Uncatalogued Strip Cards?

[bcbgcbrcb]

Does anyone recognize these cards at all or have ever seen anything like them? These were found in one of the baseball memorabilia boxes from the Richard Merkin Collection here at Hake's. They are printed on a thicker cardboard stock similar to candy boxes of the era and measure approximately 1-7/8"X1". Two of the players' U.S. careers ended in the early 1910's (Almeida & Street) and the other two (Simmons & Robinson) ran through the 1920's, seems odd to have players from two different era's in what appears to be the same card issue.

Any thoughts and/or opinions from board members would be most appreciated.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Look like Newspaper or Book (like Who's Who style books) cut outs mounted to cardboard.

[Vintagecatcher]

All four subjects were coaches after their playing days ended.

Patrick

[bcbgcbrcb]

Scott:

I just took out the cards to check your theory closely. There is no way that these are mounted paper cut-outs. The print is on the cardboard.

[Butch7999]

Phil, there are a couple of differences in the graphic style between the images. The Street and Simmons cards
(if they are cards) have a larger font for their names, and have a "boxed" background (interior borders).
The Almeida and Robinson cards use a smaller font size and lack the interior border. So maybe they weren't
issued the same year (or decade). Not sure that means anything, since that would be one of each style
for the "1910s" cards and one of each for the "1920s." Sorry, just an observation...

[bcbgcbrcb]

Good observation, I did notice that also. What has me puzzled though is the matching pairs have one player from each decade. Almeida and Street are the earlier pair with two different fonts and Simmons/Robinson are the later pair, also with two different fonts.

[Butch7999]

Yeah, just edited as you were replying to note that we had mixed the pairings.
Corrected now, and your reply is indeed valid.

[bcbgcbrcb]

Patrick:

I think the later coaching theory might have something to do with it. After a long break in between, Street did coach in St. Louis around 1929-30. Although he continued to play winter ball internationally, I don’t see Almeida being a coach in the U.S. during the 1920’s though. Was he?

[Butch7999]

Odds against this detail being of any help are astronomical, but does anyone see the squiggle
above and to the right of Almeida's name as an artist's signature? "Toldello"? "Talofuo"?
"Sometimes a squiggle is just a squiggle"...

[swarmee]

Originally Posted by Butch7999

above and to the right of Almeida's name as an artist's signature?

Definitely a signature; Torcello?

[bcbgcbrcb]

Looks like Torsello to me. Also interesting that Almeida appears in a suit while the other three are in uniform. Maybe that explains why the 1920’s era didn’t make sense for his playing career ending in 1913, they presented him in later years, possibly as a baseball executive or something like that? Still very odd.....

[Vintagecatcher]

Almeida coached outside of the States.

Patrick

[Vintagecatcher]

Common thread between Wilbert Robinson and Gabby Street...both involved "catching stunts."

"The single incident for which Wilbert Robinson is most famous occurred during Brooklyn's 1915 training camp in Daytona Beach, Florida. A female aviator, Ruth Law, was making daily flights in the area, dropping golf balls as a publicity gimmick for a local golf course, and eventually the talk in camp turned to the idea of catching a baseball dropped from the plane. Though none of his players was brave enough to try, Robinson, three months shy of his 53rd birthday, agreed to accept the challenge. On the big day, Law forgot the baseball back in her hotel room so she substituted a grapefruit from the lunch of one of her ground crew at the last minute. The grapefruit landed in Robinson's mitt and exploded, knocking him down and drenching him in warm juice. Thinking he was covered in his own blood, Robbie called for help. The players rushed over and began laughing uproariously when they realized what had happened. Robinson always suspected that Casey Stengel or trainer Fred Kelly had played a prank on him, and Casey later claimed that he had been the one to drop the grapefruit, but Law herself told the true story in a 1957 interview."

"But what was it that made fans remember Gabby Street? He was perhaps best known for catching a ball dropped from atop the Washington Monument on August 21, 1908. Senators fans Preston Gibson and John Biddle had made a wager of $500 whether the feat could be done. After all, the ball would travel 555 feet, and at a high rate of speed. Gabby was never one to be deterred from a challenge and set his place at the foot of the monument. Gibson and Biddle climbed to the top with a basket full of baseballs, and constructed a wooden chute so the ball would slide to arc away and clear the wide base of the enormous structure. The first 10 baseballs caromed off the base of the monument, so the chute was discarded and the pair of fans took turns throwing the ball from their perch. Gabby, dressed in street clothes, with arms outstretched over his head as if to corral a pop fly, made the successful catch on the 15th attempt. It was calculated that the baseball had picked up 300 pounds of force by the time and was traveling 95 miles per hour by the time it landed into Street’s mitt, which almost hit the ground from the impact. “I didn’t see the ball until it was halfway down,” said Gabby. “It was slanting in the wind and I knew it would be a hard catch.”6 But the feat was no big deal to Gabby. He continued on his way to work. He caught Johnson that afternoon, as the Senators topped the Detroit Tigers on a five-hitter, 3-1."

Patrick

[rhettyeakley]

Really hard to tell without having them in hand. They do have to look of newspaper artist renditions and my first inclination is a Frankenstein-card that someone made.

All that being said the subject selection defies all logic. Short of finding some reason a set would include a Rafael Almeida card along with a card of Al Simmons I have no reason to believe these were a vintage effort. Simmons was largely a late 1920’s-1930’s star which would not correlate with anything Almeida was doing at the time. Unlike Marsans, Almeida did continue having a career in baseball but that almost entirely consisted of playing outside the United States after the mid-1910’s.

Street and Robinson were managers as was noted but until Street was given a shot in the late 1920’s into the 1930’s he was mostly a minor league manager/coach. Thus a circa 1930 or so date would make sense for 3 of the subjects, the Almeida just doesn’t feel right.

[Webster]

According to his bio, in 1930 Almeida Managed the Cuban National Team to victory in the Central American Games. May well have been big enough at the time to include hims with other Managers (Street, Robinson) and one of the stars of the year (Simmons) in some type of issue.

[nolemmings]

Maybe in recognition of a barnstorming tour to Cuba circa 1930? Almeida coached/managed the Cuban National team around that time, Robby was still managing in Brooklyn then, Street had just started as a MLB manager and Simmons would have been a star player.

[brianp-beme]

Originally Posted by nolemmings

Maybe in recognition of a barnstorming tour to Cuba circa 1930? Almeida coached/managed the Cuban National team around that time, Robby was still managing in Brooklyn then, Street had just started as a MLB manager and Simmons would have been a star player.

And all of this could tie in with the Hispanic sounding artist name, and perhaps mean it is a Cuban issue? Interesting stuff and conjecture.

Brian

[Exhibitman]

Broder of some sort is my first guess. I have a great looking Joe Jackson Broder that is a photocopy of an illustration, well aged.



Printed directly on the board, not glued.