urban card myths

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Posted By: warshawlaw 

It seems that modern analysis of card statistics and research into card issues is slowly eroding away the urban myths or legends of card collecting. The string re the T207 Lowdermilk is a good example. What are your favorite urban card myths, i.e., those elements of card lore that are either utterly without proof or are in the process of being undone as we learn more? Mine is the T206 Wagner tobacco story. Ol' Hans hated tobacco so much that he chewed it throughout his career (see 1948 Leaf). Another I love is the Plank broken plate story. With more than one factory back, where is the proof on that one?

Also, which card legends are you aware of that are turning out to pretty much be true? One I can testify to is the difficulty of the 1958 Bell Brand Gino Cimoli card. I've been collecting these cards for years and have seen 2, total, since 1978.

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Posted By: Elliot

True---the 1933 Lajoie story

Questionable--the dumping of the high numbers of the 1952 Topps in the Ocean

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Posted By: J Levine

Sy Berger often talks about his dumping of cards into the ocean (Actually I think it was the Hudson River). What I think he said was that the dump took place not in 1952 but years later when they were trying to clear wherehouse space.

Wagner story kills me too...not only did he chew tobacco products but he sold them as well. There are many ads picturing him selling cigars, cigarettes, and chew. The real reason may never be known but I think that he just wanted to be compensated for the use of his picture.

My favorite urban card myth...whether true or not, is the Red Heart Dog Food myth. Red Heart supposedly honored their card promotion well in the late '50s. There was a story I once heard about someone sending in labels in 1960 and getting a card back! Now that is a great story.

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Posted By: warshawlaw

that Red Heart was sending out cards into the 1970s.

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Posted By: jay behrens

I hope you guys are forwarding these stories to John Thorn (previous thread looking for stories such as these) or hopefully he is a regular reader now.

Jay

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Posted By: Mike

I heard Red Hearts are still being sent out NOW!!!!!

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Posted By: Julie

REALLY appear to have been cut by hand, and the more important the player was (at the time), the more carefully they were cut. Er...is that urban enough? It's true.

Plank is SUCH a problem--not only has another back been found, but other cards --and the Diamond Gum pin- have PRECISELY the same photo on them.

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Posted By: Anonymous

Sy Berger allegedly dumped cases of '52 Topps high numbers in the Hudson Bay River in the summer of 1960, to clear out warehouse space.

the story goes, Honus didn't want his picture depicted on tobacco cards because he didn't want kids to buy smokes to get his card. phooey. he didn't want to be pictured because he wasn't compensated for the use of his image. in a related note, i have a really cool piece of Honus "memorabilia" framed on my wall. an old ad from the mid '70's from the Sports Hobbyist- a full page ad proclaiming "One Baseball Card Worth $1500!" it went on to state that only 6 Wagners were known to exist, although i'm sure that the actual number is closer to 35-40

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Posted By: hankron

Careful linguistic examination of the 1981 Fleer reveals that the error-to-correct variations codedly predicted the susequent five U.S. Presidental winners and the meteoric rise and tragic fall of Milli Vanilli.