[Leon]

Nice info, Todd. Thanks for sharing. I haven't handled too many of these and the multiple label thing is intersting.

Originally Posted by nolemmings

Thanks for posting those Jim, I did not have them in my database. I do not believe it was necessary to buy a new sheet every year, although one likely was available. I say this because you will often find the same player with multiple labels stuck on top of each other, presumably as updates, so it seems you could order just the labels from year to year. The first year was 1921, and the info was printed right on the base of the die-cut player. After that, it appears that the company printed the sheets– same poses and uniform colors year to year– with a number on the bottom of the die-cut that corresponded to a specific position on the field. Slap the appropriate label on the corresponding die-cut and voila.

In your case, the Freigau and all third basemen were assigned #8, and the proper pose for a third baseman was the one associated with what you identified as a 1926 card. The other you show is the pose given to the second baseman, which Freigau never played for the Cubs. As for which year is which, that is very difficult to discern because both of the labels shown appear identical. Although there are subtle changes in the typeset or spacing used throughout the 1921-30 period when these were produced, I am uncertain that each year was unique. If you have other Cubs from that same period 1925-1927 (when Freigau was there) whose label is slightly different then that might be a tell, assuming the players were not also Cubs before and/or after.