Posted By:
Joe D.
Although this is on the BST... I have reached a pending sale agreement so I feel comfortable with this post.
After learning about this piece - I have always wanted to share the information with everyone... but since it was a 'for sale' item, I didn't want it to seem like I was pumping something on the main board / and I didn't want to start a thread discussion on the bst.
Anyway - like I said - the item is sold. So now I can share the story 
When I purchased the photo premium, I did not know the date or the purpose behind the item.... Only that it was Ty Cobb, pretty cool, and seemed to advertise an Oldsmobile.
With some nudging by Dan Bretta, I set out to find more information.
In an attempt to date the photo, I took it to a Classic Car company and discussed it with the head mechanic. He thought without a doubt it was an early 1920s car, and if he had to guess it was 1922. He based the early 1920s on the shape of things on the car and the 1922 guess was because of the big '22' on the license plate.... "Its staring us right in the face" he said.
After that, I zoomed in on the license plate and compared it to other Michigan license plates of the time. What I found out was that Michigan required vehicle owners to change their license plate every year... And that you could definitively date the plate by the look of it. The license plate on the car was a 1922 license plate. Pretty exciting, I could now confirm this photo was taken in 1922.
Knowing the date of the photo, I still did not know the purpose behind it. So, with the help of Dan Bretta - I was given some leads to follow and recommendations of people to ask.
I contacted author Richard Bak, author of "Ty Cobb: His Tumultuous Life and Times" and other books. I showed him the image and asked if it looked familiar to him or if he could help me find out information about it.
His response was phenomenal. Honestly, when I asked, I thought I would get generalities about the photo. Instead, Richard Bak gave me a very precise description of the photo.
Here it is...
"The picture (which was taken at Detroit's Navin Field)
was used in a local ad campaign by the Detroit branch
of the C.G. Spring Co. of Michigan. The modestly
priced campaign (which consisted of some small print
ads) was called "Three Winners" and featured Cobb, the
1922 Oldsmobile Sport Model, and C.G. Spring bumpers.
Playing in Detroit, Cobb naturally rubbed shoulders
with many figures in the auto industry and so he may
have been doing this ad as a personal favor for C.G.
Spring's president, a fellow with the unusual name of
Christian Girl. As for his compensation, the money
couldn't have been much; he might've gotten at most a
few hundred dollars for his endorsement and probably a
lot less.
Due to his connections in the Motor City, Cobb
invested wisely in General Motors and Chevrolet stock.
All in all, Cobb did surprisingly few commercial
endorsements for automakers and their suppliers. The
reason is because, through the 1920s, automobiles
basically sold themselves. (It wasn't until the middle
of the decade, when just about everyone who wanted a
car had bought one, that GM really started pushing the
idea of artificial obsolescence on customers by
introducing annual design changes.)"
Well thats it. Hope you enjoyed the read.