M116 Sporting Life collectors

[brianp-beme]

Here is a chance to show off your cards and help reinforce the points in an article that I posted on Net54. From the list below please either send me scans of any M116 cards, or post them on the E91 article thread. If sent to me I will post your cards alongside a scan of the comparable E91 within a few days so that all our fellow collectors can judge the player facial similiarities for themselves. Your assistance will be greatly appreciated!

M116 Sporting Life scans requested:

Albert Bridwell
John Evers
John Kling
Daniel Murphy
Reuben Oldring
Frank Schulte
Cy Seymour
Jimmy Sheckard
Fred Tenney
Joe Tinker

[Matt]

Brian - I think you've got an uphill battle with mainstreaming this set - as you've acknowledged that the E91C and half of the E91B sets re-use generic images, the other half of E91B and E91A get pulled down by association. On top of that, even the drawings that do have facial features of the players they depict are low quality "3rd grade" depictions.
Sorry; I don't care for the issue; can you tell?

[tedzan]

Not too many care for the E91's.....even more dislike these cards. For us few, that do collect E91's, this is just fine. As
it keeps the cost of the E91 cards at a reasonable price.

More significantly, American Caramel designed their 1st series of E91 cards in 1907 and issued this series of BB cards in
early 1908. This series of 33 cards, however un-aesthetically appealing, sparked the many sets of colorful BB card pre-
miums that followed (E-type and T-type) in 1909.

Daniel Lafean, who acquired Hershey's caramel production, and started the American Caramel Company (ALC) in 1900,
had factories in Philadelphia and York, PA. Lafean enjoyed a very close friendship with Connie Mack. It is rumored, that
Connie Mack suggested to Lafean to insert colorful BB card premiums with his candy product, in order to compete with
Hershey's chocolate products with the kids. And, indeed the 1st series of E91's include cards of the popular A's players.
The E91 premiums significantly enhanced ALC's sales in 1908, so they hurried up and produced another (more attractive)
series of BB cards. The 1st series of E90-1 cards were available in the Fall-Winter of 1908.

So, can we really mock a set of BB cards that started it all in the 1908 to 1919 era ?



TED Z

[brianp-beme]

Thanks Ted for that background story on this issue...I had never heard that before.

And I agree with Matt that it is an uphill battle trying to 'legitimize' this issue. I imagine most collectors just barely skimmed over the E91 article that I posted, if even that, so deeply ingrained is their distaste for the cards, either because of the artwork or the 'generic' label that has been foisted on all three issues. The E91 set probably just barely makes my top 100 Pre-WW2sets, so there is no great love on my part for the set that spurred me to research and write an article about it. I just took a hint from Lew Lipset in his Encyclopedia and ran with it. And since then I feel it is my responsibility to inform fellow collectors that the E91A set should NOT be considered a 'generic' issue, nor should half of E91B.

So please send me scans (preferred) of the M116's in your collections (and I know they are out there), or at least post them to the E91 article thread. Help me let collectors decide for themselves if these cards potentially have any value or meaning to their collections.

Brian

[greenmonster66]

here is my contribution!

[rhettyeakley]

I'm not sure if these interest you or not but seeing as though M116's and Colgans shared the same photos I figure I would provide the Colgan pictures of the players from your list.

[milkit1]

My cubbies so far. sorry for the few repeat scans


m116 sl cubs #1.jpg

m116 graded cubs.jpg

m116 cubs.jpg

[brianp-beme]

Thanks Neal, Robert and Sean, I have started to post some of the comparision cards on the E91 article thread...still have more to do. And thanks Rhett for reminding me that the E254 is a great photographic set that features many of the same photos as seen in the other sets. Colgan's might be the ideal cards to compare, because they are strictly black and white photos and all are just head shots. Check out the E91 article to see the results.

Brian