Sporting Life advertising of t206s and m116s - new info

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Posted By: runscott

Hi everyone - I just received 20 issues of Sporting Life from 1910, thinking I would be sure to get one of the famous t206 ads, based on info in Lipset's guide. Didn't happen. Here's the info from Lipset's guide, followed by my new info. And m116 size is included!

"The American Tobacco Company continued advertising the cards in 1910 in Sporting Life. However the ads stopped abruptly in May. The reason appeared obvious when Sporting Life advertised their own baseball card series in the June 11, 1910 issue..."

Apparently the t206 ads were discontinued before March 5 and by May 28 Sporting Life had already produced and advertised the first three series.

I have issues from March 5, 12 and 26, and from April 9 and 16, etc. None of these complete issues contains a t206 ad. The next issue I have is May 28, and it contains the Sporting Life m116 ad mentioned in Lipset's book. Also, my oldest issue, March 5, contains the Sporting Life cabinets ad, complete with a checklist of all players in case anyone's interested.

"Picture Cards of Base Ball Players
Given to Readers Who Comply.....
"Sporting Life is now engaged in the publication of a continuous series of beautiful picture cards, twelve to a series, each card containing the portrait of a prominent base ball player, in colors, size 1 1/2 x 2 5/8 inches, in the form commonly known as cigarette-pictures."

The ad also lists the players in series 1-3 and has a coupon for ordering any of the three 12-card series for 4 cents! It also says that Series 4 is in course of preparation and will be announced next week (1st week of June).