Your Information Resource for Vintage Baseball Cards
eNews Issue #50 (June 2008)      www.oldcardboard.com

Please Note: If images are not loading in this email, click here. Welcome to Old Cardboard, the most complete reference resource for information about collecting vintage baseball cards and related memorabilia.  More information about this eNewsletter and its companion website and magazine are found at the bottom of this page. Contents: 1. Updated Auction and Show Calendar 2. Vintage Set Profile: 1910 T209 Contentnea Cigarettes 3. Latest Updates to the OldCardboard.com Web site 4. Need Help in Answering These Questions, Please 5. Happy Centennial Birthday, Billy Werber 6. News Briefs (A Digest of Recent Hobby Happenings) 1. Updated Auction and Show Calendar The following is a summary of vintage card events coming up in the next 30-45 days. For the most current listings on additional vintage card shows and auctions, see the Show and Auction Calendar on the Old Cardboard website.

OC eNewsletter Sponsor

June 2008
21	Phone/Internet	Fusco Auctions (see website for details).
25-26	Phone/Internet	Mastro "Classic Collector" Auction (see website for details).
28	San Francisco	Bay Area Vintage Collector's Show (email Mark Macrae for details)
July 2008
9-10	Phone/Internet	Huggins & Scott Auctions (see website for details).
12	Phone/Internet	SCP Auctions (see website for details).
14-15	Phone/Internet	Hunt Auctions (see website for details).
15	Phone/Internet	Collectible Classics Auction CCA20 (see website for details).
18	Internet	19th Century Only Auction (see website for details).
7/30-8/3	Chicago	National Sports Collectors Convention (see website for details).

