Posted By:
E, DanielI'm starting to believe....
That perhaps the ty cobb/ty cobb was not produced as a give away to the public (thousands would have needed to be produced and many more would have survived), but rather as a limited production marketing issue sent direct to drug stores/tobacconists of the era to announce the coming of a new brand.
My theory goes the idea for Ty Cobb branded tobacco was thrown up internally at ATC, and 50-100 or so tins were lithographed with his bat on image for 'sampling' or product announcement to local Georgia businesses. What better place to kick start the product, and with the idea of selling nationally thereafter (thus the ads in papers across the country). Because of the wide popularity and success of tobacco cards amongst children and Adults, it was decided that a small run of Cobb branded backs on his red portrait card would be produced to include as a sweetner or gift to enthuse business owners to carry and promote the brand.
The mismatch in visage between tin and card was likely an oversight of communication between the project manager given the task at ATC and the printer, or not considered overly important when the card itself was not planned as a mass give-away. And there would always be enough time if the feedback was sufficiently positive to create a matched product, if the inserting of a card in pocket tin tobacco made sense.
When the break up of ATC happened the idea to go ahead with Ty Cobb tobacco died, and thus many of the recipients of the sample product simply threw away the marketing pieces because there was no real reason to keep them around.
Only a lucky few were kept by some fans of the day, and that's what we are left with now.