History of McDag Productions, Inc.

dytch2220

I've always thought these cards were nice looking but haven't really been able to find out much about the history of the company when I look online or in my standard publications. I'm just interested in the general history and purpose/function of the sets. I imagine they were a fundraising tool of some kind? Hopefully someone out there has a bit of information about McDag Productions and can share.

I've e-mailed the person who I think is/was the business owner to see if they'll discuss with me a bit. I'll share anything noteworthy that comes from that discussion back on the thread.

dytch2220

I got a response from the guy and he is the owner of McDag Productions, Inc. He agreed to answer some questions for me so I sent a big list and will share the Q&A with you all.

Dpeck100

Very cool.

I have the 1988 Georgia Bulldogs team set with Bill Goldberg's college card.

dytch2220

Nice. I would like to eventually go after more of these sets. The '86 Boz Sooners McDag is the only one I've got currently. I have two copies of the rest of the cards in the set raw, graded later when I don't have anything pressing to submit.

mrmopar

I am assuming that it is similar to a company in WA called BDA (Bensussen, Deutsch & Associates) that was involved in making minor league card sets in the 80s/90s. I know i have a couple sets with their name on them.

dytch2220

Much to my delight, I received a response today for every question I asked about this set. Here is the Q&A between myself and Charles F. D’Agostino "Charlie Dag", owner of the now dormant McDag Productions, Inc.:

Q: In what year did you found the company?A: 1983, First set the 100 card set of the Tiger Greats featuring YA Tittle, Steve Van Buren, Billy Cannon, Jim Taylor, Bert Jones etc. sponsored by Sunbeam Bread.Q: Are you personally a card collector? If not, what led you into the business of making cards?A: I am a collector and have every LSU player that made it on Topps or any professional cards for MLB and NFL and NBA like Pete Maravich, Shaq and Bob Pettit.Q: How would you describe what McDag Promotions, Inc. did as a business? Specifically, did you simply manufacture the cards or were you also involved in selling and distributing? Were you reaching out to teams to arrange the deals for these sets on your own, etc...? As much of how the whole thing worked as you are willing to share.A: McDag was set up to produce collegiate trading cards for free Distribution to kids in the communities featuring college athletes with anti-drug and safety tips (ie DARE) and for the police to give out to create a rapport with kids in the community. Because of this, we produced trading cards for Police Officers featuring their officers showing the kids that the officers were heroes just like the athletes.Q: I've noticed that on some of the card backs, only McDag Promotions is listed but on others a second company such as "Produced By: Sports Marketing, Inc." Does this mean production was passed off in some cases?A: Our cards were only McDag. Not sure who “Sports Marketing Inc.” is. We had sponsors such as hospitals etc pay for the cards and most were distributed free.Q: Most of the cards I have seen contain some kind of a public service message on the reverse side. I've also noted that sponsors such as Burger King and other companies were featured on the cards. My guess is that the sponsors would pay to have their logo on these cards as a marketing tool and the monies would go in part to pay McDag for producing them and the remainder could be used to help fund the sports department at that university. Is that about right?A: Yes, the cards were given away free to kids in the community and the sponsors paid the costs of production.Q: I'm sure the answer will vary on this, however, in what way(s) were the cards distributed? I have heard some were given away at games but curious if that's always how they were distributed.A: At games and by police in the community or by teams visiting hospitals and other community venues.Q: When did you decide allow the company to go dormant? What drove this decision? Was it no longer as lucrative due to the drop in interest in collectible cards or perhaps because you became more focused on other business activities?A: I have extensive duties as Executive Director of the LSU Innovation Park, our 5 business incubators and the Entrepreneurship Institute as well as owning a pasta manufacturing company (Fresina’s Pasta Company) so time is an issue as well as kids today really don’t collect cards like they did 15 or more years ago. So we just basically went dormant.

mknez

Good stuff, thanks for the research and questions!

Stone193

Very cool Q&A.

Anyone have a scan? What they look like.

Dpeck100

Here is the Bill Goldberg card.

dytch2220

Here is the Brian Bosworth Sooners Oklahoma University. Other notables I'm aware of are Bo Jackson (Football & Baseball) and Frank Thomas from Auburn University as well as Emmitt Smith from University of Florida.

Stone193

Thanx guys.

BunchOBull

Too cool. I appreciate your research efforts!

I'll add a couple of images for fun: