Px7 disk, P2 pins, and S74 silks question–Rustlers

[nolemmings]

Thanks Bob. Your findings verify what I learned from another avid s74 collector as to the Rustlers. Frankly, I have long been skeptical that Old Mill churned out T206, the entire T210 series, and S74 Silks (plus reportedly some non-baseball cards) all in 1910.

As for the Px7 Domino disk set, my research thus far shows all but two of the 129 subjects are designated with the teams they played for at least part of the 1911 season. The exceptions are Eddie Phelps, who appears as a Cardinal but who was sold to Toronto in mid-December,1910, and Sam Leever, aging Pirate pitcher whose disk says Pittsburgh but who soured on his contract offer in 1911 Spring Training and chose to play for Minneapolis. An early 1911 production date would at least explain the inclusion of Leever. As for Phelps, he had been the Cardinals starter in 1910 and enjoyed one of his better seasons; moreover, he would return to the big leagues in 1912 and 1913, so there was still gas in the tank. Because nearly all pre-war card sets include the odd subject who retired or had been exiled to the minor-leagues, it does not seem an egregious error to have included Phelps in the PX7 roster in 1911.

There are other indicators of a 1911 first-production date for the disks. In addition to Cy Young already discussed, Clark Griffith is shown only with the Senators, where he signed in October 1911. His pin and silk show him with the Reds, where he managed through September. Why no earlier disk of Griff (or Cy)? Paddy Livingston was on the A's for the 1909-1911 seasons, then sold to Cleveland in December, 1911. Both of his disks put him on the Naps.

Jack Rowan is interesting. He was traded with Dode Paskert from the Reds to Phillies in November, 1910, but only lasted a matter of months in Philly before moving on to the Cubs in August, 1911. Paskert's disks show him with the Phillies, again supporting a 1911 issuance, but both of Rowan's PX7 offerings are with the Cubs, suggesting a much later start for the set that year.

The only major outlier to the 1911 start date is Pat Moran, whose thin-faced disk states he is a Cub. For years this has been used as the measuring stick for concluding that the set began in 1909, the last time Moran played in a Cubs game. I believe the disk is simply a “mis-corrected error” or oversight by the producer. Of the seven variations known to PX7, six of the "thin-faced" versions either correct or update information for the subject, suggesting they were printed after the full-faced variety. Moran goes the other way, for some unknown reason, taking his correct 1910-11 info and placing him back on the Cubs from 1909. A head scratcher of sorts, but since this is the only significant obstacle to finding a 1911 origin for the disks, I choose to consider it a fluke-- for now anyway.