How close was Howe McCormick to having a complete T206 set? Not very close, really.

[Howe’s Hunter]

When the Goldin lot of 950+ cards came to light, it ruined my aspirations of rebuilding Howe’s collection of cards that he had stamped between 1909 and 1911. So with the nudge from Paul Mifsud, I changed my goal from having every McCormick-stamped card to having one of every McCormick stamped card.

Having gathered 395 cards in the 20+ years before the auction in late September and knowing of another 42 cards that I had found but not been able to acquire, I thought there was the possibility Howe might have come close to a complete set. Once Scott Gross started going through the 950 or so cards, we found out Howe wasn’t really that close. And some of the cards he was missing were quite a surprise.

Since the McCormick Howe General Store didn’t sell Polar Bear tobacco, that knocked a set down to 523. Going through my 395 cards, I had only 214 individual cards and 185 duplicates. Of the 42 others I knew about, there were only five that I didn’t already have or know about. And as Scott started going through all the cards, and the dupes, between the 1,412 known cards, there were only 429 known individual cards. 94 cards short of a complete set as Howe could have collected it.

And some of those 94 cards are surprising. Out if 1,412 know examples, no Moose McCormick at all. How does a kid named McCormick with 1,412 cards not have a single cards of the only player in the set with the same name as him?

No Mathewson portraits or dark caps.

No Johnson portraits.

But four Lundgren Chicago cards.

The Hindu-backed Ed Foster card is considered a tough card to find. But between my collection, Scott’s lot from Goldin and another example from an auction in 2007, Howe had seven Ed Foster cards with a Hindu back.

But not a single Shaughnessy of any back type.

No Tinkers with or without a bat.

And no Rube Waddell cards.

So while Howe had quite the collection, it wasn’t a very complete collection.

The list below are the cards I am now short of of having a complete T206 collection with Howe McCormick’s stamp on the back. The cards marked with an * are cards that Scott found and sold from the Goldin lot (before I got my act together and had sold enough of my dupes to start purchasing from Scott). The cards with an + are the six I knew about for the last several years. The remaining 94 cards with no mark have no known examples.

