockers and the New York Nine. The Knickerbockers lost 23 to 1. An outfielder was fined 6 cents for profane language. The umpire for the game was Alexander Cartwright, who had organized the Knickerbockers, and who ultimately was admitted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1938 as the “Father of Baseball.” Cartwright is given credit for the flat square canvas base, the 90-foot baseline, the nine player team, the three-out inning, and a lot of other stuff, but Cartwrights contributions to baseball may be an exaggeration. It is said that his plaque in the Baseball Hall of Fame is totally wrong. Never the less, the Elysian Fields, where early baseball was played, was indeed in Hoboken, where the former Maxwell House factory was located. On 3 August 1865, a lmo s tAtwen t yAye a r s afterAthatAfirstAgame, 20,000 people attended aAchampionshipAgame between the Mutual Club of Manhattan and the Atlantic Club of Brooklyn on the Elysian Field. TheAtlantics won 13 to 12. This is the game that was captured by Currier and Ives in the famous engraving that was published in Harper’s BazaarAmagazine.AThe lastAprofessionalAgame played on the Elysian Field took place in 1873. The popularity of coming to Hoboken waned and eventually the field was abandoned. The Maxwell House coffee plant, built between 11th and 12 Streets overlookingAManhattan, with its huge “Good to the Last Drop” sign was a thriving business through the late 1980s. The plant was closed in 1990 when General Foods decided to move the company to Jacksonville, Florida. Many Hoboken residents lost their jobs and the area once again became waterfront commerce with piers for ship repair. Folks remarked that they missed the smell of freshly roasted coffee. Today the area is one of the most sought-after condominium communities in Hoboken, and features luxury residential units, restaurants and high-end retail businesses along Frank Sinatra Drive and Maxwell Place, with access to Pier 13, one of the premier public outdoor spaces in Hoboken. In addition to the Maxwell House Coffee story, General Foods also issued baseball cards in 1962 and 1963. The cards were printed on the back of Jell-O boxes. There were 100 from the National League and 100 from the American League. They continued the series in 1963. Unlike most baseball cards, the photo and the stats were printed on one side. But there is a lot of confusion about whether the cards were printed by Jell-O or by Post Cereal. Apparently, the Jell-O cards are slightly smaller, but since the cards were hand cut off the boxes, this can be a problem. Another way to determine whether the card is Jell-O or Post is that the red line that separates the stats, is slightly shorter on the Jell-O cards. Both companies included the same players and the same number. Mickey Mantle cards, in good condition can cost a couple of hundred dollars. There are a lot of reproductions today, including the entire Jell-O box. The Jell-O Gallery exhibits several Jell-O baseball cards, and has a couple of the complete boxes in the collection. However, we do not have complete sets of either 1962 or 1963. Baseball and General Foods