In 1977, Burger Chef reigned as a leading fast-food chain, and among its standout promotions was the Triple Play Funmeal – a combination of food and play. The Funmeal was served on a cardboard tray that doubled as a playing board. What really separates the Triple Play Funmeal apart, and warrants an article is the scale of the offering. With 24 team trays, each equipped with nine punch-out discs, it’s the largest disc set of its time. Created in collaboration with Michael Schecter and Associates, the discs share the same basic design as other MSA discs, but the backs feature a burger chef cartoon character. Burger Chef also released a set of six zany baseball posters to bolster the promotion and add a bit more humor to the mix.
You can read all about Burger Chef on Wikipedia, but the 101 is that they operated between 1954 and 1996 and, at their peak, had 1050 locations. Burger Chef introduced their Funmeal in 1974, five years before McDonald’s Happy Meal. But, the Burger Chef brand owners gradually sold to Hardee’s.
The following advertisement shows that each Funmeal came with a burger, fries, a soft drink, and a treat.
The advertisement highlighted the game, the fact that each tray had 9 Major League trading cards (discs), and the fact that there were 24 different trays, adding up to 216 different baseball cards, each with a colorful Burger Chef cartoon character on the back. Kids had to punch out the discs, which doubled as player cards and baseballs. The bottom of the ad highlighted the six different baseball-themed wall posters.
The in-store displays highlighted the same features in the Triple Play Funmeal: the Major League Baseball Trading Cards, Baseball Action Game, and Zany Baseball Posters.
The trays are about 8.7″ x 11.75″, each featuring nine player discs from one of the 24 Major League teams in 1976. Burger Chef printed assembly instructions and game rules on the box. Here’s a pair of examples, one for the Dodgers and one for the Cardinals, and an unfolded tray in its game board form.
You can pick up a complete set of 24 team trays for just under $200 with a bit of patience. The priciest tray, by book value, is the California Angels one, which features Nolan Ryan’s disc, which is, again, by book value, the priciest individual disc. The Yankees and Reds trays are pretty popular, too.
As I wrote in the intro, Michael Schecter Associates produced the 2-3/8″ diameter discs. Hence, the fronts share the same basic design as all the other MSA discs of the era that the Players Association licensed and had to have the team cap logos airbrushed out. They’re also unnumbered.
Interestingly, because the discs carry a 1976 copyright, despite being marketed in 1977, Reggie Jackson can be seen wearing an airbrushed Orioles cap while being included on the Yankees team tray, despite not playing with the Yankees until 1977. Jackson signed with the Yankees in November 1976, so the Burger Chef promotion must have been finalized after that (the advertisement above does feature a 1977 copyright) under a Player’s Association license MSA received in 1976.
However, while the fronts feature standard MSA designs, the backs feature a Burger Chef cartoon character: Burger Chef, Jeff, Crankenburger, Burgerilla, Fangburger, Mrs. Fangburger, Fangburger’s Daughter, Burgerini, and Where Wolf.
PSA has graded 1030 of these discs; most sell for a little more than grading costs. Tom Seaver actually has the most PSA-graded discs, with 48, followed by Mike Schmidt, Nolan Ryan, Dave Winfield, and George Brett.
I’ve also seen the following American League and National League Triple Play Funmeal posters advertising all the discs; they’d make incredible wall art for a collector’s office.
Burger Chef also promoted the six Zany Baseball Posters: 1-“Jeff Hits A Homer,” 2-“Crackenburger Goes After A Fly,” 3-“Jeff Slides Into Home Plate!!!” 4-“Fangburger Steals 2nd Base!” 5-“A Great Catch In Left Field!” 6-“Burger Chef Throws His Rainbow Pitch…!” Here are three of them.
I suspect the Burger Chef Triple Play Funmeal holds a special place in the hearts of those collectors who experienced them as kids in the restaurants. For those who didn’t, the discs are still pretty cool!
Happy collecting!