T205 variation information

[esd10]

This has been most likely covered multiple times but does anyone have information on why they had so many different variations of certain players?

[gonzo]

The cards with different player images are just different cards. Wallace With Cap vs. Without Cap, or Russ Ford White Cap vs. Black Cap, etc., are just different cards, like Cobb Bat On and Cobb Bat Off are different cards in T206.

This also goes for Graham and Shean, which both show up with either Rustlers or Cubs logos. Those are different cards, updated to reflect an actual change in team, just like Elberfeld Washington vs. N.Y., or Demmitt and O'Hara NY vs. St. Louis, are different cards in T206.


The number and kind of variations in T205 are related to those cards being somewhat more complex than most cards before them. Every different thing added to a card provides an opportunity for someone to screw it up in the production process. These cards were low-cost marketing material and it wouldn't be surprising if the copyediting process was less than thorough. (Though we can't know how many errors were actually caught before production!)

Each of these cards has a bunch of different elements. On the front, we have the logo and team name, the image itself, the background, and the border and decorative elements around it (for AL and ML cards) or the facsimile autograph (for NL cards). So there's the opportunity to make mistakes on things like the frame (Chase frame extends), logo (Dougherty red vs. white logo, Collins Yellow Elephant), the signature (Crandall "t", Leifield "A.P.", Graham "blue or black"), and the various color issues that plagued the Hoffman card.

On the back, we have the player's name, their bio of several dozen words, and in most cases their stats, along with the brand at the bottom. The bio and stats may have used movable type, so a piece might be forgotten or fall out (Wilhelm "suffer ed", Snodgrass "no decimal before 405", Matty Cycle) or a line of text might be left on from another card (Gray stats, from Phelps; Moran stray line, from Mattern; and Wallace no cap 2 lines 1910 stats, from Miller). "W.A." or "A." Latham and "B" or "D" in Miller look to me like they might be attempts to "edit by filing", without removing the piece of type, which might mean that the type was pretty firmly fixed in there once added. "Doc" White with or (mostly) without quotes also falls in here somewhere.

Hoblitzell is the perfect storm, with problems editorial (whether to have stats on the card, whether to have "Cin" in a line of stats), copy-editorial (spelling of "Hoblitzell"), and typographical (that "Cin" sometimes contains an "i" and sometimes some other character without a dot that looks like a small "1" or "l").

[esd10]

Originally Posted by gonzo

The cards with different player images are just different cards. Wallace With Cap vs. Without Cap, or Russ Ford White Cap vs. Black Cap, etc., are just different cards, like Cobb Bat On and Cobb Bat Off are different cards in T206.

This also goes for Graham and Shean, which both show up with either Rustlers or Cubs logos. Those are different cards, updated to reflect an actual change in team, just like Elberfeld Washington vs. N.Y., or Demmitt and O'Hara NY vs. St. Louis, are different cards in T206.


The number and kind of variations in T205 are related to those cards being somewhat more complex than most cards before them. Every different thing added to a card provides an opportunity for someone to screw it up in the production process. These cards were low-cost marketing material and it wouldn't be surprising if the copyediting process was less than thorough. (Though we can't know how many errors were actually caught before production!)

Each of these cards has a bunch of different elements. On the front, we have the logo and team name, the image itself, the background, and the border and decorative elements around it (for AL and ML cards) or the facsimile autograph (for NL cards). So there's the opportunity to make mistakes on things like the frame (Chase frame extends), logo (Dougherty red vs. white logo, Collins Yellow Elephant), the signature (Crandall "t", Leifield "A.P.", Graham "blue or black"), and the various color issues that plagued the Hoffman card.

On the back, we have the player's name, their bio of several dozen words, and in most cases their stats, along with the brand at the bottom. The bio and stats may have used movable type, so a piece might be forgotten or fall out (Wilhelm "suffer ed", Snodgrass "no decimal before 405", Matty Cycle) or a line of text might be left on from another card (Gray stats, from Phelps; Moran stray line, from Mattern; and Wallace no cap 2 lines 1910 stats, from Miller). "W.A." or "A." Latham and "B" or "D" in Miller look to me like they might be attempts to "edit by filing", without removing the piece of type, which might mean that the type was pretty firmly fixed in there once added. "Doc" White with or (mostly) without quotes also falls in here somewhere.

Hoblitzell is the perfect storm, with problems editorial (whether to have stats on the card, whether to have "Cin" in a line of stats), copy-editorial (spelling of "Hoblitzell"), and typographical (that "Cin" sometimes contains an "i" and sometimes some other character without a dot that looks like a small "1" or "l").

I appreciate the information

[Wite3]

I would like to give one more piece of info too. T205s (like T206s) had several different print runs. This allowed the ATC to add some cards and remove some cards (notably the minor leaguers and a few of the really tough short prints like Joss). When they ran later print runs, changes were made mostly to the fronts of the cards. The moveable type could be changed much easier so you got corrections on the backs much easier than the fronts mostly likely when the errors were caught. That is why you see some odd back printing (eg. Moran, Miller, and Wilhelm).

[Leon]

Good info guys!