Your Information Resource for Vintage Baseball Cards
eNews Issue #53 (September 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. 1905 Postcard Doubles as Giants Scorecard 3. Latest Updates to the OldCardboard.com Website 4. Old Cardboard Magazine Enters Fifth Year of Publication 5. 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

September 2008
24	Phone/Internet	Clean Sweep Auctions (see website for details).
26-28	Reading, PA	Philadelphia Sports Card & Memorabilia Show (see website for details).
October 2008
1	Phone/Internet	Mile High Auction (see website for details).
16	Internet	Brockelman & Luckey Auctions (see website for details).
17-18	Internet	Heritage Sports Collectibles Auction (see website for details).
22-23	Phone/Internet	Huggins & Scott Auctions (see website for details).
29	Phone/Internet	Clean Sweep Auctions (see website for details).
29-30	Phone/Internet	Mastro "Classic Collector" Auction (see website for details).
TBD	Phone/Internet	19th Century Only Auction (see website for details).

2. 1905 Postcard Doubles as Giants Scorecard Issued by the Souvenir Post Card Company of New York, this relic of 1905 is among the very first baseball postcards ever produced. The card is sometimes described in the hobby as the Giants Scorecard PC and features a half-dozen players from the New York Giants team. The card is not listed in the American Card Catalog. Although the "set" contains a single design, it was produced in both color and black and white versions (examples of both are shown here). The postcard is laid out over a black background. xIt contains space at the top to write a very brief message (note that in 1905, U. S. postal rules forbid the writing of messages on the "address" side of the card). Below the message block is the salutation "Greetings from the GIANTS," with the word G I A N T S spelled out in large block letters across the center of the card. Each of the six letters serves as a backdrop for action images of six of the Giants players. The six players, all identified on the card, are Frank Bowerman, Red Ames, Sam Mertes, Christy Mathewson, Joe McGinnity and Dummy Taylor. All six were staples of the Giants roster from 1903 through 1906. Of these, Christy Mathewson and Joe (Iron Man) McGinnity have since been inducted into baseball's Hall of Fame. A simple scorecard is provided across the bottom with the "New York" home team already printed on the card. Interestingly, there are enough boxes to accommodate scoring for thirteen innings. A copyright notice ("Copyright by J. T. Dye, 1905") and publisher data ("Pub. by Souvenir Post Card Co., N.Y."; not found on the black and white version) is also printed in very small white type over the black background on the lower edge of the card. The card backs (both color and black and white) display a fancy postcard label followed by the instructions "This Side for Address." The "side" as used here does not refer to the left vs the right hand side of the card back. Rather, it refers to the entire back side of the card. Summary data on the Giants Scorecard Postcards can be found on the Old Cardboard website. With printed black borders, the cards are often found with chipped edges. They occasionally show up on eBay and generally sell in the $100 to $200 range, depending on condition. OC eNewsletter Sponsor 3. Latest Updates to the OldCardboard.com Website We are continually expanding the Old Cardboard website with more set profiles, checklists and card galleries. Recent (past 30-40 days) additions include: Set Checklists have been added for: 1947   D305   Bond Bread Set Galleries have been added for: 1934-36   R327   Diamond Stars (includes front and back images of all 108-card base set) 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. Old Cardboard Magazine Enters Fifth Year of Publication Issue #17 (Fall 2008) of Old Cardboard magazine will be going to the printer soon, marking the beginning of our fifth year of publication. The cover for Issue #17 highlights two of the featured articles inside. The first, authored by longtime collector Glenn Mechanick, provides a detailed look at the N154 "Presidential B. B. Club" series issued by Duke Tobacco in 1888. The set is keyed to the presidential election of that year and provides a glimpse into presidential politics of 120 years ago. Interestingly, the election that year was decided with Benjamin Harrison winning the electoral vote over incumbent Grover Cleveland who carried the popular vote by a small margin. Not until 112 years later in the election of 2000 was the contest again decided by the electoral vote, with Al Gore losing to George W. Bush despite a win in the popular vote. The second featured article in Issue #17 provides info about the R327 Diamond Stars issue of 1934-36 at a level of detail never before published. Penned by John Harrell, the article also includes a full Gallery of the base set as well as a discussion of the 170-card master set. The article discusses