1916-1920 Date for "Big Head" Strip Cards

[Matt]

I humbly submit for your consideration, my findings for the issue date of these strip cards. I understand that this topic may be a bit controversial since many RC collectors use the "1916-1920" dating to claim a 1916 rookie of a player, but please read with an open mind, as if you were coming to figure the date of this issue without any preconceived notions.

First a few words of clarification - when SCD lists these as "1916-1920" it is not because they were issued throughout that period, like the "1902-1911" designation on W600s. It is because they couldn't narrow the date based on playing careers of players included in the set. There is no evidence I know of, to suggest these were issued at more then one time.

In dating sets where no date is specified, we always assume the sets were issued at one time, unless player & team designations make that impossible. Otherwise, we would date all issues as a huge range starting from when the first included player started playing to when the last included player stopped playing. e.g. how do we know E96s were issued in 1910 and not over a series of years from 1905-1915 (or whatever the correct years are)? Again, the answer is, we always go with the assumption of a set issued at one time and find the time that all of the player/team combinations fit (1910 for the E96 issue). This is nothing new - just important to clarify before we move on.

With that in mind, we must consider who was included in this 20 card issue. With only 20 cards, the manufacturers certainly would want players who were well known. Therefore, the list of players included in the issue provides a great indication of when these cards were issued. Specifically:

Leon Cadore - he made only 7 appearance in 1915 where he racked up an 0-2 record and a 5.57 ERA. The following season he made only one appearance. As such, it's doubtful these were issued in 1916 or 1917 (the years following those paltry seasons).

Joe Judge - he played in only 12 games in 1915, again pointing to the 1916 issue date being doubtful.

Sam Rice - the future HOFer played in only 4 games in 1915, and only 1/3 of a season in 1916, again, pointing towards 1918 as being the earliest possible issue date.

Ping Bodie - after batting .229 during the 1914 season (and an argument with his manager) Bodie was sent down to the minors, and wasn't recalled until the 1917 season. It seems impossible they would pick him as one of the 20 players to issue, if the set was issued in 1916 or 1917 and the earliest this issue would include him is 1918.

As such, I think we can narrow down the issue to 1918 at the earliest and therefore suggest the issue be dated 1918-1920.

Interestingly, all 4 of those players had wonderful years in 1917. In 264 innings over 37 games, Cadore had a 2.45 ERA. Judge batted .285 (65 points above his 1916 average!) in 393 ABs and Rice batted .302 in 586 ABs. In 557 ABs, Bodie batted .291 and was 3rd in the AL in HRs.