Sporting News Record books 1908 - 1941
 

I was curious to see if anyone here had information on the sporting news record books, specifically from 1908 to 1941. I've noticed that they have some in green and some in red..sometimes in the same year. Is one harder to find than another? Is only one player pictured per year? Also, I saw one 1928 Gehrig that the seller said was a reproduction...is there any sure way to tell a reproduction from an original (copyright, etc)?.
Thanks for any help.

anyone collect these..anyone, anyone...Bueller, Bueller?

Mike- I've had some of these over the years but don't really know anything about them. Otherwise, I would have gladly answered your question. My guess is in the collecting world the color of the covers won't really make a difference.

Mike..........not sure I'll have the answers to all your questions.........the books come in red for ALL years and I've got a note that I have a 1915 Green with Charles Comiskey on the cover. Do you have a checklist of them all? The earlier years are VERY tough. The most common years are 1931-1940. Those must have been MUCH more heavily printed that the earlier years. I know Lyman Hardeman who runs Oldcardboard.com collects them as well. The oldest I have is 1910. The Joe Jackson 1917 issue is always the hardest to find and to find in really nice shape it seems. It will bring many hundreds of dollars in decent shape. I think actually that the green are harder to find but don't really seem to bring much of a premium unless you have two people really looking for them at once. You rarely see any from the 1920's or back on ebay. Just usually the common stuff. I think they're neat collectibles and for the prices pretty decent. The older issues will bring $100-$400 or more depending on cover and condition with the Jackson bringing quite a bit more than that.

and.....the Reprints are really easy to tell if you can get ahold of one and feel it. They have more of a washed out look to them as well when scanned. Not sure if they reprinted all years or not but I have about 8-10 reprints as I picked them up in a lot. They are on much cheaper paper than the originals which are on a slicker paper.

Thank you Barry and Tom. I've been wanting to collect these for awhile and now have a chance to start picking up a few. Wasn't sure if it was worth my efforts to get duplicates (one in red and one in green) but I think I'll stick with one or the other and not both. I have seen a few from the 20's, but not too many...I guess I'll keep an eye open for those first. Still not sure if I'd be able to tell the diff between a copy and an original...at least from a scan. But from what I've seen, a lot of the sellers are specific about them being original.

SN Record Books
 

The first year they were published was 1909. The 1910 features Ty Cobb and Honus Wagner on the cover. Here's a picture of some of the older ones I have.

Mike, of the ones in the picture, I've only seen the Sisler before. Very nice. I think this is going to be a fun project to complete...or try:rolleyes:

From what I can tell, here is a partial list of players per year. Mike, I couldn't read a couple of the names in your picture, could you help fill in the some of the blanks?

1909
1910 Cobb and Wagner
1911
1912 Eddie Collins
1913
1914
1915 Charles Comiskey
1916
1917 Joe Jackson
1918
1919
1920 Babe Ruth
1921
1922 Rogers Hornsby
1923 George Sisler
1924 Everett Scott
1925 Walter Johnson
1926 Max Carey
1927 Bob O'Farrell
1928 Lou Gehrig
1929
1930 Mickey Cochrane
1931 Hack Wilson
1932 Lefty Grove
1933 Jimmie Foxx
1934 Carl Hubbell
1935 Dizzy Dean
1936 Hank Greenberg
1937 Joe McCarthy
1938 Joe Medwick
1939 Abner Doubleday
1940 Bucky Walters
1941 Bob Feller (change in design)

1929 Ruth/Gehrig
1921 Sisler/Ruth
1919 Lt. Col. T.L. Huston
1918 St. Louis Browns
1916 Joseph Lannin
1914 Ban Johnson

I'm not sure about 1909, 11, 12 or 13.

thanks Mike! That leaves just a few that I can't seem to find any info on.

Mike,
I did a quick check on ebay. There are lots of them available, including many of the geen border variety.
You choud be able to get quite ahead start.
Good Luck,
Mark

Thanks Mark! I just checked and you sure are correct about that. There's even one seller with a few from the 20's. I may have to get an earlier start on these than anticipated.

