Posted By:
Brian Weisner
Hi Ted,
Your theory of 48 per sheet is certainly possible, but I have always felt they were printed in smaller sheets from 18-36. I don't have any hard evidence to support either idea, but I think we do agree that most of the vintage sheets in existence include between 18-48 cards.
Your theory does raise several questions that have always puzzled me:
1. There are exactly 48 Southern Leaguers in the set, but only 37 of them have been found with Hindu backs, making it possible that they did share space on a 48 card sheet with a few Major Leaguers.
2. Obviously it makes sense that the 9 150 only cards could have been added to the sheet to bring the number to 46, and that 2 more cards could have been added to complete the sheet. However, we have seen evidence while trying to rebuild sheets that suggest that not all sheets had the same conbinations. There are certainly "Long prints", ie Evers Yellow, Chance Yellow, Cobb Red, etc, as well as "short prints" ie Lundgren, Lindaman, Doyle, etc that support this idea.
3. The 48 number also could lead you to conclude that all of the Southern Leaguers were printed on the same sheet for the 350 series, as all are found with Old Mill and Piedmont backs. All they had to do, was drop the 9 150 only cards and the 2 extra's and everything fits nicely.
I'll try to add more to your theory when I have more time, but I'm heading to the pool right now. Be well Brian
PS Michael the name on the top of the Lundgren is Doolin, who appears in many of the early Hindu adds...