T206 Southern Leaguers and Joe Jackson Redux

[Abravefan11]

During the recent T202 “Lord Catches His Man” hype several threads about Joe Jackson were spawned. One that I posted in quite a bit concerned why Joe was not included in many of the T and E card sets during his playing time. I took the position that Joe couldn’t have been included in the T206 set due to when and where he played and by not being included in this set it eliminated him from being in other sets that used the same images. During this debate I used timelines and distribution information that I have since found to be inaccurate. While I still maintain the belief that Joe’s absence from T206 set precludes him from being in other similar sets such as T213, T214, and T215, I think his absence from the T206 set is explained by where Joe was from January 1909 – April 1909.

First it is important to understand that the southern leaguers were one group of 48 selected during the same period and not two different groups selected at different times. Though 14 of the players were absent from the initial offering with Hindu cigarettes this was not planned. The best evidence of this is the Hindu ads themselves as they state, “This collection consists of a large assortment of colored lithographs of baseball players in the Southern, South Atlantic, Texas, and Virginia Leagues.” The Texas League was included in these Hindu ads but all 6 representatives of the league missed the Hindu offering and first appeared in the 350 series along with 8 other players in early 1910.



Next let’s look at when and where the 48 players played for the teams that they represent in the T206 set. The chart below shows in green when the players played for the teams they represent in the T206 set and red shows when they played for another team.



I believe this chart shows that all of the players were selected based on where they were playing in 1909 with the 1908 season having no bearing on their inclusion. All of the players started the 1909 season with the team they represent however many of them played for different leagues in 1908 and some were even contracted to play for other teams in early 1909.

-Shaughnessy played for Reading in 1908 and wasn’t contracted to Roanoke until late January 1909.

-Stark played for San Antonio in 1908 but his contract was sold to Columbus in January and then bought back by San Antonio in February.



In 1908 Ellam played for Connellsville and Bastian for Albany. Lafitte and McCauley did not play for any team in 1908.

I believe these details show that the 48 Southern League players began being chosen for the T206 set in late January into February and early March of 1909 as the players signed with their respective teams for the coming season.

As we look at all 48 players, including the 14 that were not printed until the 350 series, we will see that many of them changed teams during 1909 season, yet these changes were not reflected in their team designation in the T206 set.

A list of some of the SL’ers who changed teams during the 1909 season gives us an indicator to when the contracts and players had been decided upon as they all represent the team they started the season with but not who they represented at the time of printing in the 150 or 350 series :

Carey from Memphis to Little Rock prior to the end of June.
Foster was called up to Cleveland in July.
Fritz from New Orleans to Montgomery in June/July.
Manion from Columbia to Jacksonville in July.
Kiernan from Columbia to Jacksonville in July.
Paige from Charleston to New Orleans in June.
Person from Montgomery to Little Rock in July.
Smith from Shreveport to Indianapolis in July/August.

Once we agree that the players included in the set represent the team that they were playing for at the time they were asked to be in the set the most telling inclusion is Foley White.

Foley represents the Houston team and was not printed until the 350 series. He was listed on the Houston roster on 04/11/1909 however he did not play for Houston after the Texas League season started on 04/18/1909 and played his first game for Waco on 05/30/1909.



Considering all of the above information I propose that all 48 Southern League players were chosen and included in the set between January 1909 and April 1909.

So what does this mean for Joe Jackson?

Joe spent the early part of 1909 in Philadelphia.



Since Joe wasn't sent down to Savannah until late April 1909 and by that time the 48 Southern Leaguers had been decided upon he couldn't have been included as a Southern Leaguer in the T206 set.

I have more details but tried to keep this as short as possible. I would love to hear what others that are interested have to say about this.