My T206 Plank theory....New Follow-up info

[Theoldprofessor]

Ted:

I know your research is first-rate. But the Lafean of whom you've been speaking was, apparently, Daniel Franklin Lafean, not David. From the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present:

"LAFEAN, Daniel Franklin, a Representative from Pennsylvania; born in York, York County, Pa., on February 7, 1861; attended the public schools; engaged in candy manufacturing and in banking in York; a director of the Gettysburg College and trustee of the Gettysburg Seminary, Gettysburg, Pa.; elected as a Republican to the Fifty-eighth and to the four succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1903-March 3, 1913); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1912 to the Sixty-third Congress; elected to the Sixty-fourth Congress (March 4, 1915-March 3, 1917); was not a candidate for renomination in 1916; appointed commissioner of banking of the State of Pennsylvania in 1917; again engaged in manufacturing pursuits; died in Philadelphia, Pa., April 18, 1922; interment in Prospect Hill Cemetery, York, Pa."

I'm unclear as to exactly what role Daniel Lafean was to have played in your theory. He was a director of the College, which sounds a bit like a trustee, and could have had either a little power, or a lot of it. As a congressman, of course, he had about as much power as he could have wanted. I'm ready to believe that he and Milton Hershey were tight, but how that brings Eddie out of T206 isn't real certain, at least to me, at all.

Of course, I graduated from Gettysburg College ('64), which makes my participation problematic anyway.

[Danny Smith]

Bob - Good to see another Gettysburg alum on the boards. I graduated in '99.

Danny

Originally Posted by Theoldprofessor

Ted:

I know your research is first-rate. But the Lafean of whom you've been speaking was, apparently, Daniel Franklin Lafean, not David. From the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present:

"LAFEAN, Daniel Franklin, a Representative from Pennsylvania; born in York, York County, Pa., on February 7, 1861; attended the public schools; engaged in candy manufacturing and in banking in York; a director of the Gettysburg College and trustee of the Gettysburg Seminary, Gettysburg, Pa.; elected as a Republican to the Fifty-eighth and to the four succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1903-March 3, 1913); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1912 to the Sixty-third Congress; elected to the Sixty-fourth Congress (March 4, 1915-March 3, 1917); was not a candidate for renomination in 1916; appointed commissioner of banking of the State of Pennsylvania in 1917; again engaged in manufacturing pursuits; died in Philadelphia, Pa., April 18, 1922; interment in Prospect Hill Cemetery, York, Pa."

I'm unclear as to exactly what role Daniel Lafean was to have played in your theory. He was a director of the College, which sounds a bit like a trustee, and could have had either a little power, or a lot of it. As a congressman, of course, he had about as much power as he could have wanted. I'm ready to believe that he and Milton Hershey were tight, but how that brings Eddie out of T206 isn't real certain, at least to me, at all.

Of course, I graduated from Gettysburg College ('64), which makes my participation problematic anyway.

[tedzan]

1st....thank you for correcting me regarding Lafean's first name, it is indeed Daniel.

2nd....for those not familiar with my T206 Plank theory that I posted 3 years ago, I will reiterate it here.


I'll reprise my theory..it conjectures that the scarcity of the T206 Plank card can be explained by the American
Caramel Co. (ACC) forcing the American Tobacco Co. (ATC) to stop issuing their Plank card.....ACC having first
acquired the exclusive rights to Plank by virtue of the fact that ACC first portrayed him in their BB card sets.

Here are the series of events.....

Eddie Plank went to Gettysburg (his hometown) College. The Director of this College back then was Daniel
Franklin Lafean.

Milton Hershey started the Lancaster Caramel Co. in 1896 and sold it to Lafean in the early 1900's. Lafean then
established the ACC in Philadelphia in 1905.

During this period, Connie Mack's Philadelphia A's were winning pennants with a formidable team of players. Over
20,000 A's fans filled the stands on Opening Day in April 1909 at the new Shibe Park. Most outstanding, and the
"hometown" favorite was Eddie Plank. A very deliberate and very effective southpaw pitcher.

Connie Mack and Lafean were very close friends. Lafean being a sharp businessman, capitalized on this "A's fever",
by enhancing the marketing of his Candy product with BB card premiums. First, the E91 series issued in 1908, then
followed up by the E90-1 cards (1st series issued in late 1908).

Lafean was also a shrewd politician (in his later life he became a US Congressman). Therefore, it is very likely that
Lafean enforced his exclusive rights to his "guy", Eddie Plank, forcing ATC to remove their Plank from the market.
Furthermore, you will find it very interesting that the T206 set's 1st series (150 Subjects) is devoid of A's players
(except for Bender). Is this merely a coincidence ? I don't think so.

