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| 2002 Topps 206 #299 |
Having recently decided to re-do some of my Phillies wantlists, I opted to start at the beginning. The very beginning. Armed with the Standard Catalog, Beckett's on-line database and my tattered copy of Robert E. Schmierer's indispensable 100 Years of Phillies Memorabilia, I began the process of putting together checklists for the Phillies baseball cards released before 1930.
About a half hour into this exercise, I concluded that what I was doing was ridiculous.
As of this writing, I own exactly one Phillies baseball card that dates before 1930. Rather than compile a wantlist of original Allen & Ginter's, Gypsy Queens, T-206s and Turkey Reds, why not just list here the Phillies cards I have from the team's inception in 1883 through 1929? So here it (hopefully one day "they") is/are:
1883-1929 Phillies Have List
1887 N172 Old Judge Sid Farrar (Right hand on belt buckle and "Philadelphias") - March 2012
1909 T206 Mickey Doolan (Batting, Polar Bear back) - May 2014
1909 T206 Mickey Doolan (UER Doolin, Portrait, Piedmont back) - September 2015
1909 T206 Mickey Doolan (Fielding, Piedmont back) - December 2016
1909 T206 George McQuillan (Ball in Hand, Piedmont back) - June 2015
1909-11 E90-1 American Caramel George McQuillan - April 2012
1911 T205 Gold Border Chas S. Dooin - November 2011
1911 T205 Gold Border Michael Doolan - September 2012, courtesy of 14,000 Phillies
1911 T205 Gold Border Robert Ewing - September 2016
1911 T205 Gold Border John Titus - September 2016
1920 W516-1 Babe Adams - January 2015
1920 W519-Unnumbered Gabby (Gavvy) Cravath - February 2017
1929 Exhibits 4 on 1 Williams/Whitney/Benge/Sweetland - April 2015
I'd like to think that one day this list could grow to a half dozen to a dozen cards, and I'll be able to refer back to this post if I ever need to confirm that I'm missing a certain Chuck Klein or Eppa Rixey or Dave Bancroft card before purchasing it.
The card featured at the top is the correct spelling version of Sherry Magee's 1910 T-206 card, enlarged and reprinted within the 2002 Topps 206 set. A quick check of my 1883-1929 Phillies Have List indicates that I don't currently possess any original 1910 T-206 cards. Yet.
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Even though the Phillies became a National League franchise in 1883, I don't think there were any Phillies baseball cards until 1887. My limited research shows there were several Phillies featured in the 1887 Allen & Ginter set, the Buchner Tobacco Gold Coins set (N-284) and the Kalamazoo Bats set (N-690).
UPDATE (2/16/12): Check out this entry to The Phillies Database Project over at 14,000 Phillies. Until anyone can prove otherwise, I'm going with 1886 as the year the first Phillies baseball card was released.
According to the SCD 2011 Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards, the earliest Phillies cards came out in 1886: 1886 MacIntire Studio Cabinets, which contained only nine cards, but all were Phillies.
ReplyDeleteYou just inspired the most recent post to 14,000 Phillies. :-)
ReplyDeleteI can't decide if I'm glad that the Red Sox didn't exist until 1901, thus limiting my wantlist, or upset that it doesn't give me a reason to chase down a card from 1887.
ReplyDeleteWhen you were making your wantlist, did you have any conflict over what was really a "card?" I can understand tobacco cards, and Cracker Jack cards. I can't decide if things like Polo Grounds game cards should really count.
14k - Very cool! I will update the post accordingly.
ReplyDeleteS36 - Yeah, I don't know where to draw the line either. There are a lot of coins and pins from the early days that I wouldn't really consider "cards," but I'd gladly add them to my collection if the opportunity presented itself!