Rarest Pre-War Rookie Cards

[rhettyeakley]

1913 Zeenut Harry Heilmann

(One of only 2 known with the Coupon attached)

[Casey2296]

Great card Rhett.

[Shankweather]

The one that haunts my dreams and whispers, "you'll never find me...."

[oldjudge]

This hangar (paper front that is linen backed with metal strips at the top and bottom with a loop at the top so it can be displayed in a store) was issued prior to the 1891 season to illustrate Cleveland's 1891 schedule. The image of Cy Young is certainly one of his earliest, if not his earliest.

[bcbgcbrcb]

Jay:

I remember bidding on that at a National live auction maybe a dozen years ago or so now. Didn’t end up winning it.

[judsonhamlin]

Wouldn’t that also count for George Davis as well?

[oldjudge]

Judson--Absolutely!
Phil-I believe it was a Mastro live auction so it was more than a dozen years ago. I think we talked about the piece after the auction.

[Baseball Rarities]

Originally Posted by oldjudge

This hangar (paper front that is linen backed with metal strips at the top and bottom with a loop at the top so it can be displayed in a store) was issued prior to the 1891 season to illustrate Cleveland's 1891 schedule. The image of Cy Young is certainly one of his earliest, if not his earliest.

Beautiful display piece. Some of the images for that 1891 calendar were supplied by Ryder Studios. Here is the Cy Young. I believe that there are two known.

[oldjudge]

Yes, my guess is that Ryder was hired to photograph the team for the schedule hangar and after that project was completed Ryder made use of the images and issued separate cabinets of the players.

[Baseball Rarities]

Originally Posted by oldjudge

Yes, my guess is that Ryder was hired to photograph the team for the schedule hangar and after that project was completed Ryder made use of the images and issued separate cabinets of the players.

I am not sure about that since the producer of the calendar also used earlier images from 1889 and 1890, such as this one from 1889 of McKean produced by G Waldon Smith. Ryder was also taking images of the Cleveland players in 1890 and continued until at at least 1895. My guess is that the maker of the calendar contacted local photographer Ryder Studios and used whatever they had on hand at that time.