Old Judge Cabinet HOFers Scarcity List

[oldjudge]

It's been 16 years since we published the Old Judge book (time flies) and we thought it was time to update the N173 HOF scarcity list. Joe, Richard and I , based on the data we had as well as on what has come to market in the last 16 years, have come up with this ranking, with the top player, Clark Griffith, being the rarest (still none known) and Cap Anson being the most common. For the most part the list makes intuitive sense. Smokers could order whoever they wanted so one would assume that the greatest players would generate the most interest. Likewise, those at the beginning of their careers (Beckley, Delahanty, etc) would generate less interest. Also, teams from bigger cities would have more smokers, leading to more orders for their local players.The one that has always amazed me is Gavin. He was already an established star (at the start of 1889 he had almost 300 wins) and yet his cabinets are rare. Perhaps in the Pittsburgh area Old Judge cigarettes did not sell well so there were fewer redemptions. As with most lists of this type the individual placement of certain players can be debated. The differences between adjoining players can sometimes be minuscule. Hopefully, this list will be the basis for discussion amongst N173 aficionados.

GRIFFITH
BECKLEY
GALVIN
RUSIE
WHITE
MACK
MCPHEE
ROBINSON
O'DAY
NICHOLS
DELAHANTY
HANLON
RADBOURN
THOMPSON
MCCARTHY
HAMILTON
O'ROURKE
WRIGHT
CONNOR
WELCH
DUFFY
COMISKEY
CLARKSON
BROUTHERS
KEEFE
WARD
EWING
KELLY
ANSON

[Joe_G.]

Great update Jay!

Since publishing the book there have been some interesting finds including the Weiss 2019 auction: https://weissauctions.com/past-auction/n173/

Three new examples of McPhee moved him down the list but still extremely difficult (one museum copy, 3 private), others have had two new discoveries such as Hanlon but likewise remains very tough. Top half of this list is impossible to quite tough. Bottom half is possible to collect given a little patience and money.

I do hope a Griffith eventually surfaces such that we have large format examples of all HOFers.

If you have a cabinet from top half of this list we would welcome you chiming in with a picture in case we need to alter our recorded populations.

[Joe_G.]

And expanding on Jay's theory to the Detroit HOFers . . . the four Detroit HOFers (Brouthers, Hanlon, Thompson, & White) are more difficult to find with Detroit (1888 cabinets) than the East coast teams they joined in 1889. This could be for a couple reasons . . .

1) In general, more 1889 cabinets than 1888 (fewer coupons required in 1889 and redemption offer may have run longer in 1889).
2) All four Detroit players joined larger East Coast cities . . .
- Brouthers went from Detroit to Boston (more Boston cabinets)
- Hanlon & White went from Detroit to Pittsburgh (more Pittsburgh cabinets)
- Thompson went from Detroit to Philadelphia (more Philly cabinets)

[oldjudge]

For those wanting to get a feeling for city populations;

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1890_U...0one%20million.

[tiger8mush]

great update, thanks!

Eager to see some eye candy

[GaryPassamonte]

Jay- What would be the estimated population for the most common HOF players? Also, who do you think is the most common non HOFer?