FS $12.000 1913 WG5 National Baseball Game Complete EX

[nolemmings]

Originally Posted by BobC

Hey Todd,

In this case, I believe the Baker Fenway Breweries card absolutely was supposed to be in that set. I have a National Game set box myself, but it does not have the Fenway Breweries reference on it as Carol and Lenny's game box does, which can easily be seen in the image they included of it. The old SCD catalogs described this special version of the set as having only the Baker card, Score Card, and the game box itself, including and indicating a reference to Fenway Breweries, so that falls in line with assuming a Fenway Breweries game box would also include the FB versions of the Baker and Score cards. The head scratcher is why the set Carol and Lenny have includes the two FB cards, but that the FB Score Card is from the other set that was being put out at that time, the Tm Barker Game set. If memory serves, both those games I believe were actually printed/manufactured by the same company, at the same time, in 1913. So, the question is, could this single Tom Barker Game card have been accidently put into a National Game set at the factory by some mistake so that it was originally sold that way, or is it possible that after the set was originally sold and after over 100 years, could someone else have maybe replaced the FB Score Card for the National Game set that ended up missing somehow, and could only find a Tom Barker version of the FB Score Card to replace it with?

Doubt we'll ever be able to find an exact, correct answer to this question. But again, based on known and accepted knowledge of this set, it appears that it is technically not a complete National Game FB set, due to the one card being from a different game set. Still a very rare and huge item to pick up. If it were mine, i would be very happy to own it, and would probably look around to see if I could find the National Game version of the FB Score Card to replace the Tom Barker version, and technically complete the set then.

Bob, I have no doubt that the Baker with the FB ad was supposed to be in the set, but I am curious as to why there is also another Baker in the OP's group. In terms of playing the game, were there two Bakers-- a big play after all, either a Home Run or Double Play--or was one just inserted for the advertising? Does your set include 2 Bakers? Seems to me that if the set was only intended to include the ad card then maybe the original owner supplemented his set, and in that case, maybe he had access to the Tom Barker set and/or it got mixed up when he was playing the game with one of his pals who had that set. BTW, for grins I googled the name written on the box, and there was a Clyde Farwell born in PA in 1902, which would make him 11 when this set came out. A long shot for sure, but fun to wonder.