Help identifying 1910 issue

[Bridwell]

I've been collecting baseball ads from newspapers and magazines and have 2 ads for an issue with Cobb, Evers and 6 other players. Is it connected with Strauss Bros. Tailors out of Chicago in 1910 issues of Saturday Evening Post. Does anyone know anything about this issue, or have one of the "Portraits?

[gabrinus]

I know nothing about that issue but that is really cool...Jerry

[Leon]

Originally Posted by gabrinus

I know nothing about that issue but that is really cool...Jerry

+1. I always like stuff I haven't seen before.
.

[Hankphenom]

Nothing like a good mystery!

[drumback]

I also have one of their ads and have been looking for the portraits for many years. Have never found a single one.

[brianp-beme]

Incoming wild conjecture alert! The first thing that came to my mind was the W600 Sporting Life Cabinet set, since the ads (though showing action shots of Cobb and Evers) mention portraits.

I am relatively unfamiliar with the W600 issue...have cards been seen without the Sporting Life advertising? If so, that would make my wild conjecturing a little more possible.

Brian (I can conjure a conjecture like no other)

[Bridwell]

After 262 views and nobody really having any information, I went online and did some further searches and found this blog post:

"My 1910 Strauss Brothers Tailors catalog centerfold featuring some of baseball’s biggest stars of the day and Larry McLean. Of the 8 players featured, McLean is the only player that would not eventually be inducted into the Hall of Fame."

The ad makes it seem like the photos were separate collectibles but perhaps they were simply the center page of a clothing catalog. In any case, it would be a sweet item to have framed!

[photomoto]

Some, perhaps all of the portraits are from photos by Chicago photographer Francis Burke. Photomoto

[brianp-beme]

That would make an awesome display...agreed! I am still confused by the use of the word 'portrait' in the ads. Were folks really that loose in the definition department back then? Now, yes, back then, not so much?

Brian (poor Larry McLean feels like everyone is his overachieving older brother)

[RUKen]

Originally Posted by brianp-beme

...poor Larry McLean feels like everyone is his overachieving older brother

McLean was 6'5" and towered over most of the other players of the time. He may have felt like everyone else was his snotty younger brother...

[Webster]

The way I read it, that centerfold constitutes the "Portraits" included with the Fall Fashion Magazine. They are 'framed' artistic renderings of the players. I doubt they were issued individually; nor were there head and shoulder "portraits" as we would typically refer to T206 images.

[Hankphenom]

Originally Posted by Webster

The way I read it, that centerfold constitutes the "Portraits" included with the Fall Fashion Magazine. They are 'framed' artistic renderings of the players. I doubt they were issued individually; nor were there head and shoulder "portraits" as we would typically refer to T206 images.

Agreed. Mystery solved. And wonderful piece!

[drumback]

I don't agree that it is solved. The ad states you get the magazine AND the portraits, not the magazine with portraits inside. This, along with the fact they are not really portraits, leaves it an unsolved mystery, in my opinion.

[Hankphenom]

Originally Posted by drumback

I don't agree that it is solved. The ad states you get the magazine AND the portraits, not the magazine with portraits inside. This, along with the fact they are not really portraits, leaves it an unsolved mystery, in my opinion.

It says "together with" the magazine, implying an insert, and the printed frames would justify the designation "portraits," IMO. But you never know, and I would certainly not want to discourage any efforts to unearth possible individual examples despite the fact that none have surfaced in the ensuing 100+ years.

[Bridwell]

Seems to me I've seen that Cobb pose on another collectible. I was thinking perhaps it was mistaken for a Baseball Magazine poster. I was thinking there might have been posters or photos sent with the catalog??