Quote:
Originally Posted by bcbgcbrcb
Love the Rose postcard, Kevin. That was one that I was never able to pick up when I was doing my original BB HOF Rookies set along with the Tris Speaker Rose. Is it still believed that the Rose Speaker doesn’t exist?
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Thanks Phil. The 1908 Rose Co postcard of Johnson was my White Whale for years.
I always hold out hope that a Speaker exists in the set, but it is doubtful. Speaker showed up on a checklist back in 1982, but no image exists and no one that I know of has ever claimed to have seen one.
If he does exist, he is not part of the original 192 card set that was issued in 1908. Each of the 16 teams had 12 players issued and all 12 Red Sox are accounted for. He was a rookie in 1908 and only played in 31 games, so it easy to see why he was not one of the 12 Red Sox that were produced in 1908.
The Rose Company did issue about 10 additional players in 1909 in order to update some roster changes. These players differ from the original set of 192 cards as the type on the front is in a different font and their teams are omitted.
IF Speaker was produced, he would surely be part of the 1909 subset of "updates."