[Leon]

There has always been 6 cards reported to be in the E221 Bishop Team card set. There are, however, only 5 cards known in it with Sacramento being the card never seen. The other cards are Los Angeles, Oakland, Portland, San Francisco and Vernon. The cards measure approximately 2 3/4" x 10" and are made on thin paper stock much like a few other pre-war issues ie... T213-1, T216 Virginia Extra etc...The dimensions and paper thin stock, along with limited distribution probably account for their rarity in the hobby today. Print on several of the photos imply all six teams were issued. According to Lipset's Encyclopedia he surmises it could have been to fool collectors and a sixth card may not exist. He also goes onto say a west coast collector has a sheet of the 5 known teams, again casting doubt on the sixth card. I have a theory that the sixth card might have been the Los Angeles team card variation, which is uniquely known (to me and everyone I know that collects them) in the hobby. It has 13 players instead of the regular 20 players on the card, as shown. This purple variation was obtained on ebay some 7-8 yrs ago and was acquired from an early 1960's type collection. The collection also heralded an E222, T206 Uzit (raw but since graded EX), E98 Old Put and hundreds of other cards. Back when they were acquired I remember spending literally 4-5 hours on the phone with the seller (a few different times), who owned an antique shop where these were brought in. It was quite exciting going through the collection with him as he turned the pages and uncovered more rare type cards as he went.

I realize there are thousands of members here, and more than that whom read the board, so if anyone has seen another of the 13 player LA cards I would appreciate an email or PM, or posting here, with details. It was an interesting find to say the least. best regards....