An alternate scenario here....is that Connie Mack's favorite guy was Eddie Plank, and perhaps Mack told Lafean to
force ATC to "yank" Plank from their T206 set.

Final proof of this theory requires actual documentation, which I'll try to find, next time I'm in the Philadelphia Library.
Till then, this circumstantial evidence that I've presented, is quite plausible; and, certainly very thought-provoking.

Gentleman......a very similar scenario occurred in 1954, when Sy Berger of Topps (an avid Ted Williams fan) forced
the Bowman Gum Co. to cease and desist from issuing their Ted Williams card (#66).

I am very grateful to Frank Wakefield for all the research he presented in support of this theory in my first Thread
on this subject.

OK....I am open to any and all questions regarding this subject....so, shoot away ?

TED Z

[caramelcard]

Hi Ted,

Why do think the American Caramel Co. didn't mind that Plank was used in:

E95 Philadelphia Caramel
E93 Standard Caramel
E98 Anonymous
E104 Nadja
T204 Ramly

etc. etc.

Rob

[FrankWakefield]

As for the Ramly cards, they came out of Massachusetts. They were distributed regionally, as best as I can gather. They don't depict many of the Pirates, Phillies, or White Sox. Their distribution in the Philadelphia area may have been minimal to non-existent. A fellow can't really complain about something unless he knows the something is happening.

[caramelcard]

Philadelphia Caramel was definitely in the same region and even in the same "racket."

If this fellow was going to control the rights to Plank's image used on premiums, you think he would first try to control it in the same town with other candy companies.

However, maybe ACC had a deal of some sort with Phil. Caramel and Standard Caramel (Lancaster, PA) and Lafean was more concerned with a tobacco premium which would reach a larger amount of consumers?

Anyways, I hope the conversation keeps going.

Rob

[Kenny Cole]

Sporting Life was issued circa 1910-11. At a minimum, it was circulated in the same area as were the caramel issues of the time,including Philadelphia.

M116 Planks aren't that hard to find. For that reason, I don't think it is possible that the American Caramel Co. was unaware of that issue. I suppose it is possible that the thinking was that an M116 Plank wasn't a threat because it wasn't issued with candy, but I am sceptical of that idea because that would run counter to the theory that the American Caramel Company stopped the production of his tobacco cards to preserve its monopoly on his image.

Sporting Life probably wasn't issued until 1910 to the best of my knowledege. However, neither were Plank 350 backs. I'm not seeing that American Caramel would shut down all of the tobacco productions in 1909 and 1910, but do nothing to shut down the magazine issues if the thought was to have some sort of monopoly on Plank. I'm not shooting at anyone, but I see this as a fly in the ointment insofar as the proffered theory goes.

Kenny Cole

[Theoldprofessor]

Ted:

From one of your earlier posts:

"The Director of this College back then was Daniel Franklin Lafean."

Lafean wasn't "The Director" of Gettysburg. He was a Director, one of many who apparently had some official connection to the college, though not as important as Trustees, of which the college had many. The President of the college during that period was one Harvey Washington McKnight. As far as I can tell, he was an evengelical Christian whose interests did not go much beyond college and pulpit.

Of interest in another way. Plank may never have pitched against Matty, but he and Chief Bender faced each other several times. Go to

http://digital.olivesoftware.com/Rep...=-1&ID=Ar00500

to get a box score of one such game.

By the way, "Bender" really is Albert ("Chief") Bender, and not his brother James. Albert was a regularly enrolled student at the Carlisle School in 1901, James was not.

Evidence ... ? From

http://home.epix.net/~landis/bender.html

"Here's the info for Bender from Nat'l Archives' student file #1327, folder 5453, taken from a database compiled by Genevieve Bell:
Charles A. Bender
Address: White Earth Agency
Attended Carlisle 7/5/1896 - 5/14/02
Father: Albert Bender (German), Mother: living, fullblood Chippewa.
height at arrival: 5'3"
Weight: 101 lbs.
Graduated class of 1902. Captain of baseball team 1901-02.

His brother, James Bender attended Carlisle 9/5/1896-3/8/1900. He was expelled in 1900; cause unknown. His file is #1327, student folder 377."

I suspect you're on to something with the dispute between American Caramel and American Tobacco, but, as you're probably sick of hearing by now, there must be more to it than that.

