M116 Sporting Life collectors

[tedzan]

Not too many care for the E91's.....even more dislike these cards. For us few, that do collect E91's, this is just fine. As
it keeps the cost of the E91 cards at a reasonable price.

More significantly, American Caramel designed their 1st series of E91 cards in 1907 and issued this series of BB cards in
early 1908. This series of 33 cards, however un-aesthetically appealing, sparked the many sets of colorful BB card pre-
miums that followed (E-type and T-type) in 1909.

Daniel Lafean, who acquired Hershey's caramel production, and started the American Caramel Company (ALC) in 1900,
had factories in Philadelphia and York, PA. Lafean enjoyed a very close friendship with Connie Mack. It is rumored, that
Connie Mack suggested to Lafean to insert colorful BB card premiums with his candy product, in order to compete with
Hershey's chocolate products with the kids. And, indeed the 1st series of E91's include cards of the popular A's players.
The E91 premiums significantly enhanced ALC's sales in 1908, so they hurried up and produced another (more attractive)
series of BB cards. The 1st series of E90-1 cards were available in the Fall-Winter of 1908.

So, can we really mock a set of BB cards that started it all in the 1908 to 1919 era ?



TED Z