1921 Shotwell Babe Ruth Discovered

[Bob Lemke]

The existence of a (currently) unique 1921 Shotwell Babe Ruth card has been verified. It's only the second-known E121-style Shotwell baseball.

Such information as can be pieced together, along with some wild-ass guessing, can be found on the Standard Catalog Update blog by clicking the link at bottom.

Shotwell front.jpg
Shotwell back.jpg

[Leon]

That is a great discovery. Ruth collectors should have a field day....I am sticking to my guns on the designation (W575-1) but it's certainly debatable....

[Orioles1954]

I found the first one in 2007 while sorting through a massive collection from one of our consignor's. He had no idea it was anything great. After that, I dubbed myself "Father of the Shotwell Back"

James

[Bob Lemke]

Leon,unless someone has found a "new" W575-1 Ruth, the Shotwell doesn't conform to any of the three listed in that checklist.

The Shotwell has his position listed as R.F., with no quotes around BABE.

The three W575-1 are:

R.F. "Babe"
L.F. BABE
w/man and bird "BABE"

As I've looked into these issues more and more, along with the M101-4 and M101-5 and their derivatives, I think there's still a lot we don't know about actual checklists, midstream changes in set composition, etc.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Bob Lemke

Leon,unless someone has found a "new" W575-1 Ruth, the Shotwell doesn't conform to any of the three listed in that checklist.

The Shotwell has his position listed as R.F., with no quotes around BABE.

The three W575-1 are:

R.F. "Babe"
L.F. BABE
w/man and bird "BABE"

As I've looked into these issues more and more, along with the M101-4 and M101-5 and their derivatives, I think there's still a lot we don't know about actual checklists, midstream changes in set composition, etc.

Hi Bob ..
I am one of the folks who doesn't believe in changing the ACC. Unless this was put out by American Caramel Co., and distributed by a competitor, then it's still not an E121. I could go with E121-Unc, I guess .

[rhettyeakley]

It seems like 1921 E-UNC Shotwell Manufacturing should be sufficient. I affectionately call all the cards in these sets "E121-like" cards only because it makes it easier to group them all together, just like we usually refer to "M101-4/5" cards by that name even though there are tons of different ACC designations involved.

Bob, I love the SCD book for many issues, but one of the issues whose checklist is vitually meaningless at this point is the W575-1 list. I have covered it several times on the forum (I can find a link for you later), but what people call "W575-1" are actually from TWO completely different sets. One is a high quality photos & paper (some call it E121 blank backs), the other being on crappy paper and really grainy photos. I began calling them W575-1A for the ood quality ones and W575-1B for the grainy ones, and I have seen those designations being used by others so it seems like they have sort of caught on.

What follows is complicated, and confusing, and I have only included the "Reader's Digest" version but here are the distinguishing characteristics of the two sets...

W575-1A - These were NOT hand cut, although some manufacturers who distributed them may have bought sheets and cut them themselves (they weren't "strip-cards" in their distribution. Included under this designation are the Henry Johnson and James Keating sets, as those cards are simply W575-1A's that that particular distributor decided to rubber-stamp on back. The Koester's Bread set would also be included under this umbrella because they have simple blank backs. Generally these are going to be from earlier in the "E121-like" print run, and infielders will USUALLY (not always) be designated as 2nd B., 1st B., etc. while outfielders are designated by their specific positions like R.F., L.F., C.F., and even Outf. on occason, far fewer are cards from this set that have the later (E121-120) designations of 2B, 1B., etc or simply O.F. for outfielders.

W575-1B - These are all hand cut on the top & bottom borders ONLY. These are from the very end of the "E121-like" card distibution period and from all the cards that I have documented (which is quite a few), this set shares a checklist with the W501 set. In fact I would go one step further and say that they are simply a reprint of the W501 just without the card # & "G-4-22" thing at top, the reason being that the photo quality (or lack thereof) is identical and the card stock is also identical between the W501's and W575-1B's. These will ALWAYS have the much more simple 1B., 2B., etc. and O.F. designations.

The problem with the W575-1 listing in the SCD book is that it has included the two distinct sets together for so long that it almost needs to be scrapped at this point to distinguish between the two.

This Holke photo shows the W575-1A ---- W501 ----- W575-1B (in that order)

[rhettyeakley]

I'll post the picture on it's own so you don't have to scroll r-l to read what I wrote...