I don't know about you, but for me I prefer prewar postcards that have a period inscription on the reverse that relates to the ballplayer depicted on the obverse of the card. Posted or "dirty" postcards are way more fun than their technically superior "clean" brethren.
Case in point, two of my favorite postcards that relate to the 1908 World Series. A Dietsche Mordecai Brown and a H.M. Taylor Ty Cobb.
Here is the front and back of the Brown:
Mordecai-Brown-postcard-web.jpg Brown postcard back.jpg
The handwriting is a little difficult to decipher but it states "Well here we are again, just leave it to the Cubs to win out every time. They won yesterday from Detroit 2-0 and are now Champions of the World for the 2nd time. You can tell how Brown's hand looks on this".
It was posted in Chicago on October 16 the day after the Cubs beat the Tigers in the World Series for the second year in a row for the last time to date. "Three Finger" Brown won games 1 and 4 and you can indeed see he is missing digits in the photo. The missing digits were his secret weapon, he could cause the ball to move in ways his 5 digit friends coudln't.
The second postcard is of Cobb:
Cobb-Taylor-front-web.jpg Cobb-Taylor-back-web.jpg
It was posted on October 19th, a few days after the conclusion of the series and mentions "Cobb's hit in Chicago won the game for Detroit". Cobb did indeed have a spectacular day in Game 3 in Chicago which was Detroit's sole victory in the series. The card also indicates the sender was at one of games in Detroit. But other part of the back that is interesting is the addressee's town of Peterborough, Ontario. I recently acquired this card, previously unknown to the hobby, from an antique dealer in Peterborough, Ontario who indicates they were conducting an estate sale for a house that had been in the addressee's family since the 1800's and this postcard was in a shoebox in attic. I might not have believed the story myself, but the package that contained it when sent to me was postmarked from Petersborough, Ontario.
So, now I have to decide, should I frame these two together with copies of their backs to go with my other framed displays or should I collect the entire H.M. Taylor postcard set and frame it?
I have the Cobb, Crawford and Detroit team card, but if anyone has other H.M. Taylor postcards please let me know, "dirty" backs preferred but I won't discriminate against those "clean" backs.
Those Cubs they win out every time!