It looks like it was trimmed, to me. And whoever did it was fairly skilled at it. The left side is definitely trimmed, and the top is ever so slightly trimmed. I think the bottom was not trimmed, and I am fairly sure the right side wasn't bothered at all (evident from the slight discoloration to that side as evident from the back. If you're not inclined to measure it, stack it among several decent white border cards, and i think you'll find that Hooker is ever so slightly skinny and a touch short.
If it goes to a third party grader, it'll probably come back trimmed or A, or they may well grade it with a number, but that doesn't change the card; it has been carefully trimmed a bit. If it were my card I'd pay a few dollars to NOT have it graded, if I was held hostage about that. I would wanna crack it outa the slab, I'd want it in a 15 pocket sheet and then in a ring binder. It's a great looking card, I'd want it in my collection instantly and continuing; instead of in the hands of some grading company for a few months and then in the hands of one of their yahoo graders for 20 seconds...
I got interested in looking up newspaper articles about South Atlantic League games years ago because I was annoyed that Dr. Beckett's guides wouldn't have the first names for some of those players in the T206 list. They had to have first names... I found a few, and evidently others did, too. After a few years the names appeared; and some player identifications were corrected (I got the Colgan's Lelivelt correctly identified as Bill, when it had been listed as Jack. Did you know they were brothers born in The Netherlands?) Anyway, those guys above are right about Hooker's first name.
It's a great looking card. That card would sell well here, and please email me if you get ready to sell it. I congratulate you on espying that card and acquiring it.
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