2. Vintage Set Profile: 1910 T209 Contentnea Cigarettes T209-1 "First Series" T209-2 "Photo Series" Consisting entirely of middle-east-coast minor-league players, the sets designated as T209 by the American Card Catalog are actually two distinctly different series. Players used in both series are from the Virginia League, the Carolina Association and Eastern Carolina League. Front and back examples of cards from each subset are shown at right. The two subsets are further related in that they are very nearly the same size (roughly 1-5/8 x 2-3/4 inches; the first series is about 1/16 inch smaller). They were both produced in 1910 to promote the Contentnea Cigarette brand. However, that is where the similarity ends, and there are marked differences between the two sub-sets. The "First Series," as it is labeled on the card backs, contains cards for only 16 players. They are pictured in a variety of both portrait and full-length action poses on brightly colored backgrounds (see "First Series" Gallery of Cards). By contrast, the second "Photo Series" contains a whopping 222 players. Further, only black and white half-tone photographs are used in the Photo Series. Due to the card printing and production process, the Photo Series cards are often found with surface damage on the card fronts. The backs for each of the T209 sub-series are also different, although the prominent "Contentnea Cigarettes" logo on both cards give them a common general appearance. One telling difference is in the first line of text at the top of each card, which clearly labels it as part of either the "First Series" or the "Photo Series." Because the T209 set consists solely of minor league players (few of whom ever advanced to the majors), the set is relatively less popular among collectors. The scarcity of the cards, however, keeps their values up, especially for high-grade examples. Like most other tobacco card issues, both Contentnea sets were distributed as inserts along with the product that they promoted. The Contentnea sets are believed to have been packed in a box as shown here, which bears the same factory number identified on the backs of the "Photo Series" cards. Set Profile information for the T209 sets is provided on the Old Cardboard website along with a Checklist and Gallery of cards in the T209-1 (color) subseries. OC eNewsletter Sponsor 3. Latest Updates to the OldCardboard.com Web site We are continually expanding the Old Cardboard website with more set profiles, checklists and set galleries. Recent (past 30-40 days) additions include: Set Profiles have been added for: 1922-23 PB4   Kolb's Mothers Bread Pins Set Checklists have been added for: 1910   T209   Contentnea (First Series) 1912   E300   Plow's Candy 1916   M101-4   "Sporting News" (added player Position, Team and Notes/Comments for all 200 cards) 1922-23   PB4   Kolb's Mothers Bread 1933   R328   U. S. Caramel Set Galleries have been added for: 1910   T209   Contentnea (First Series) 1916   M101-4   "Sporting News" 1933   R328   U. S. Caramel Updating the website with checklists and full set galleries for additional vintage sets is an ongoing project, so check back often to check out the latest additions. There are now many thousands of card images on the Old Cardboard website and the list continues to grow. We welcome and encourage feedback with checklist additions, card images, error corrections and suggestions. Please send all input to editor@oldcardboard.com. 4. Need Help in Answering These Questions, Please Feller Card (Origin Unknown ??) W501 Wambsganss Old Cardboard subscriber Gary Scott has ask us some questions, some of which we could not answer. Since we didn't want to let "the buck to stop here," we decided to pass the questions along to other readers. If you can provide any perspective to help answer these questions, please reply via email to editor@oldcardboard.com or contact Gary directly at bas130@att.net. Gary's questions are: 1) Why is the 1933 W574 set comprised of only 6 American League teams, and no NL teams? 2) I recently purchased a 1922 W501 card of Bill Wambsganss (see example above). The card shows him throwing left handed, when every resource I have indicates that he batted and threw right handed. If the photo was reversed, the letters on his shirt would also be reversed, but they are not. The "C" on the cap is also oriented correctly. My question: Was Wamby in fact left handed? Answer: the answer to this question is actually found on the Old Cardboard website, but requires a little old fashion detective work. On the newly uploaded Gallery for the M101-4 "Sporting News" set, card #185 is labeled as Wambsganss and uses the same pose as in the W501 card shown above. Further, a notation in the M101-4/5 Checklist entry for Wambsganss states that the photo is actually Indians pitcher Fritz Coumbe. So no, shortstop Wamby was not a lefty, although teammate Coumbe was. 3) I am having trouble identifying the origins of the Bob Feller card (example above right). It is printed on creamy paper stock, is blank backed and measures 6-1/2 x 10 inches. The stadium is almost certainly League Park in Cleveland. The info at the bottom, in very small type, has stats and data thru 1940 and refers to the Sporting News twice, but never specifically states that the photo is a SN product. My best guess is that the photo was taken in 1940 or 1941. Was this a Sporting News issue? If not, who produced the card and was it part of a set? My sincere thanks for any assistance in answering any of the above questions. --Gary H. Scott 5. Happy Centennial Birthday, Billy Werber Bill Werber (1936 R314 Goudey "Wide Pens" Premium) Bill Werber, the oldest living ex-Major Leaguer, celebrated his 100th birthday this past Friday, June 20. He now resides in a retirement community in Charlotte, NC. Werber's debut in the Majors was in 1930 with the Yankees, where he was a teammate to baseball superstars Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. He also played for the Red Sox, Athletics, Reds and Giants during his Major League career that spanned 13 years and ended in 1942. Werber appeared in a number of 1930's card sets including the R314 Goudey "Wide Pens" premium card shown here, produced nearly three-quarters of a century ago. At that time, Werber was a just young lad, still in his twenties, from Berwyn, MD. Over his 1295-game Major League career that spanned thirteen years, he became his league's leader in several fielding categories. He he was also the leading base stealer in the American League in 1934. Werber reminisced about some of his Major League experiences in a recent interview with Washington Post staff writer Dave Sheinin. Sheinin's interview was printed in the Post and can be accessed on-line at the newspaper's website. We wish Billy a Happy Birthday and many happy returns. 6. News Briefs (A Digest of Recent Hobby Happenings) Baseball in World War II. Leave it to Scottish author Gary Bedingfield to produce a very professional website (and a free monthly Newsletter) devoted to "Baseball in Wartime." Bedingfield is also author of the highly rated book entitled "Baseball in World War II Europe." Bedingfield's monthly Newsletter was launched in September of last year. In addition to well researched feature articles, it includes book reviews, news of related up-coming events, as well as obituaries and bios of former servicemen ballplayers. His well organized website includes additional related articles, detailed and illustrated biographies of those who served, and more. We recommend a visit to Baseball in Wartime website at www.baseballinwartime.com. More Articles Added to Article Index. We have now added articles from another publication to Old Cardboard's Index of Articles about vintage baseball cards. Thus, several dozen vintage-card-related articles from Sports Scoop have now been indexed. Sports Scoop was a hobby magazine published in the early 1970s. Its contributors were among the leading collectors of the period and included such still-familiar names as Frank Nagy, Richard Egan, Buck Barker, Elwood Scharf and Keith Olbermann, as well as Sports Scoop editor Steve Mitchell. These additions bring the total count of articles in the index to 658--all directly related to vintage baseball card collecting. 2008 Hold'em Series Update. The fifth (May) on-line tournament of Old Cardboard's 2008 Texas Hold'em series was held Tuesday, May 27 and the results are now posted on the Old Cardboard website. Competition remains keen, with Larry Galloway (LRGalloway) and Tom Morgan (Nagurski3) moving into a tie for first place for the 2008 series. Congrats to all who placed. The upcoming June tournament (#6) marks the half-way point for the 2008 series and it is still a horse race for all participants. Tourney #6 is scheduled for June 24 at 20:30 EST (8:30 Eastern; 7:30 Central). It is PokerStars #90008575; password for registration is r316r316. All vintage baseball card collectors are invited to participate. We look forward to seeing you there, and the best of luck to all. Complete details for the 2008 Series are provided on the Old Cardboard website. Lyman and Brett Hardeman Old Cardboard, LLC. Old Cardboard, LLC. was established in December 2003, to help bring information on vintage baseball card collecting to the hobbyist.  Produced by collectors for collectors, this comprehensive resource consists of three components: (1) Old Cardboard Magazine, (2) a companion website at www.oldcardboard.com and (3) this eNewsletter. The Old Cardboard website contains more than 500 pages of descriptive reference information for baseball card sets produced fifty years ago or longer.  Each of these set summaries has a direct set-specific link to auctions and a similar link to 's powerful search engine for further research.  The website also includes a Show and Auction Calendar, an eBay Top 50 Vintage Sellers List, and much more.  As a result, the Old Cardboard website makes a great "Alt-tab" companion for vintage card shoppers and researchers.  Old Cardboard eNews provides current hobby news, upcoming shows and auctions, and updates to the website and the magazine.  It is published around the middle of each month.  For a FREE subscription to the eNewsletter, or for subscription information on Old Cardboard Magazine, please visit the website at www.oldcardboard.com.  If you find this information resource helpful, please tell your friends.  We need your support and your feedback. Thank you.