M101-5 vs. M101-4

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Posted By: Todd (nolemmings)

and Tim, please contact me about your article. Hal may be correct about the distribution of m101-5 coming after m101-4.

1. Both sets reflect several team designations that account for trades made on February 10, 1916. Eight, count 'em 8 Cubs were traded/sold that day out of the Fed Lg and into the NL.
Since m101-5 shows all of them on the Cubs, m101-5 was printed on or after 2/10/1916.

2. Mendolsohn's ad appeared in TSN on 4/6/1916, less than 2 months later (56 days). It promoted m101-4 as evidenced by the fact John (Dots) Miller was included among the players available, and he is only found in m101-4. Three weeks later, Mendolsohn's ad is identical except it adds Ty Cobb as one of the players available. He too is found only in m101-4.

3. I'm going to assume that Mendolsohn did not run the presses the next day(Friday)following the Cubs acquisition, and waited until at least February 14, the following Monday. I'll also assume that the April 6, 1916 ad in TSN actually ran a few days beforehand, as the dates carried on the publications generally don't match the date of actual release. Finally, I'll assume that print ad needed to be submitted to TSN in advance to make it to the printers on time. With these assumptions in place, the 56 day/8 week window is actually much smaller.

4. The player selection and team designation for m101-5 point to it having been printed first. So when would it have been released? I've looked at all TSN issues from 1916, and a few months on either side, and there is no ad for these cards as such--just the m101-4s. There is nothing to say that Mendolsohn didn't advertise elsewhere (especially since the m101-5 seems to have no affiliation with the Sporting News), but it seems somewhat unlikely, don't you think? The TSN ad corresponded nicely with the MLB season, which opened the following week. Does it make a lot of sense for him to have promoted the m101-5 set in February or March and then turn his attention to m101-4 by April?

There are other factors that remain unaddressed, that I'll keep to myself for now. My point is I remain unconvinced that m101-5 was in fact released prior to m101-4.