card variations, wrappers, a backgrounder on Austen Lake (author of the Playing Tips printed on the card backs) and much more. Few vintage baseball collectibles are more visually striking than a red, white and blue supplement published by the Pittsburg Press ninty-nine years ago this Fall. The supplement features twenty-one Carl Horner player portraits from the 1909 Pittsburg Pirates team along with Barney Dreyfuss, the club president and William Lock, secretary. The oversize piece is reproduced on the centerfold of this issue of Old Cardboard, reduced about twenty percent from its original size (12-3/4 x 20-1/4 inches). Background data on the newspaper, photographer Carl Horner and the World Champion 1909 Pirates is also provided. Finally, a short (two-page) article describes the recently released USPS postage stamp used to commemorate the centennial of the classic song "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," written in 1908 by Jack Norworth and set to music by Albert Von Tilzer. The article includes a full size example of the nineteenth-century trade card from which the stamp was designed, along with additional facts about the song and its creators. The above articles are in addition to the magazine's regular Editor's Notebook, Collector's Dugout, and Old Cardboard Crosswords sections. Abstracts for each of the above articles, including thumbnail images of the full-color page layouts, can be viewed on the Old Cardboard website. 5. News Briefs (A Digest of Recent Hobby Happenings) "SportsFest" Folds After 11-Year Run. After an eleven-year run, the SportFest "sports collectibles, memorabilia, and autograph show" is no more. Starting in 1998 in Philadelphia and subsequently moving to Chicago, the show was among several "second-tier" venues (after the annual National Sports Collectors Convention) where collectors could find at least a smattering of sellers of vintage cards and memorabilia. The demise of the SportsFest show was announced late last month by Krause Publications, the show's organizer. A dwindling number of corporate sponsorships and the overall economics of show management were cited as factors in the company's decision to discontinue the show. Hobby Pioneer Remembered. Lionel Carter, perhaps the last of the true pioneers of vintage card collecting, died Thursday, August 28 at the age of 90. Carter began his collecting career by collecting Goudey cards out of their packs during early 1930s. Much of his collection has been sold over recent years and cards from his collection are especially valued among vintage collectors. Carter's involvement in some of the earliest publications in our hobby are discussed in the first issue of Old Cardboard magazine (Issue #1, Fall 2004). The article includes a photo of Carter taken at that time (p. 34) as well as a photo of a well used binder of his complete run of The Card Collector's Bulletin (p. 35), which began publication in 1937. "Base Ball" Diary Reference Reported. An early reference to "Base Ball" was reported recently by SI.com, an on-line branch of Sports Illustrated magazine. According to the SI website, the reference was found in a 1755 entry in a diary of English lawyer William Bray. Bray was in his late teens at the time of the diary entry. It reads in part: "Easter Monday 31 March 1755...After Dinner Went to Miss Jeale's to play at Base Ball with her, the 3 Miss Whiteheads, Miss Billinghurst, Miss Molly Flutter, Mr. Chandler, Mr. Ford & H. Parsons & Jelly. Drank Tea and stayed till 8." Details of the nature of "Base Ball" as referenced by Bray remain unknown. It is generally agreed among baseball historians that today's game evolved from the English games of rounders and cricket. The Bray diary entry predates a reference to "base-ball" found several years ago in records from 1791 found in a courthouse in Pittsfield, MA (see Frank Ceresi and Carol McMains, "Tracing the Origins of Baseball: The Earliest Bat and Ball Card," Old Cardboard, Issue #2 (Winter 2005, p. 42). The full text of the SI.com article can be found on their website. Renewal Reminder. As we enter our fifth year of on-time publication, a number of our charter subscriber's subscriptions expire with Issue #17 (Fall 2008; due in readers hands by mid-October). If you are not sure when you are up for renewal, just take a look at the mailing label when Issue #17 arrives. The number of the last issue of your current subscription is printed to the right of your name on the mailing label. The easiest method for extending your subscription is over the Internet using PayPal. Just access the Old Cardboard subscription order page at www.oldcardboard.com/subscriptions.asp and follow the PayPal links. We sincerely appreciate your support during our first four years of publication and need your continued support as we continue to publish a quality full-color resource for the vintage baseball card and memorabilia hobby. 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.