Actually Mendelsohn published the cards for both series, but borrowed heavily for his photos in the m101-4/5 sets. He was far more hands on with m101-6, copyrighting many of the photos which he either took or more likely had taken at his direction.
Leland's can be forgiven for listing the card as affiliated with the Sporting News in its 1994 auction description, since at that time the hobby regarded m101-6 as connected to TSN. The hobby then considered the set as being issued in 1919 also, which is probably why LeLand's claimed its Shoeless was issued "during notorious 1919 season". In fact, the photo was taken in 1917 and the set was first available that year.
IMO, it would be a mistake to assert that this card was unique, although I still have not seen an image of another. M101-6s could be ordered for a nickel a card. It seems hard to believe that Joe Jackson would not have been a popular choice among collectors, and Chicago publisher Mendelsohn would not have been shy about printing them. He has been listed in the checklist for at least a quarter century (he's in my first edition SCD book), and while that alone is not determinative, it does imply that someone has seen his card a time or two before.
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