Thanks Chris. I wonder if that was done rather recently with JoeJax in an effort to create value or if someone just really missed old Shoeless back in the day and wanted him in his lineup.
Gary, thanks for posting those Yankees. By variations I assume you mean the different poses. Gehrig should always appear in the pose you have shown. I say should because that pose is the one the game used for first basemen, but of course whoever had the labels could affix them to any player pose desired, so in theory I guess there could be 14 different (although why anyone would use the two catcher poses to show Lou would be beyond me).
The Ruth is a little more intriguing. Your two examples are likely from the first half of the decade, because they identify the Babe as batting cleanup, which of course changed after Gehrig arrived. The two poses you show are for a pitcher and a right fielder as used in the game, although the labels both have him in RF. Maybe the original owner of that piece remembered him as a hurler, or maybe he just liked the throwing pose for Babe, who knows? What I would like to see is the initial game version for Ruth–you will be able to tell because there is no actual label–the info will be printed right on the base of the playing figure. As you know, Ruth played more in LF than RF before arriving in New York, although that changed his first season as a Yankee. I do not know where the initial version of the game showed him playing in 1921, but I suppose it’s possible you could see him listed as the LF.
Finally if you’re REALLY into variations, you could try and find versions where Babe is batting third, and then, if you’re obsessive, check for font/typeset differences, like these (not mine):
At that point, you should either consider therapy or refer me to someone for help.
