Ted,
I have to ask you something and I’m not going to get into a fight with you on this as I’m done but I will still ask with all due respect.
A theory by its definition since we have very little hard facts to show why any card was not printed with a certain back or from a certain factory falls under the speculative definition of a theory. Or an unproven assumption or conjecture because there is no real smoking gun here with hard facts to back up, no true firsthand knowledge etc.
Let’s be real here it’s 100 years later. We can speculate and make educated guesses? Sure we can and some real and new evidence does come to light on occasion allowing us a brief window into our hobby’s past. But most often all we have is our educated speculations.
So why is it anytime you present any kind of theory or educated speculative guess it’s presented as fact, and all others are set and defined by you as unqualified dullards who need to do their homework?
Would it not be fair to take the stance that the evidence Tim has presented could also lead him to a different speculative theory that may not 100% match with your speculative thoughts? Does that make Tim or anyone else’s ideas less credible because they don’t agree with yours?
Fact is you have no known firsthand knowledge of any of these things you constantly speak of.
Having collected cards in the 1980’s only brings you 31 years closer to being totally removed from firsthand knowledge of how and these premiums were distributed and produced the way they were.
You have a very bad habit of stating something or insinuating/eluding something as fact or definitive but the only true constant is you really don’t know and are making nothing more than an educated guess. Many folks respect your thoughts perhaps you should do the same for others.
I will provide you with an example of this…from the recent T213 thread Leon started with his wonderful trade newsletters and checklists from the past.
http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=137300
In this thread you present your speculative theory on how Coupon Type 1 cards were distributed etc. But then you make the following comments.
“Do we really know if these cards were actually inserted into packs? Perhaps these cards may have been distributed like the Ty Cobb/Ty Cobb card......not as inserts.”
The comment above insinuates or alludes to the fact that you have firsthand knowledge that Ty Cobb branded cards were not distributed as inserts with the tobacco. The facts are that we have no idea if they were or were not distributed with the product or how they even came to be within the marketplace.
We can speculate given things we do know, but one person’s thoughts as long as presented in a reasonable fashion are as valid as anyone else’s.
Just my take, I’m sure you will disagree and you know what that’s ok.
Cheers,
John
P.S. I will leave you guys to it I have some happy hour drink special cards to price in the BST area.
