Looking for proof (D303 Mothers' Bread)

[brass_rat]

Scully: I need something to put my back up against, Mulder. I need scans!

Mulder: I know. I feel the same way. We've got The X-Files and Zach's Lousiana Cards website, and I believe what we're looking for is out there. I'm more certain than ever the truth is out there, Scully.

Scully: I've heard the truth, Mulder. Now what I want are the answers. I need scans of D303 Mothers' Bread Bressler and Lajoie before I can believe, Mulder!


Can anybody help Mulder and Scully find the truth? Do the D303 Mothers' Bread Bressler and Lajoie exist, or are the checklists just wrong?

[Leon]

Steve
SInce there is definitely a D303 General Baking Lajoie I have to think there is a Mothers Bread hiding somewhere. I think one pops up eventually. And these were from my last collection...

[gabrinus]

Steve I have owned a General Baking Lajoie but I have never seen a Mothers Bread Lajoie. I have never seen a Bressler either and have serious doubts about it existing. However, with your discovery of the Eddie Foster Mothers Bread it could still be out there.......Jerry

[brass_rat]

Hey Leon and Jerry,

Thanks for the input -- here are some of my thoughts:

• Inclusion in the D303 General Baking set doesn't necessarily mean you'll find a Mothers' Bread version. Several players in the Mothers' Bread set are not in the General Baking set. Those players borrow poses from other players at the same position though.
  
  
• My guess is that a Bressler is more likely to exist than a Lajoie. Why? Bressler is an odd mistaken player for a checklist. He doesn't have any other E or D cards, and he was a 19 year-old rookie in 1914 going 10-4 and followed it up by going 4-17 on a last place team in 1915. Hardly reason to include him on a regional issue, but also just as weird of a potential mistake on a checklist.
  
  I'm throwing out a guess here, but if Bressler ever shows up, I'd think that he'd have the same picture/pose as Hooks Wiltse in the General Baking set. Why? Bressler was a lefty, and Wiltse is the only left-handed pitcher in the GB set that isn't a known player in the Mothers' Bread set. Also, Wiltse was on his way out of baseball at that point, leaving the Giants after 1914 to pitch in only 18 games in the Federal League in 1915.
  
  Also, the inclusion of Bressler somewhat makes sense in light of the fact that Billy Meyer was included in the set. Meyer only played two full seasons in the majors -- 1916-17 with Phila. Am. -- and was far from a star. Meyer's only other card from the era is his Tango Eggs. So perhaps both Bressler and Meyer were inserted into the set for the same (unknown) reason.
  
  
• I have no real guesses as to whether Lajoie is real or a mistake on the checklist. I'll call it a coin flip...but it would be great if someone reading this (and owns a MB Lajoie) would share with us their great card!

Here's a couple of cards for show and tell. Foster pictures Clyde Engle. Matty and Speaker have my favorite blazing sunset backgrounds. The Matty is the nicest PSA 1 I think I'll ever own.

Cheers,
Steve

[arcadekrazy]

The truth is out there......





Really nice cards. Love this issue

[brass_rat]

Also, to clarify the Bressler pose prediction with respect to players/positions/poses, I'll copy over some info from my Nov. 2016 post introducing Eddie Foster to the checklist.

In the case where the player is in the Mothers' Bread set but is not in the E106 nor D303 General Baking sets, the Mothers' Bread player images are of other players from the same fielding position in the E106 set.

Both Eddie Foster and Clyde Engle are third base, 3b.

Other players in the Mothers' Bread set but not in the E106/D303-GB sets include:
Felsch (Demmitt pictured, both are position c.f.)
Louden (Knabe pictured, both are position 2b.)
Meyer (Jacklitsch pictured, both are position c.)
Morgan (Doolan pictured, Morgan is 2b. and Doolan is s.s., but Doolan played 2b. and s.s.)
Weaver (Tinker pictured, both are position s.s.)

[gabrinus]

Does anyone know who first catalogued the Mothers' Bread cards?? The early price guides I have don't even mention them...in fact when I first came across them I didn't view them as separate....it would be interesting to know if maybe that person has seen a Bressler.....Jerry

[brass_rat]

Originally Posted by gabrinus

Does anyone know who first catalogued the Mothers' Bread cards?? The early price guides I have don't even mention them...in fact when I first came across them I didn't view them as separate....it would be interesting to know if maybe that person has seen a Bressler.....Jerry

I have a 1983 Erbe guide that only checklists 49 General Baking cards...Lew Lipset's Volume 2 only goes so far as to mention D303 in an appendix -- General Baking isn't even mentioned by name, let alone Mothers'. So that takes us up to 1984. (Lew checklisted 51 D303 cards.)

I guess I don't have much more to add after that.

[brass_rat]

Two years later, Mulder and Scully (see post #1) are still looking for proof of the D303 Mothers' Bread Bressler and Lajoie...

[ahumes13]

Was just reading through this and would agree that it seems 1916 was the release date. Tinker was with the Whales in the Federal League in '14 and '15- but his Mothers' card lists him as Chicago Am. He became the Cub manager in '16. Whether it was confusion between which club he was managing or an error in print, it seems clear that it happened after the '15 season.

[RCMcKenzie]

I looked up Roy Hartzell's stats and realized that he is not "Topsy" Hartsel, so I've got that going for me.

Hartzell's last year in the majors was 1916. He played 33 games for New York...

[Leon]

Originally Posted by RCMcKenzie

I looked up Roy Hartzell's stats and realized that he is not "Topsy" Hartsel, so I've got that going for me.

Hartzell's last year in the majors was 1916. He played 33 games for New York...

That is a beautiful card. These are really tough in nice shape.

[RCMcKenzie]

Thanks, Leon. Here's the only other MB card I have. I would like to add more in any grade. It's amazing how much info Steve has compiled on these. Is the Lajoie thought to be the portrait?