E93 Collins card pictures Jimmy Collins, not Eddie Collins...what do you think?

[brianp-beme]

On another thread about least favorite cards of favorite players, I posted a scan of an E93 of Eddie Collins, and indicated that I never thought it looked much like him. Todd responded with a photo of Jimmy Collins (shown here) that certainly looks a lot closer to the E93 card than a youthful Eddie Collins would appear at that time. Thanks Todd, and I thought this subject deserved its own thread.

Jimmy finished his MLB career with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1908. The E93 Standard Caramel set has been identified to have been issued in 1910. It is possible that the makers included Jimmy in 1910, but not as likely as perhaps this set being issued in 1909. A little research into the set might point to an earlier date, and if no one else beats me to it, I will check back in a couple days with what I find.

Do you think the E93 card of Collins is actually Jimmy, or do you think it has been correctly identified as Eddie all these years?

Brian

[Throttlesteer]

Possibly Jimmy.....but heck, with that card it could be Irv Young for all we know.

[RCMcKenzie]

Eddie had some big stats in 1909 and 1910 for Philly. Jimmy was at or near the end of his career by the time he joined the A's. Arguably his last good season was 1902 in Boston. I think it's meant to be Eddie. Interesting though.

[nolemmings]

The artist in e93 didn't do Jimmy any favors with that Jackie Gleason meets the Joker depiction, but it seems pretty clear that the artwork came from the same photo used in the W555 set, which also is incorrectly attributed to Eddie. This looks very much like Jimmy and absolutely nothing like Eddie (per Old Cardboard):
http://www.oldcardboard.com/w/w555/16.jpg

[RCMcKenzie]

Here's a thread on the topic from 2011. I guess Jimmy was a popular player.

www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=143843

[brianp-beme]

I think almost all collectors, grading companies, catalogs, etc. have this card classified as Eddie Collins, just as I have identified it in my head for many years. The photos shown really should be something that should push the identification of this card to actually be that of Jimmy Collins, even if he did last play for Philadelphia in 1908. A likely scenario is that the producers of this set accidently, or carelessly, used the photo of Jimmy Collins (as seen in the W555) to create a card for Eddie.

This is different than most switched identities where the card indicates a specific player, but the photo is of another player. Since the E93 card (as well as the Collins E98 card, which uses the same image) does not list the first name of the player, these cards should be identified as Jimmy Collins.

By the way I checked the players in the E93 and E98 set, and discovered that 1910 is the most likely date of issue (as I discovered Lew Lipset had determined as well in his Encylopedia of Baseball Cards entries on the sets). One interesting thing I discovered is that it is a very good possibility that the E98 set was issued either mid-season to late season in 1910 because of the inclusion of the Russ Ford card, as his major league career consisted of only a single three inning stint in 1909, but then burst into the big leagues in a big way in 1910 with a 26 win season. Also Jack Coombs had been pitching decently in the majors since 1906, but also had a breakout year in 1910, winning 31 games.

Brian

[Tao_Moko]

I've heard this argument made before and recall a photo backing it up. I cannot locate the image with a quick search. Anybody have the ability to find the photo used for this pose? That would settle it for sure.

[Leon]

Nice research and interesting.

I think almost all collectors, grading companies, catalogs, etc. have this card classified as Eddie Collins, just as I have identified it in my head for many years. The photos shown really should be something that should push the identification of this card to actually be that of Jimmy Collins, even if he did last play for Philadelphia in 1908. A likely scenario is that the producers of this set accidently, or carelessly, used the photo of Jimmy Collins (as seen in the W555) to create a card for Eddie.

This is different than most switched identities where the card indicates a specific player, but the photo is of another player. Since the E93 card (as well as the Collins E98 card, which uses the same image) does not list the first name of the player, these cards should be identified as Jimmy Collins.

By the way I checked the players in the E93 and E98 set, and discovered that 1910 is the most likely date of issue (as I discovered Lew Lipset had determined as well in his Encylopedia of Baseball Cards entries on the sets). One interesting thing I discovered is that it is a very good possibility that the E98 set was issued either mid-season to late season in 1910 because of the inclusion of the Russ Ford card, as his major league career consisted of only a single three inning stint in 1909, but then burst into the big leagues in a big way in 1910 with a 26 win season. Also Jack Coombs had been pitching decently in the majors since 1906, but also had a breakout year in 1910, winning 31 games.

Brian