Posted By:
Butch & Co.Hi Brian, thanks very much for the reply. We thought maybe our question would have generated somewhat broader interest among the highly knowledgeable regulars here, but at any rate your own attention to our investigation is very much appreciated.
The real question, of course, isn't so much a precise date for the WG2 set, as it is whether there's any other photographic evidence of Frank Owens (or Billy O'Neill, or any other candidate for the phantom "Billy Owen") with which to compare the portrait on the "Owen" card and thereby conclusively establish his true identity (Owens being a highly peculiar selection no matter what year the cards were made). We'll probably have to network our way to someone in SABR who might have that sort of thing.
In any event, here's an additional thought our lentil-sized brains combined to concoct, in light of the somewhat contradictory evidence presented by the player-team affiliations noted on the WG2 set: what if -- and is this really at all unlikely? -- various delays in obtaining player photographs, in selection of players and photos for the card set, in having the hand-lettering done, in printing, in arranging for advertising and distribution, combined to make the production of the cards not a matter of a couple of weeks but of a year or more? That could possibly explain why some guys are listed with their 1904 teams -- arranged for and pre-press readied early, then left uncorrected -- while others, photographed or pre-press prepared later in the whole process, are with their 1905 or 1906 teams. Hmm? Hmm?
Butch & Co.
Baseball Games
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