1910 Chicago White Sox

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A fellow collector recently picked up a nice Chicago White Sox postcard. Knowing that I had an interest in postcards he offered it to me. The postcard is postally used having been mailed March 24, 1910 from Los Angeles. While the card was mailed in 1910 that doesn't necessarily determine whether it is the 1910 team or possibly an earlier team.

I have been able to definitively date the team to 1910 through a couple of identifications. First is Shano Collins (back row, third from the right). Collins' first year with the White Sox was 1910 as he was with the Springfield, MA Connecticut League team in 1909. The second id is of Manager Hugh Duffy (seated in the bottom row in street clothes, third from the right). Duffy's first year as Manager was 1910.

After determining that it is in fact the 1910 team the next, and hardest part of the analysis, was to identify as many of the players as possible. Researching through the internet and use of the 1911 Spalding Guide (which covered the 1910 season of baseball) I have been able to identify eight of the players appearing on the card. This will be a work in progress and will be updated as I am able to get identifications of more players. Any help would be appreciated.

The unidentified (so far)

BAD BOYS OF BASEBALL

Most everyone is familiar with the Black Sox scandal where eight Chicago White Sox players were alleged to have taken money to throw the 1919 World Series. Most infamous among the eight were Shoeless Joe Jackson, Buck Weaver and Eddie Cicotte. The full story is set out in Eliot Asinof’s book Eight Men Out. These players along with Hal Chase have been the subject of much research and writings. There are however other interesting stories of lesser known players who have run afoul of organized baseball and have found themselves on the outs.



First we have Joe Gedeon. Often referred to as the “Ninth Man Out” Joe was banned permanently for "having guilty knowledge" of the World Series fix. Joe Gedeon is pictured on his 1915 Zeenut card.







Next we have Babe Borton. Babe came into the majors with the Chicago White Sox in 1912 hitting a very respectable .371 in 105 at-bats. The next year he was traded to the Yankees and ended his major league career in the in the Federal League. Following his major league stint Babe played in the Pacific Coast League playing for theVenice and Vernon teams. During the 1919 season, it was rumored that opposing players had been bribed to insure Vernon the pennant. Babe, along with Harl Maggart and Bill Rumler and pitchers Tom Seaton of Portland and Casey Smith of San Francisco were expelled from the league for suspected activities in the scandal. Rumler received a pardon from Organized Baseball in 1928, and finished out his career playing for the Hollywood Stars.






Babe Borton is pictured here on his 1919 Zeenut card.















Harl Maggert is pictured here on his 1917 Zeenut card.











Casey Smith is pictured here in his 1919 Zeenut card.












Bill Rumler is pictured here on his 1929 Zeenut card.












Tom Seaton is pictured here on his 1911 Zeenut card.

Harold “Hal” Chase

One of the more interesting characters of turn of the century baseball was Hal Chase. California born Chase, known to most as “Prince Hal” because of his swaggering manner began his major league career in 1905 with the New York Highlanders (now known as the New York Yankees). In his position at first base he was considered by many of his contemporaries as well as later players as one of the best first basemen ever. So popular was he during his stint with the Highlanders from 1905 through 1913 that the American Tobacco Trust, the Company that put out the T206 set, honored him on five (5) different cards more than any other player and one (1) more than Ty Cobb considered by most to be the best player of his time. Quite a tribute and makes one wonder “why isn’t this guy in the Hall of Fame?” After all, historians Lawrence Ritter and Donald Honig named him as one the 100 greatest players of all time in their book of the same name.

Chase played with the Highlanders from 1905 through 1913; the Chicago White Sox from 1913 through 1914; the Buffalo Blues of the newly organized Federal League from 1914 through 1915; the Cincinnati Reds from 1916 through 1918; finally ending his career with the New York Giants in 1919.

The story of his fall from grace has been well documented by many writers and historians. Fact of the matter was that Prince Hal was a gambler, he wagered on games, he was accused of throwing games; he paid players to throw games and committed other acts thought to corrupted baseball. Several of his managers suspected what was going on and in 1913 when the suspicion appeared more reality Manager Frank Chance of the Highlanders shipped him off to the White Sox. Chase always had aspirations to be a manager and at times held a player/manager position with a team. While with Cincinnati in 1918 Manager Christy Mathewson learned that Chase had paid a player to throw a game. Mathewson suspended Chase and brought up charges for fixing games. Chase was subsequently acquitted by the National League President. Following his acquittal Chase was dealt to the Giants and due to some new found evidence of throwing games in 1918 was banned from the game.

Though not an active participant in the 1919 Black Sox scandal it is known that he won $40,000 betting on the Reds.

The final fall came after it was learned that in 1920 he had bribed Spider Baum of the Salt Lake Bees, Pacific Coast League, to lose a game against the Los Angeles Angels. In 1921 the Commissioner of Baseball, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, issued a formal lifetime ban. After the ban Chase played on outlaw teams with Black Soxers Buck Weaver, Chick Gandil and Lefty Williams.

Chase died in 1947 at age 64.

Pictured with this article are his five (5) T206 cards. The Black Cap, Blue Portrait and Holding Trophy cards are from my collection. The White Cap and Pink Portrait scans are courtesy of my friend Joe Yanello of Joes Vintage Sports Cards. Joe has the cards listed in his eBay Store and can be found at the following link: http://stores.ebay.com/Joes-Vintage-Sports-Cards

IMPERIAL TOBACCO COMPANY OF CANADA (C46)

This minor league set of 1912 is the only tobacco baseball set issued in Canada. Designated C46 in the American Card Catalog the set consists of 90 numbered sepia-toned cards with short biographies on the reverse. The eight teams represented are Rochester, Buffalo, Toronto, Newark, Providence, Baltimore, Montreal and Jersey City. The set contains many players with major league experience as well as two Hall of Fame players, Joe Kelley and Joe McGinnity. The more difficult cards are Chick Gandil of Black Sox infamy and Luther “Dummy” Taylor a popular deaf player. The card of Joseph Kelley is shown to the right though the card incorrectly spells his last name Kelly.

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I have the following SGC graded C46 cards for sale @ $95 each:

Rose & Company Springfield Postcards

In 2004 an auction on eBay offered a series of 13 postcards bearing a likeness to the popular Rose & Company postcard series of 1908-1909. These Cinderella cards were created by the 1909 Springfield (Mass.) Connecticut League Team as a presentation set for their benefactrix, the team owner's wife. They are not part of the officially issued set. Two players of note are John Francis (Shano) Collins who started his major league career in 1910 and was a member of the 1919 White Sox team and Harl Vestin Maggert who after his stint with the Springfield team went west to the Pacific Coast League where he played for many years and appears on Obak and many Zeenut cards.

George "Buck" Weaver

Buck Weaver one of the eight Black Sox was banned for life for allegedly participating in throwing the 1919 World Series, Chicago White Sox versus the Cincinnati Reds.


Buck appears on many baseball cards from 1909 when he played for San Francisco of the Pacific Coast League through 1921 after his bandishment from baseball.

The first card pictured here is his 1911 Zeenut. Buck is pictured with the San Francisco team.

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This next card is Buck's 1911 Obak card still with San Francisco.

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In 1912 Weaver was signed by the Chicago White Sox.
The card pictured is his T207 card from 1912.