Germany Schaefer T213's
 

I have been looking for a T213-2 Germany Schaefer, Washington card for a while, and yesterday I received it. I was curious about this card so I did a little research, which resulted in a few things that I found that are interesting to me.

Even though Schaefer was playing for Washington in 1910 and had been playing baseball for several years, he is not included in the T213-1 set.

He was playing for Washington in 1914, which is shown on one of the T213-2 cards.

He was a player/manager in New York for one season, in 1916, where he only played in one game. This is shown on another T213-2 card.

He played in Newark in 1915, which isn't shown on a card, and his third T213-2 card has a K.C. Fed designation, but I can't find any records of him playing for KC.

He played his last game in Cleveland in April of 1918, and he died in May of 1919, but he is shown in the 1919 T213-3 set in his Washington uniform with his name spelled as "Schaeffer".

I would love to go back in time and talk to the people who produced the Coupon sets and talk about the reasons for the decisions on the way the cards were produced.

Thanks for looking. Rick

Interesting why they removedthe W from his uniform for the New York variation but not the KC?

W
 

Yes, that was my thought too.

NJ vs KC
 

My guess is that the KC card was issued second (after Washington) while he was actually playing for Newark in the Federal League. Someone just got the teams wrong. When he went to New York, they redid the image and finally removed the “W”

Good question
 

Yes, it would seem logical that the t213-2 versions of Germany were issued as Washington 1914, Newark 1915 and New York 1916.

According to Lew Lipset's book, the t213-3s that contained no team designations were retired players, coaches, etc. Schaeffer (sic) was no longer active in 1919, so this would explain why that card has no team designation. It also suggests re-use of something other than the 1916 card, since that issue had no W emblem on the uniform.

The 1915 t213-2 is really interesting. Schaefer did not sign with anyone until around the 7th of March, so it seems the cards would not have been issued by then. In fact, there was some question about the Newark team itself, which wasn't even named until about that time and which still had its park under construction (it was a transplant for the Indianapolis Feds from 1914). A March 6 article in the Sporting Life referred to reports from Kansas City that doubted whether Newark would have a team. One wonders if those same reports had Schaefer landing in their town, and if so, that is what prompted Coupon to caption him there. Anyway, Schaefer signed with Newark.
https://photos.imageevent.com/imover...march61915.JPG

Now at the end of April, for about a week or so, there was rumor and even a report of a multi-team trade that would have sent Germany Schaefer from Newark to Kansas City. That deal fell through, but it makes it curious as to whether that is when the t213-2s might have been printed. That is another possible explanation. From 4/24/1915:
https://photos.imageevent.com/imover...sl19150424.JPG
from 5/1/1915:
https://photos.imageevent.com/imover...sl19150501.JPG
In any event, it does not appear that placing Schaefer on the KC Packers was a simple or random mistake.

Thanks
 

Thanks, Todd. Good info.

FWIW, here are pics of Germany's T213-3 (which I no longer own) and T214 (1915) cards.

I can't figure out how to enlarge the pics of the T213-3. Leon, please help if you can.

Kotton
 

I see that Kotton Tobacco shows 2 cards for Schaefer. One is Washington and the other is Newark. So, People's Tobacco got it right somehow.

I think this is the one you posted Val, Nice T213-3.

Attachment 309304 Attachment 309305

Schaefer
 

Interestingly, the Kottons use the Schaefer's horizontal image (from the E101 and E92 series), not the image from T213s (and T206s).

More muddled than before
 

I need to modify my earlier comments about how KC got onto Schaefer’s t213-2 card. It seems that the Kansas City Federal League team from 1914 was actually sold to buyers who planned on moving it to Newark. Kansas City fought the move in court, and the team ended up staying put. Instead, the Indianapolis team was sold and moved to Newark, apparently out of concern that upcoming legislation in Indiana was going to prohibit Sunday baseball.

According to the Sporting Life, March 6 edition, Schaefer was signed by LEAGUE President Gilmore as a coach of the Newark team–but the Newark team referenced was the Kansas City team about to be moved, which ended up never happening. Nonetheless, when the Indianapolis team moved to Newark, Schaefer was part of that team, having never actually played for the KC team. I do not know how the League President signing Schaefer affected his rights, but it seems the card manufacturer may have thought that Schaefer was staying in KC once the move had been blocked in the courts. So, while we know the printing of 1915 Coupon could not have occurred before March 6, it may have been very close to that time. Then again, maybe that trade rumor at the end of April is why Coupon chose to caption Schaefer with KC. Got it ? :)

Just as strange is that the following two reports were on the very same page of the TSL on March 6, and two pages later was the Shanks story in my last post– all from beat writers in different cities. As confusing as it is now, how must it have been to those trying to figure out what was going on back then. Maybe the Fed League historians of this forum will chime in on what looks like a chaotic situation.
https://photos.imageevent.com/imover.../Capture_2.JPGhttps://photos.imageevent.com/imover...e/Capture2.JPG

To maybe wrap this up (check last line of story):
 

Wow
 

Wow! That is some serious research!