Bob

[tedzan]

POST #32

Originally Posted by Theoldprofessor

Ted:

I know your research is first-rate. But the Lafean of whom you've been speaking was, apparently, Daniel Franklin Lafean, not David. From the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present:

"LAFEAN, Daniel Franklin, a Representative from Pennsylvania; born in York, York County, Pa., on February 7, 1861; attended the public schools; engaged in candy manufacturing and in banking in York; a director of the Gettysburg College and trustee of the Gettysburg Seminary, Gettysburg, Pa.; elected as a Republican to the Fifty-eighth and to the four succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1903-March 3, 1913); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1912 to the Sixty-third Congress; elected to the Sixty-fourth Congress (March 4, 1915-March 3, 1917); was not a candidate for renomination in 1916; appointed commissioner of banking of the State of Pennsylvania in 1917; again engaged in manufacturing pursuits; died in Philadelphia, Pa., April 18, 1922; interment in Prospect Hill Cemetery, York, Pa."

I'm unclear as to exactly what role Daniel Lafean was to have played in your theory. He was a director of the College, which sounds a bit like a trustee, and could have had either a little power, or a lot of it. As a congressman, of course, he had about as much power as he could have wanted. I'm ready to believe that he and Milton Hershey were tight, but how that brings Eddie out of T206 isn't real certain, at least to me, at all.

Of course, I graduated from Gettysburg College ('64), which makes my participation problematic anyway.

Bob

With all due respect, we've been here before in post #32 in this thread.

Anyhow, the connection that initially started my wild imagination down this path was the close relationship between Connie Mack and Daniel Lafean (while Lafean
owned the American Caramel Co. which was based in Philadelphia).

And, it's my understanding that Mr. Mack suggested to Daniel Lafean (circa 1907) to include BB card premiums with his Caramel product in order to enhance sales.

Anyhow, it's been 3 years since I posted this theory; and, I haven't had any luck in discovering any new evidence to support my contention that the T206 Plank
was yanked due to a conflict with the American Caramel Co.

But, I have discovered that Plank was very much anti-tobacco in any form. And so was his Manager, Connie Mack. Plank was a low-keyed guy and most likely did
not receive the fanfare that Wagner got for having their cards pulled from circulation. Plank's complaint was most likely handled by a "cease & desist" order issued
to ATC.

Best regards,

TED Z

[g_vezina_c55]

verry interesting thread !

[tedzan]

In the 5 1/2 years since I first presented this theory of mine regarding the T206 Plank card, I have had no luck in digging up any more evidence that would in any
way support any contention between the American Caramel Co. and the American Tobacco Co. (ATC)....as I have hypothesized here.

http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=84132


HOWEVER, my research on this subject proves that Connie Mack and Eddie Plank were very anti-tobacco guys. Therefore, I would suggest that this may have
been a big factor that explains the T206 Plank mystery. I can imagine that Plank issued a "cease and desist" order to ATC to stop them from portraying his image
on their tobacco cards.

Note, that Connie Mack is not pictured on T-cards. Of course, the T208 Fireside set is an exception. This might be explained by the fact that the same printer
that produced the 1910 NADJA (E104-1) A's set also printed the 1911 Cullivan's Fireside A's set.


TED Z

[Abravefan11]

As Ted said Plank was noted in many period articles and by his fellow teammates as living a clean life. He never drank or used tobacco of any kind. I believe like Ted that this is the most plausible explanation for his not giving his permission to be in the T206 set.

Here's an article from 1911 about Plank.

[g_vezina_c55]

Originally Posted by tedzan

In the 5 1/2 years since I first presented this theory of mine regarding the T206 Plank card, I have had no luck in digging up any more evidence that would in any
way support any contention between the American Caramel Co. and American Tobacco Co. (ATC)....as I have hypothesized here.

http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=84132


HOWEVER, my research on this subject proves that Connie Mack and Eddie Plank were very anti-tobacco guys. Therefore, I would suggest that this may have
been a big factor that explains the T206 Plank mystery. I can imagine that Plank issued a "cease and desist" order to ATC to stop them from portraying his image
on their tobacco cards.

Note, that Connie Mack is not pictured on T-cards. Of course, the T218 Fireside set is an exception. This might be explained by the fact that the same printer
that produced the 1910 NADJA (E104-1) A's set also printed the 1911 Cullivan's Fireside A's set.


TED Z

eddie plank don t appear in any other tobacco card set ?

[tedzan]

Besides the T208 (Fireside) set, Plank is also in the T204 Ramly set.

Let's see if anyone else here will chime in with another T-card set that he is in.


TED Z

[Abravefan11]

He's also in the T5 Pinkerton and T216 Kotton, Mino and Virginia Extra sets.