Those M114's - When Are We Going To Talk About Them?

[akleinb611]

I'm back! And so is this thread!

I have trouble letting things go, or so my wife tells me...

Anyway, this has been a great experience when it comes to comparing our collections, and thanks to Doug, I for one have learned a lot about the endless caption variations. I'm confident that I'll never have the budget or the focus to collect them all.

However, I'd like to steer things a little closer to what I had in mind in the first place, which is to exchange information about the set. Let's face it, there are few major sets about which so little is known. And there are lots and lots of questions.

Are there any Baseball MAGAZINE collectors/experts out there? Does anyone have any detailed knowledge about the magazine's final years, how its inventory was ultimately disposed (there was a major auction house sale a few years ago - the printing plates have already been cited). Was there an inventory of posters included in that sale? Have there been any warehouse finds? Because pioneer New York area dealer Bob Gallagher was selling M114's from a two foot high stack on his table at shows in the late Seventies, and I don't think he purchased them one at a time.

Other issues I'd like people to join in on: set oddities. Ken Keltner is listed as having had posters issued in 1939 and 1947. I've only seen the one relatively common batting pose. Any other versions lurking out there?

Not long ago, someone got hold of a 1928 Jimmie Foxx printed in green rather than the usual sepia. It looked like the real thing. Anyone else have off-color premiums? (you're free to insert your own jokes here)...

Finally, here's my current list of posters that do not appear on the official list. Please, by all means, feel free to add to them:

M113: 1-4) Ty Cobb, Johnny Evers, Frank Chance, Walter Johnson - each seems to exist in two poses, and the official list has only one each.
5) Vic Saier - not listed anywhere
6) Death Valley Scott - also not listed, although I've seen a few around.

M114: 1) Mickey Cochrane (Tigers) - probably 1935. Only version on the list is from 1925, obviously showing him with the A's
2) Rudolph York (Tigers, batting) - there's a catching pose from 1938 and a dugout pose from 1946, both listing him as "Rudy." My guess for "Rudolph" is 1942.
3) Dizzy Dean (Cubs) - probably 1938
4) Joe Gordon (NY) - second pose, shown early in this thread. 1942?
5) Bob Feller (Washington DC caption) - probably 1957
6) Ty Cobb (batting cage, Washington DC) - shown in an earlier post of mine, probably 1957
7) Mickey Mantle - two poses have been shown in this thread, only one is on the list

Happy hunting.

Alan Kleinberger