[nolemmings]

Bob, thanks again for your help and the link to the S74 website. I am leery of venturing far from my lane, especially into sets that have a devoted and well-developed collector base that likely has answered many of my questions both long ago and often. But if such knowledge is out there, I must just be missing alot of it.

Having focused on the Px7 disk set for awhile now, I was a bit embarrassed in failing to notice that all Boston NLer’s were Rustlers and that this pointed to a 1911 origination date, especially since I penned an article in OC just last December suggesting 1910. Then it occurred to me that the pins and silks sets appeared to show the same thing, and wondered why this had not been explored, to my knowledge anyway. It just seemed that everyone considered 1909 or 1910 as starting times for these sets, even when there hasn’t been any advertising or other evidence from that time period to support it. Apparently no one has pulled a disk, pin or silk from a cigarette pack or knows of anyone who has done so, nor are there any news accounts or store photos discussing/showing these “cards”. Again, I could be absolutely wrong, but I have yet to see any evidence of distribution dates, and I read this board fairly regularly. Maybe everyone can set me straight and keep it all in this thread for later reference.

I am not sure I agree that the S74 white silks preceded T205 in 1911, although I will give it further thought and wait to hear more. For one thing it always made sense to me that the cardboard T205s would have entered the market before the ancillary sets that used the same pictures on different materials. Also and in that vein, T205 had a card of Addie Joss when all the others did not. We all know that Joss died in early 1911, and his T205 makes mention of it. I just thought that the plan was to include the Cleveland hurler, who was popular and very talented, and T205 offered tribute even though he had passed. I also figured the others came later and left Joss out because of his death, especially as their blank or advertising-only backs could not convey the tragedy and it might be poor taste to include him. Speculation for sure but it made sense to me.

In looking at these issues some more, I do agree that T202 was drawn up and ready for production by the end of 1911–at least the artwork and player selection were ready. It is of course considered a 1912 release, and the information contained on the card backs properly dates it as such. Still and as noted, the team name Rustlers appears on the fronts of the Boston NLers, and that team name basically went away when Mr. Russell died in late 1911. The card backs do not appear to use the team nickname, and it is clear the write-ups came later. Interesting to me is the T202 card that shows Jack Knight and Walter Johnson. I wonder who was originally intended to be the other player with Knight?