1908 Auditorium Roller Rink Pirates set
 

I found this ad in the 2/25/1908 issue of the Pittsburg Post-Gazette. Has anyone ever seen or heard of this set?

Apparently it wasn't just Pirates. This ad ran two days later.

Wow! would love to see an example of the set.

Cool find! I've never heard of these either.

Looks like at least 6 series of cards. It feels like the photos have nothing to do with the cards. If they didn't print an ad on the cards then we'd be looking at any of the blank back or anon sets.

I have now found five different ads. Looks like it is six series total.

Series 1 - photo of Fred Clarke - ad ran 2/25/08.
Series 2 - no ad found yet.
Series 3 - photo of Bresnahan - ad ran 2/27/08.
Series 4 - photo of Frank Chance - ad ran 2/28/08.
Series 5 - photo of Harry Steinfeldt - ad ran 2/29/08.
Series 6 - photo of Tommy Leach - as ran 3/1/08.

I have not found anything dated after 3/1/08, so most likely, it was only six series.

Oh man I hope one of these pictures surfaces. That would be so cool. I assume it would have info on the rink on the back, or somewhere.

Do we really think very many, if any, of these cards still exist? I mean a card or series of cards given out by a single roller rink in one city during a short period of time.

David

I foresee road trips to Pittsburgh in search of 100+ year old homes with occupants willing to let us search their attics with no restrictions!


Brian

This is fascinating.

"I foresee road trips to Pittsburgh in search of 100+ year old homes with occupants willing to let us search their attics with no restrictions!"

...and a new T206 Honus Wagner is discovered in the process......

On a serious note, if the pictures in the newspaper ads are what the cards were /are supposed to look like, are there ANY cards that we know of that look like those?

David

Oh yes, I forgot to add, I can see the t-shirt now, "I went to Pittsburgh to look for roller rink baseball cards and all I found was a Honus Wagner T206".

David

That Fred Clarke image looks very similar to his T206 portrait.

I hear Honus likes to hang out in attics.

The Fred Clarke shown in the OP looks like the photo used for his Fan Craze card, while the Roger Bresnahan looks like this 1903 Carl Horner photo of him. Not 100% sure, but these photos definitely seem possible.


Brian

Series No. 2 is on page 9 of the Feb 26th issue. Fred Denney, Boston.

Cards or photos?
 

The ads say "photos", not "cards". Perhaps it was photos. Size obviously would be unknown.

Actually, the ads say pictures. If I remember correctly, the newspaper ads for T206 also said pictures. The term 'baseball cards' was not used back then.

+1

Not impossible
 

If cards like this can exist then its possible. These were likely a small order from the printer (Mendelsohn) given away until they ran out. From what I've read the theatre was in Cleveland, I would assume that was smaller than Pittsburgh at the time.

Attachment 602937

That's an interesting card. How many Mall Theatre cards are known to exist?

There may very well be a few Roller Rink pictures in someone's collection somewhere. Many collectors don't like to share info about what they have. Perhaps unlikely, but certainly possible.

There are 12 cards graded with the Mall Theatre back (both companies) and according to the authority on these (Todd Schultz) there are 18 total.