I found another “must have” set for my personal collection.
As I was doing some more Corona sorting, I came across two oddball cards that I had forgotten about. They were 1977 Chilly Willie discs!
It can be tough to find good info for some of these obscure sets. I scoured the internet to compile what I could and will share my findings below!
Let’s dig in and learn a bit more about this sweet food issue set.
The Breakdown
There were 70 cards in the 1977 Chilly Willee set and the checklist contains a ton of big names.
The 1977 MSA Discs were 3 3/8 inch discs and were used to promote Chilly Willee drinks which are a frozen drink similar to a Slupee.
MSA stands for Michael Schechter & Associates. He had a partnership with the Player’s Union and created several food issue cards in the 70’s and 80’s. There were also some non-food issue releases such as Wiffle Ball.
Many of these discs all had very similar (or even identical) designs on the front of the card, and they only swapped out the back to identify the company featured in the promotion. In this case it was the Chilly Willee brand!
The backs of these discs changed based on what brand was being promoted.
A discussion on Nightowlcards showed a variety of these discs with an assortment of variations in the front and back. It also provided the following input:
1976 MSA backs: blank, Crane, Towne Club, Dairy Isle, Safelon, Red Barn, Buckmans, Sweet William, Carousel, Orbakers, Wiffle Ball
1977 MSA backs: Zip'z, Wendy's, Dairy Isle, Saga, Customized Sports, Holiday Inn, Chilly Willee, Detroit Caesars
Where Can I Find Them?
Complete sets can be found on eBay for about $70, and singles are available for anywhere between $1 and $25 dollars. Sportlots also has a good number of them available for anywhere between $1.50 and $4.
Checklist:
Buddy Bell
Johnny Bench
Larry Bowa
Steve Braun
George Brett
Lou Brock
Jeff Burroughs
Bert Campaneris
John Candelaria
Jose Cardenal
Rod Carew
Steve Carlton
Dave Cash
Cesar Cedeno
Ron Cey
Dave Concepcion
Dennis Eckersley
Mark Fidrych
Rollie Fingers
Carlton Fisk
George Foster
Wayne Garland
Ralph Garr
Steve Garvey
Cesar Geronimo
Bobby Grich
Ken Griffey Sr.
Don Gullett
Mike Hargrove
Al Hrabosky
Catfish Hunter
Reggie Jackson
Randy Jones
Dave Kingman
Jerry Koosman
Dave LaRoche
Greg Luzinski
Fred Lynn
Bill Madlock
Jon Matlack
John Mayberry
Hal McRae
Andy Messersmith
Rick Monday
John Montefusco
Joe Morgan
Thurman Munson
Bobby Murcer
Bill North
Jim Palmer
Tony Perez
Jerry Reuss
Brooks Robinson
Pete Rose
Joe Rudi
Nolan Ryan
Manny Sanguillen
Mike Schmidt
Tom Seaver
Bill Singer
Willie Stargell
Rusty Staub
Luis Tiant
Bob Watson
Butch Wynegar
Carl Yastrzemski
Robin Yount
Richie Zisk