Jim Thorpe Baseball Cards

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Posted By: peter chao

Guys,

Jim Thorpe played professional baseball for a while. Are there any cards of Jim Thorpe while he was on a professional baseball team. Thank you in advance for any information you can provide.

Peter

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Posted By: steve f

t200 giants

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Posted By: Scot Reader

There are several. The M101-4 / M101-5 is one of the easiest to find, but still expensive.
Scot

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Posted By: bill

here's mine

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Posted By: leon

I understand there is also a Colgans (E270) but it's either unique or not known.....I was reading where Lew Lipset said someone had sent him a scan or something and confirmed it. This is sketchy info on my part though.....

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Posted By: Joe Tocco

As you might guess by my user name, I'm a bit interested in Thorpe . I don't know much about many of these issues because most are pretty tough and I haven't been researching them for long. To the best of my knowledge, this is a complete list of Thorpe's vintage baseball cards:

1901-17 Police Gazette Supplements

1909-17 Max Stein

1913 Giants Evening Sun

1913 Colgan's Tin Tops. I've read he was only available in the Tin Tops series, and I've also read there are three known. I've never seen one.

1913 T200 Fatima New York Nationals. Probably his most common card. I bought a nice PSA 1 for $200, and probably overpaid. Card also features Matthewson and McGraw.

1913 T200 Fatima premiums. Oversized version of the small Fatima card, available as a mail-in redemption. I didn't save the auction, but my memory tells me one sold at auction for about $3500 within the last 2 years.

1916 M101-5. He was only in M101-5, not M101-4. Not the rarest card, but in high demand. Considered his baseball RC.

1922 Zeenuts. A nice one sold in Mastro recently for over $10,000.

He also has a handful of pre-war Football cards.

Joe

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Posted By: warshawlaw

see it here:

www.imageevent.com/exhibitman/interestingexhibitcards

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Posted By: Paul

I know it's off topic, but I'd be interested to know if Thorpe was in any football sets during his active playing career?

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Posted By: jay behrens

I don't know if I would call the m101-5 Thorpe common, or easy to find. I was lucky enough to purchase mine about 4 years ago. In the 6 years I've been back in the hobby, I know of only 2 others that have been offered for sale in that time. I've seen just as many of his Zeenut card offered in that same time frame. I'm not sure if other collectors are like me and just will not part with card, no matter how much moeny is offered.

I don't know if I would call the inserts cards. It's kind of like calling the centerfold from Playboy a card.



Jay

I love pinatas. You get to beat the crap of something and get rewarded with candy.

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Posted By: Zach Rice

Jim Thorpe's E270 certainly exists. I know of three, one of which I have a picture of. Though it is obviously an extremely scarce card, I wouldn't say three is the definitive known number of how many still exist. There will be a children's baseball/Jim Thorpe book released in 2007 that will have a picture of the mysterious E270 Thorpe card.

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Posted By: Joe Tocco

The M101-5 is definitely not common, but isn't as tough as say the Colgan or the T200 premium. I regret not picking up one that was offered to me last year.

It's up to your definition if you want to count the newspaper pieces, I guess. I included them for completeness, even though I don't know much about them.

That Exhibit card is cool.

Thorpe's first football cards were issued a few years after he retired.

Joe

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Posted By: warshawlaw

I admit I am enough of a whore that I'd sell any card I own if the offer was right.

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Posted By: peter chao

Jay, Guys

There are few cards in my collection I wouldn't sale or trade in order to get a Sport Kings Jim Thorpe in NM condition.

Peter

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Posted By: John S

As stated before Thorpe has no active card issues when he was a professional football player. I devote half of my time/$ to collecting HOF football items of players while they were active. I picked up a sportspage on eBay from the Buffalo Express (1922) which described Thorpe's heroics as a member of Oorang Indians in defeating the local Buffalo All-Americans. A neat piece and for $15 a steal. The picture below is from that page. Thorpe and fellow HOFer Joe Guyon are pictured in their Canton Bulldogs uniforms.

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Posted By: Joe Tocco

That's a great piece, John.

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Posted By: leon

It's a neat story too.....

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Posted By: Joe Tocco

Nazi Indians?

