Writing on cards?

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Posted By: brian p

I am of the camp that actually appreciates interesting writing on the back of cards. Zeenuts seem to be a magnet for back writing, perhaps because of all of that available blank space--it is glorified scrap paper. Over the years I have picked up cards with business addresses, grocery lists, a part number from Sears Roebuck, columns of numbers, etc.

Buck Barker also used the back of these cards to gather information on PCL players at the Sporting News headquarters. One of my favorites has a strip like caricature of James Cagney that has been transferred to the back of a Zeenut, and Buck was still able to squeeze all his hieroglyphic notes along the remaining 1/4" blank borders. Another special card is of a player Haughy of the 1925 Seals that Buck was unable to locate at The Sporting News, and he wrote a list of other possible spellings of the name that he checked but could not find a match "Hughes, Haugh, Hough, Haughey, Haughee, Huguey, Hughie, Huheey, Hughie, Hugh" It shows what length Buck was willing to go through to track down this information, and what we collectors should be grateful for--this player has still not been identified by first name. Without his work we would still be in the dark on countless other cards.

I also think that because these cards were used in a gambling type game called 'shooting' (kind of like pitching pennies, but with cards, if I remember the description of the game correctly), certain sayings would be penciled in on the back. A very common one is 'Good Luck'. Some of the interesting variations on this I have encountered are one that is directed to an individual "Good Luck to Meyer Kapler'. Another reminds me of the modern day 'Where's George' on dollar bills--'This Zeenut was got by Harold Hague and I am trying to see how far it will go'. A contrary to normal message would be one that says 'Bad Luck'. Another fun one is 'Good luck to me be but no bute ells (sic)' Someone who probably ended up with the card latter added in different handwriting 'Rotten' before Good luck. Then there is the ever romantic card that states 'Good luck--kiss me'.

My favorite cards are ones that present commentary about the player. I ended up with a bunch from the late 1920's from a budding young sportswriter with a flair for imitation of the puffed up sports writing of the period. Most of them just say something along the lines of 'Joe Smith-a good outfielder for the Acorns', but below are some of the more special ones:

"Art Kopp--a darn fast man and a good Texas League Hitter'
"Al 'Pudgy' Gould--a flossy twirler on the Oaks"
"Lyn Lary-- Oakland shortstop only 16 years old and a regular"
"Gus Staley is holding down second base for the Angels sucessfully"
"Bobby Jones--a coming youngster"
"Sam Agnew--an old ballplayer who has hung on-39 years old"
"Gus Suhr--just a kid with a great future"
"Louis Vinci--a dependable hurler for the Sacs"
"Evar Swanson--watch him run"
"Al Bool--one of the best caters to a mask on for the Acorns"
"'Big' Ed Bryan--a good pitcher and sticker and hitter"
"Bud Teachout--a fair pitcher due to have a great year with the Cubs in 1930"

A couple of fun ones are cards of Wolfer and Hudgens that both state 'Fired for drinking' and have drawings of bottles with XXX on them.

But my all-time favorites are the insult cards. Sometimes this collector could give stark commentary about the player's abilities--such as 'A mediocre pitcher', sometimes handled creatively "Manager Picther of Seattle--not much at either", or even like the writer had some personal beef with the player "A punk relief pitcher on the LA staff"

But my all time favorite would be from another writer/collector who penned the following put-down on a 1928 Zeenut card of Emil Muesel--"Muesel is nothing but a old flat lunch"