He was a big deal in Weiser, but I live 30 miles from Weiser, it is not a big city by any means. Half the small cities in America had a "Weiser Wonder" type phenom around 1905-1907 (obviously not as good as Johnson but to their small towns at the time there were similar type players). If this postcard had been produced IN WEISER then you would see almost all of them with Idaho postmarks right? How many have ever been found with Idaho postmarks? Zero to my knowledge. SO this is a postcard that had National Distribution. Who would bother to make a postcard Nationally from a rookie who hadn't made it big yet? Nobody would unless it was issued locally in Idaho which there is no way it was given the circumstantial evidence. So who would make a Nationally distributed postcard of a ballplayer celebrating his humble roots? Someone who wanted to capitalize on that players superstardom. So it is a sure bet that this was made after Johnson attained his stardom and was attempting to show his humble roots with a 1907 photo that they had to issue with a copyright date on it of when it was taken.
To me this is a settled issue and I have done a lot of research into the subject as I have visited Weiser on many occasions and live in the area. There is simply no way this postcard was produced in the Weiser area or Idaho in general, its a 1909-1910 postcard at the earliest until someone finds one with an earlier postmark.
Rhys
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