I just picked up the 1930 and 1933 versions from one seller. Pretty good condition and good price, so it looks like I'm on my way!!

I'm pretty sure these are correct...
1911-Philadelphia A's
1912-Eddie Collins
1913-Frank Chance & Frank Farrell

Thanks guys...all that's left is 1909. If anyone knows who's on the cover for that year, I'd appreciate hearing from you.

1909
1910 Cobb and Wagner
1911 Philadelphia A's
1912 Eddie Collins
1913 Frank Chance & Frank Farrell
1914 Ban Johnson
1915 Charles Comiskey
1916 Joseph Lannin
1917 Joe Jackson
1918 St. Louis Browns
1919 Lt. Col. T.L. Huston
1920 Babe Ruth
1921 Sisler/Ruth
1922 Rogers Hornsby
1923 George Sisler
1924 Everett Scott
1925 Walter Johnson
1926 Max Carey
1927 Bob O'Farrell
1928 Lou Gehrig
1929 Ruth/Gehrig
1930 Mickey Cochrane
1931 Hack Wilson
1932 Lefty Grove
1933 Jimmie Foxx
1934 Carl Hubbell
1935 Dizzy Dean
1936 Hank Greenberg
1937 Joe McCarthy
1938 Joe Medwick
1939 Abner Doubleday
1940 Bucky Walters
1941 Bob Feller (change in design)

I also showed a 1908 in my notes although I have nothing for name for it or 1909. Don't know where I saw that but must have been in an auction or something. I know Lew Lipset had a single lot of 150-200 of these--mostly from the 1930's--once. I'll try to shoot some photos of mine and post...........

Tom,

I originally saw that 1908 was the first year as well, but have since confirmed from multiple sources that 1909 was actually the first...the confusion may have been because the 1909 has 1908 info? Not sure. Looking forward to seeing your photos.
Thanks again,
Mike

Here is the only one I have Mike along side with the reason I bought it...

Attachment 18235Attachment 18236

Some of mine...........will post more.....just found these photos.......

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_4HWgEGY7S_k/S-...s800/SNRB1.jpg
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_4HWgEGY7S_k/S-...s800/SNRB2.jpg
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_4HWgEGY7S_k/S-...s800/SNRB3.jpg

Jimmy...that is COOL! I'm not sure why I'm surprised that you not only have the 1928 book, but the companion piece as well :)
Tom, wow...you do have quite a few, and both the red and greens from several years. Very nice. I'll add my two here even though they're still on the way and since they're not pictured elsewhere on the thread

The 1909 just has a small generic drawing of a runner being tagged out, and the words "The Sporting News Record Book for 1909 containing information of general interest to Base Ball enthusiasts".

Thanks Mike! That completes the checklist for 1909 - 1941.

1909 Generic runner being tagged out
1910 Cobb and Wagner
1911 Philadelphia A's
1912 Eddie Collins
1913 Frank Chance & Frank Farrell
1914 Ban Johnson
1915 Charles Comiskey
1916 Joseph Lannin
1917 Joe Jackson
1918 St. Louis Browns
1919 Lt. Col. T.L. Huston
1920 Babe Ruth
1921 Sisler/Ruth
1922 Rogers Hornsby
1923 George Sisler
1924 Everett Scott
1925 Walter Johnson
1926 Max Carey
1927 Bob O'Farrell
1928 Lou Gehrig
1929 Ruth/Gehrig
1930 Mickey Cochrane
1931 Hack Wilson
1932 Lefty Grove
1933 Jimmie Foxx
1934 Carl Hubbell
1935 Dizzy Dean
1936 Hank Greenberg
1937 Joe McCarthy
1938 Joe Medwick
1939 Abner Doubleday
1940 Bucky Walters
1941 Bob Feller (change in design)

1925 Walter Johnson Sporting News
 

Whats the approximate value of a 1925 one in ex+? No rips, tears or creases.