What if Ty Cobb had a scarce 1909 Tennis Card?

[Bosox Blair]

To give you an example, from the hockey/lacrosse sets, the key hockey HOF player is Ed "Newsy" Lalonde. For a visual, here are scans of his hockey rookie card (graded by SGC, and sold by Heritage in 2010) and his ungraded C59 Lacrosse portrait card:

[sbfinley]

For clarity, which sport was more popular at the time. I.E. Would Lalonde at that time be considered a Hockey player who dabbled in Lacrosse, a Lacrosse player who dabbled in Hockey, or a cross-platform star. Because say if Matty was issued in a Golf set even at the time he would be instantly recognized as a baseball player who dabbled in golf.

[Bosox Blair]

Originally Posted by sbfinley

For clarity, which sport was more popular at the time. E.I. Would Lalonde at that time be considered a Hockey player who dabbled in Lacrosse, a Lacrosse player who dabbled in Hockey, or a cross-platform star. Because say if Matty was issued in a Golf set even at the time he would be instantly recognized as a baseball player who dabbled in golf.

Hi Steve,

At the time, Lalonde was considered to be one of the greatest at both sports. He made more money playing Lacrosse, which was definitely very popular at the time (much moreso than today, I believe). He was a legit two sport superstar.

Others featured in both sets, like HOF goalie Paddy Moran, I would say were probably better known as hockey players.

Cheers,
Blair

[T2069bk]

pick up a Matty Checkers card and of course because he quit for 1909 I would need a Johnny Kling Pool card!

[egbeachley]

Wasn't Bicycle racing the most popular sport in 1909? Especially the 6-day races.

[steve B]

Originally Posted by egbeachley

Wasn't Bicycle racing the most popular sport in 1909? Especially the 6-day races.

I'd be interested in a non baseball card of a baseball player, but probably wouldn't pay extra unless the card was rare on its own.

Yes, cycling was immensely popular in the US and Europe in the early 1900s. Popular enough for the top racers to be the highest paid in any sport.Top riders of 6 day races made between $500 and $750 a day, and even rookie pros made $100 a day. Plus they could win sprint prizes which could be considearble. I've seen an interview with a rider who said in Chicago Al Capone would sit trackside late at night and put up a sprint prize of $50-100 every few laps for a couple hours! More if he felt the competition was truly exciting. (A lap might take 30 seconds loafing, much less if going for a sprint prize.

More info..http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six-day_racing

Many of the racers moved from bikes to cars, motorcycles and planes in the 1910 era, including some pretty big names Barney Oldfield, Harley Davison....

I collect cycling cards and memorabilia from pretty much any era. So far it's much more affordable than baseball stuff. A nice card of Major Taylor or Eddie Merckx two of the best ever is usually under a hundred, and typical race used bikes of lesser riders are typically under 2-3000, sometimes much less. (And there are also fakes and misidentified stuff, not a surprise. )

I wonder of any baseball players raced bikes as well?

For a look at at truly spectacular collection check this out. It's only part of the collection that's shown. He also bought an entire archive of cycling press photos from one of the european magazines. He said it was something like four 4x4x4 pallets of photos, around 250,000 or so.
http://www.thehortoncollection.com/





Steve B

[alanu]

The Michael Jordan baseball card was pretty popular in it's day.

I suppose a Cobb/Wagner/Mathewson anything card would be popular, but maybe not as desired as the baseball cards.