1974 Padres McDonalds Discs

Description

1974 Padres McDonalds Discs is a fifteen "card" set that was given away at San Diego area McDonald's restaurants in the Summer of 1974. The promotion was kicked off on the July 30th Padres home game, where the first 10,000 kids aged fourteen and younger received a special plastic "baseball" holder and the first seven discs. Each disc measures 2 3/8" in diameter and have a "notch" on the bottom that fits inside the baseball holder. The seven discs that were included as part of the stadium giveaway were: Beckert, Hernandez, Jones, Kendall, a disc of Padres manager John McNamara, a disc of Ronald McDonald, and a disc containing the remaining Padres home schedule.

The other eight discs were made available beginning July 31st, at the rate of two new discs per week, at San Diego area McDonald's restaurants. The reverse of the Ronald McDonald disc shows when each player's disc was available. A rookie year disc of Dave Winfield was part of the fourth and final batch.

Approximately 60,000 plastic baseballs and 60,000 copies of the first seven discs were produced for the stadium giveaway promotion -- which was more than the seating capacity of San Diego Stadium at the time. (Fewer than 25,000 people attended the game.) The remaining eight discs were distributed to San Diego area McDonald's restaurants in perforated sheets of six -- many of which are still found in uncut sheet form. 30,000 sheets were produced for a total of 180,000 copies of each disc.

Because there were so many leftover baseballs, McDonald's offered complete sets for $3.

Distribution

Stadium Giveaway and Food Issue

Checklist

• Matty Alou
• Glen Beckert
• Nate Colbert
• Bill Greif
• John Grubb
• Enzo Hernandez
• Randy Jones
• Fred Kendall
• Willie McCovey
• John McNamara
• Dave Roberts
• Bobby Tolan
• Dave Winfield
• Ronald McDonald
• Padres Sked