Seeking info : 1926 Spalding Champtions Baseball

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Posted By: Brian H (misunderestimated)

I have a checklist ( I know they are part of a larger set of subjects), standard catalogue etc. I would like to know anything else about these cards anyone can tell including (but not limited to):
-- Relative scarcity of players
-- Relative Scarcity of backs (biographies vs. advertisements)
-- Any players in especially high demand

I would prefer if anyone who can help would please POST their infomration/ideas so that the rest of the Board readers can react to it (i.e "vet" it).

Thanks for you assistance.

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Posted By: MW

We have been fortunate (or unfortunate if you consider the ilk of Roy Huff partially ruining their values by confusing new customers via disassembled Spalding Guides on eBay) to have two finds of Spaldings. In 1989 in Minneapolis we purchased 110 different in VG to EX condition. In 1996 in Tacoma (Dennis Purdy's show at the Dome) a gentleman sold us 550. The second time, there was an average between 2 and 3 of each card and two dozen each of Ruth, Dempsey, and Hagen. A partial set of 195 was assembled and sold privately to an individual, who, in our opinion has the most advanced and complete trading card collection in the world and certainly the only one which can rival Burdick's. There was exactly one Mint example of Cochrane and Lazzeri (PSA 9) and those were acquired by a major (and astute!) rookie card collector.

Several years ago, a helpful customer directed us to the purchase of a Ruth with a 1927 copyright date and differing text on the reverse. To the best of our knowledge this is the only Spalding Champions card like this. Among other interesting cards known to exist would be hand cut blank backed/proofs of Red Grange and Ty Cobb. In our opinion, the biographical and statistical backed Spaldings are the only specimens which can be proven to have been distributed for use in selling sporting goods as this information was directly related in both of the acquisitions in the previous paragraphs. In each cellophane package, the client obtained the Champions card and a scrip card which came in orange or pink. The scrip card was simply a numbered coupon that could be combined with other scrip cards in order to apply up to a 50% discount against one's favorite catching mitt (or other sporting good). In all, there are less than 2,000 Spaldings which have been uncovered with about 100 each of Ruth, Dempsey, and Hagen and only 5-10 of the rest of the athletes including the baseball players. At least a quarter of the total known specimens were picked up by Alan Hager and have advertising on the reverse instead of biographical information.

Additional note: there have also been other finds of several players as is the case with Joe Sewell. Tilden and Weismuller also seem to be slightly more common than the rest.

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Posted By: Tom Boblitt

Sewell to be pretty common as Scott Gaynor auctioned a number of pairs of them a year or two back....one auto'ed, one not. I know I won a couple pairs of them at like $50 for the pair. I know I lost out on 5-6 of them at least. I got one of mine graded a PSA9 (unsigned).
FYI........Tom

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Posted By: Paul

I believe the ad backs were all "discovered" by Alan Hager and graded by his company. This has always caused me to have serious concerns about their authenticity. But I've never seen one in person, and I recall other collectors being confident that they are real. For what it is worth, Alan Hager used to advertise that only 3 or 4 ad backs were known for each player.

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Posted By: joe maples

Where are these in the 2005 SCD catalog?

Thanks joe

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Posted By: David Vargha

My 2000 Standard Catalog refers to them as "1926 Sports Co. of America Champions".

DavidVargha@hotmail.com

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Posted By: jay behrens

Common players tend to much tougher to find than the stars. I am in need of one card from the set, which I happened to own in the 80s when I originally formulated the idea of the player set. I need Emil Yde. This is the only card that he appears on and is the reason I bought the card back then.

Jay

My place is full of valuable, worthless junk.

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Posted By: Hal Lewis

So was this set a "cataloged" set by Jefferson Burdick, or was it not known until a recent find?

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Posted By: Andy Baran

Brian,

The Cochrane and the Lazzeri are in high demand, since many collectors consider them to be Rookie Cards.

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Posted By: leon

Burdick didn't catalogue them......

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Posted By: Scott Forrest

The three I have each came in a glassine envelope with a coupon

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Posted By: Hal Lewis

The biography backed cards are obviously real.

I have always wondered about the "other" cards that all showed up recently in the "find".

Why would the backs be different... and has ANYONE ever seen one of these "Ad Backed" cards that was NOT in pristine condition??

I would LOVE to hear from ANYONE who has had one of the "Ad Backed" versions of these cards in their collection for decades!!

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Posted By: HW

Brian H,

I am aware of two large finds of these cards. As already mentioned, Alan Hagar found a group of 400 to 500 of these cards in the late 1980's.

Robert Edward Auctions sold a group of 800 of them in the mid 1990's. It included 35 Babe Ruth cards, and a near set of 205 or so different cards from all sports. I believe that they sold the near set as a lot and the balance of the collection as a lot. I do not think that there were more than five of any any one baseball player, except Ruth.

I am not aware of the second group that MW mentioned, but it may be a part of the Robert Edward group. If not then there were three large collections.

I also believe that the 1927 Ruth is one of a kind and I never remember a Cobb being offered from one of the finds.

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Posted By: Paul

An uncut sheet was sold in one of the major auctions, I believe Robert Edwards. It was supposed to be from the estate of KiKi Cuyler (who is in the set). If anyone knows the whereabouts of this sheet, the existence of a Cobb can be confirmed or disproven.

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Posted By: Mark

There are 3 other HOF rookies in addition to Cochrane. I just got my "Big Poison" Waner.

I have seen 5+ PSA/DNA 9 auto'd Sewells in the past year alone.

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Posted By: Wesley

Are hand-cut cards found on the ad backs only or were they also found on the backs with biographies? I purchased a card recently with the biography back that appears to have been hand-cut. Aside from some obvious problems with the card, I am wondering whether it has also been trimmed.

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Posted By: Paul

I have a handcut Cochrane with a bio back.

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Posted By: Harry Wallace (HW)

Yes, there was an uncut sheet in a Robert Edward auction. I believe that the sheet had about 200 different subjects. There was not Cobb on the sheet.

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Posted By: MW

I dug through our records and added some additional information to my earlier post (See above).

I hope this helps collectors who are pursuing one or more cards in this series.

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Posted By: Mark Holt

I'd like to thank all the posters who put this info up. This is a terrific thread and the reason I look into this forum often. I wish there were more threads like this and fewer rants about graded vs ungraded and which grading company sucks the most and relative value etc etc etc.

Thanks again for the great information and scans.

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Posted By: joseph

I have a Ruth card with the ad back that I purchased in 1999 from a church rummage sale that was in terrible shape . The card looks like a mouse got a hold of it. I also have a Cobb that is a blankback.

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Posted By: Scott Forrest

Your coupon is definitely "border deficient". Since the coupons and cards were the same size, I'd say the coupon and Ruth card were trimmed down together.