[Leon]

Nice research and interesting.

Originally Posted by brianp-beme

I think almost all collectors, grading companies, catalogs, etc. have this card classified as Eddie Collins, just as I have identified it in my head for many years. The photos shown really should be something that should push the identification of this card to actually be that of Jimmy Collins, even if he did last play for Philadelphia in 1908. A likely scenario is that the producers of this set accidently, or carelessly, used the photo of Jimmy Collins (as seen in the W555) to create a card for Eddie.

This is different than most switched identities where the card indicates a specific player, but the photo is of another player. Since the E93 card (as well as the Collins E98 card, which uses the same image) does not list the first name of the player, these cards should be identified as Jimmy Collins.

By the way I checked the players in the E93 and E98 set, and discovered that 1910 is the most likely date of issue (as I discovered Lew Lipset had determined as well in his Encylopedia of Baseball Cards entries on the sets). One interesting thing I discovered is that it is a very good possibility that the E98 set was issued either mid-season to late season in 1910 because of the inclusion of the Russ Ford card, as his major league career consisted of only a single three inning stint in 1909, but then burst into the big leagues in a big way in 1910 with a 26 win season. Also Jack Coombs had been pitching decently in the majors since 1906, but also had a breakout year in 1910, winning 31 games.

Brian