by Dowst, the company
behind the original
Monopoly tokens.plastic ones. This plane
is worth $45; the boxcar
can go for $220!series of the ’50s was
smart marketing: To
complete the set, you had
to buy more Cracker Jack.concerns, Cracker Jack
switched to tattoos,
joke books and handheld
games in the ’70s.“Shoeless Joe” Jackson
sold for $120,000 last
year. Full sets have
fetched $800,000!Most
Valuable!aseball stadium food gets
crazier every year, but
fans won’t be singing about
churro dogs and totchos on opening
day—they ’ll be singing about
Cracker Jack. More than 110 years
after the release of “Take Me Out
to the Ball Game,” the molassesy
popcorn and peanut mix is still
synonymous with America’s
favorite pastime. That shout-out
was pure luck—but it helped
make Cracker Jack stick. Here are
six more fun facts about the salty-
sweet snack with
the prize inside:Brothers
Frederick and
Louis Rueckheim
debuted an
early version of
Cracker Jack at
the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair: It
contained molasses, which made the
mix super sticky and clumpy. They
improved the recipe with a dry coating
that is still a company secret today.Cracker Jack was one of America’sfoods.
novel wax-sealed
package kept the
snack fresh
during shipping.Advertising gurus consider the
line “buy me some peanuts
and Cracker Jack” one of theThe company was a
pioneer. Kellogg’s started tucking
coupons for kids’ books into boxes
of Corn Flakes in 1909, but Cracker
Jack put trinkets like pins, paper dolls
and spinning tops right inside the
packages three years later.The snack’s current owner,like birthdayʼ
ʼ22 FOOD NETWORK MAGAZINE ●MARCH 2020
in the know
CRACKER JACK BOX AND PRIZES: RALPH SMITH. VINTAGE CRACKER JACK BOX: CANDYFAVORITES.COM. CHICAGO WORLD'S FAIR AND BASEBALL CARD: ALAMY. BASEBALL: SHUTTERSTOCK.When baseball season opens on March 26, fans across
3
earliest-and longest-running-
examples of
~ free product
l placement.
1 Ironically, the
~ song's lyricist,
~ Jack Norworth,
l had never been
~ to a baseball game.4
prize
~ ~ Baseball fans have proven
l d their loyalty: Yankee Stadium
l tried to replace Cracker Jack with
~ competitor Crunch 'n Munch in 2004,
~ but fans complained so much that
~ officials reinstated Cracker Jack
l two months later. Today it's sold
l at 25 of the 30 MLB stadiums.16 Frito-Lay, has tried to appeal
l to a new generation of kids with
~ digital prizes - -
~ and limited-
l edition flavors~ cake and holiday
l sugar cookie.Prizo«t,Possossioq,s -----------,
Theresa Richter, president of the Crracker Jack Collectors Association,
gave us t he scoop on some standout prizes from the past century.These 1920s pot metal Tin litho prizes from t he The Alphabet Animals To address choking
miniatures were made '30s are rarer than later)
A 1915 baseball card for~11111111111111111111111111