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Posted By: Paul

I now have a little more information about the Standard Biscuit Wallace. I received an anonymous tip that a collector has a blank back version of this card and will be auctioning it soon. It's my understanding that the original issuer of these cards issued the blank back version, and then supplied all the other issuers (like Sporting News and Standard Biscuit) with the photos (or maybe the complete cards). This would mean that Wallace was included in the original set of cards/photos that were supplied to various issuers.

My best guess is that Standard Biscuit was one of the first companies to make these cards. It received a very early set of photos from the supplier, and this early set included Wallace. Companies like the Sporting News received their sets later, and by this time the photo supplier had substituted Zach Wheat (perhaps because Wallace was playing only a few games a year at this point). The Wheat card may or may not have been supplied to Standard Biscuit. So Standard Biscuit's entire print run may have included Wallace, or Wallace may have been replaced by Wheat.

I was also told that there is an uncatalogued Beals Becker in the Standard Biscuit set. Becker retired in 1915. This is consistent with the idea that Standard Biscuit came out with its cards before most of the other companies. (If this really is true, does that make the Standard Biscuit Ruth his rookie card?)

This is still all just wild speculation, and would be interested to hear if anyone has any more ideas.