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Posted By: Kyle

Hey Joe,

Watch the first 10 mins of the Da Vinci Code movie and you'll learn a lot about that "shape" or symbol. After that, you can turn off the movie... it wasn't amazing, but it wasn't terrible.

-Kyle-

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Posted By: Lyman

Below is an image of the Thorpe supplement from the New York Evening Sun (item #3 on the Thorpe checklist from the above post). The supplements featured only members of the NY Giants team. --Lyman

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Posted By: jay behrens

well, if someone were to offer me $1 million, I'd prolly take it because I would ppretty much be assured of winning the next one that comes to aution and still have a nice chunk od change for other things. I don't think anyone is going to pony up that kind of coin for my card, so I'm not to worried about any offer that might actually make me think twice about selling the card.

It's essentially the cornerstone of collection, so it would take a stupid offer to get me to aprt with it. Stranger things have happened. I used to own a 1951 Minneapolis Millers jersey #24. Sadly, not Mays' as he wore 21 for them, but a guy offered me $2k for the thing back in 1989 when it was only worth about $100 and had no real interest in selling it becasue of the psuedo connection with Mays. The guy wanted for the same reason, but also to tell his buddies it was Mays, hehe

Jay

I love pinatas. You get to beat the crap of something and get rewarded with candy.

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Posted By: Blach

I've been told that Thorpe is in this postcard. (This is NOT the one that recently sold on ebay and represented as a "Thorpe").

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Posted By: Joe Tocco

I know the swastika had a few millenia of history before the nazis grabbed it, but it still has a stong emotional effect despite that knowledge.

Joe

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Posted By: Steve M.

The "swastika" on the Oorand tent is NOT a swastika.If you look at it carefully the top bar starts at the west and goes easterly before turning south where it again goes easterly to the end. A swaskika of the nazi era has the top bar starting in the east, moving westerly, turning suth and then again to the west where it ends.

I guess I just could have said that the Oorang symbol is just a reverse of the nazi swastika.

Now with that said the symbol on my Pacific Coast Biscuit tin is of the nazi swastika style.

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Posted By: rick

Speaking of Thorpe's M101 card.
I had two of these about 2 1/2 years ago, but got talked out of one of them by someone who shall remain nameless. I have no regrets it is gone.
I was lucky enough to buy a bunch of cards back in 1983 that included some of this series. All of their conditions were close to the same. This card included.
they were in numeric ordered, and started one card after Ruth all the way to Vaughn, with doubles on Thorpe , and Tinker, singles on Stengle , Sisler and Schalk. Yes having the Ruth would be a dream come true, but I can't complain.
I actually had about a buck each in close to 600 T- series and E-eries from this purchase back then, but then again if you look at a 1983 price guide you would think I overpaid for some of them.
I have just within the last couple years started parting with any dupes,
It just made me think of it, because I think this particular Thorpe is such a great looking card.
I lurk mostly, but it is time to get off my ass and participate when i have time.
later
rick

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Posted By: andy becker

hello everyone,
question for joe.....
other than the sport kings issue, what are the other prewar thorpe football issues?
regards
andy

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Posted By: Anonymous

Hey Andy,

Outside of some team composites and team photos I can't say that I have ever seen any other issues...I don't have my guide handy; did he appear on one of the blotters issued in the late 30's?

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Posted By: Joe Tocco

Yes, in addition to the Sport Kings he was in the 1939 Gridiron Greats Blotters set. Technically ink blotters and not cards . An extremely nice complete set sold in Mastro a few years ago for something ridiculous... I want to say over $10,000. He also has a 1937 Kellogg's Pep Stamp, which is another one that's kind of a stretch to call a card. Unlike Grange, he's only on one sheet.

Joe

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Posted By: andy becker

thanks for the info joe....i was afraid that i was missing some card issues. i am familiar with the stamps and the blotters. i should have responded to john yesterday (hi john), but i got this stoopid day job that keeps me away from the board.
happy holidays,
andy

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Posted By: Joe Tocco

It would surprise me if Thorpe was on that postcard, since he was not a Cherokee. But you never know, he might have signed on to a predominantly Cherokee team, or the photographer or postcard issuer could have been ignorant of tribes.

Joe