Doc Adkins*
Whitey Alperman*
Red Ames (Hands at Chest)*
Red Ames (Hands above Head)
Shad Berry
Jack Bastian*
Jake Beckley
George Bell (Hands above Head)
George Bell (Pitching Follow Through)
Chief Bender (Pitching, No Trees in Background)
Bill Bergen (Catching)*
Bill Bradley (with bat)
Al Bridwell (Portrait, With Cap)
George Browne (Washington)
Mordecai Brown (Chicago on Shirt)
Mordecai Brown (Portrait)*
Bill Burns
Charley Carr*
Peter Cassidy*
Frank Chance (Portrait, Yellow Background)*
Hal Chase (Holding Trophy)
Hal Chase (Portrait, Blue Background)
Bill Clancey
Ty Cobb (Portrait, Green Background) +
Ty Cobb (Portrait, Red Background) +
Ty Cobb (Bat off Shoulder) +
Ty Cobb (Bat on Shoulder) +
Wid Conroy (With Bat)
Sam Crawford (Throwing)
Sam Crawford (With Bat)
Dode Criss*
Bill Dahlen (Boston)*
Bill Dahlen (Brooklyn)
Harry Davis (Davis on Front)
Ray Demmitt (New York)*
Josh Devore
Mike Donlin (Fielding)*
Mike Donlin (With Bat)
Wild Bill Donovan (throwing)
Mickey Doolan (Batting)
Patsy Dougherty (Arm in Air)
Tom Downey (Batting)
Tom Downey (Fielding)
Joe Doyle (N.Y. Nat'l,Hands Above Head)
Joe Doyle (Hands above Head)
Larry Doyle (With Bat)
Hugh Duffy
Kid Elberfeld (Washington, Portrait)
Roy Ellam*
Hobe Ferris
Lou Fiene (Portrait)
Russ Ford
Art Fromme*
Dolly Gray*
Clark Griffith (Batting)
Bob Hall*
Bill Hallman*
Buck Herzog (Boston)
Dick Hoblitzell
Danny Hoffman
Solly Hoffman*
Harry Howell (Hand at Waist)
Miller Huggins (Hands at Mouth)*
John Hummel
Jimmy Jackson*
Walter Johnson (Portrait)
Red Kleinow (Boston)
Red Kleinow (New York, Catching)
Jack Knight (Portrait)*
Otto Krueger
Nap Lajoie (With Bat)
Joe Lake (St. Louis, Ball in Hand)
Arlie Latham
Tommy Leach (Bending Over)
Lefty Leifield (Batting)
Lefty Leifield (Pitching)*
Harry Lord
Sherry Magee (Magie)
Sherry Magee (With Bat)
Rube Manning (Pitching)
Rube Marquard (Pitching Follow-Through)
Christy Mathewson (Dark Cap)
Christy Mathewson (Portrait)
Al Mattern*
Moose McCormick
Pryor McElveen*
Iron Man McGinnity
John McGraw (Glove at Hip)
John McGraw (Portrait, With Cap)
Matty McIntyre
Dots Miller*
Mike Mowrey
George Mullin (Mullen)*
Danny Murphy (Batting)*
Danny Murphy (Throwing)*
Tom Needham
Rube Oldring (Batting)
Orval Overall (Hand Face Level)
Jim Pastorius
Billy Payne
Francis (Big Jeff) Pfeffer*
Jake Pfiester (Throwing)
Eddie Plank
Phil Poland*
Jack Powell
Ambrose Puttmann*
Bugs Raymond*
Ed Reagan +
Ed Reulbach (Glove Showing)
Ed Reulbach (No Glove Showing)
Bob Rhoads (Right Arm Extended)
Claude Rossman
Nap Rucker (Throwing)*
Larry Schlafly
Admiral Schlei (Batting)*
Boss Schmidt (Portrait)*
Wildfire Schulte (Back View)
Cy Seymour (Portrait)
Cy Seymour (Throwing)
Shag Shaughnessy
Frank Smith (Chicago, White Cap)
Frank Smith (Chicago & Boston)
Happy Smith
Heinie Smith
Fred Snodgrass (Catching)*
Tubby Spencer*
Jake Stahl (Glove Shows)
Harry Steinfeldt (With Bat)
George Stone*
Sam Strang*
Gabby Street (Catching)
Gabby Street (Portrait)
Jeff Sweeney
Jesse Tannehill
Lee Tannehill (Tannehill on Front)
Joe Tinker (Bat off Shoulder)
Joe Tinker (Bat on Shoulder)
Joe Tinker (Hands on Knees)*
Terry Turner*
Rube Waddell (Portrait)
Rube Waddell (Throwing)
Honus Wagner +
Zack Wheat
Doc White (Pitching)
Kaiser Wilhelm (Hands at Chest)*
Vic Willis (Portrait)
Vic Willis (Throwing)*
Hooks Wiltse (Pitching)

So as I try and build a complete set, if you have any of these cards on the list with Howe’s stamp that you would be interested in letting go, please let me know. Still looking for Howe’s cards, just not every card with Howe’s stamp.

Thanks to everyone for their support of my project over the past 20 years, especially in the last several months when my goal hit a rough patch.

[parkplace33]

Ed, great writeup. Interesting about the cards he didn't have (or didn't stamp).

[chadeast]

Seeing a lot of star names in that list, I wonder if it is perhaps more likely that he kept those cards (and the M. McCormick) while getting rid of the many others that are now known. And perhaps that stash is lost to time, or still waiting to be found. Not stamping the cards is obviously a possibility as well, but concluding that he never had any of these cards seems the least likely answer to me.

[doug.goodman]

I know nothing about t206 cards (besides what I read on net54), but your collection is one of my favorites. I'm glad that Paul nudged you.

Doug

[mybuddyinc]

All I can say is --- WOW !!!!

What a GREAT time I had dealing with Ed and his "new Howe" project.

I wish that I also had gotten my act together sooner, and there weren't as many "* -- missed cards." BUT, I was honored to help add ~100 cards to Ed's collection. But, at least we know they are out there. Hopefully some will make to Ed.

We had "quite a few" fun and interesting email conversations. Pure pleasure dealing with Ed.

The only thing I can add from my "Adventure" dealing with 950+ cards, is that the grand majority of Piedmont cards were either 150 or 350 series. There were less than 15 350/460 series (i.e. <2%). I'm happy to say Ed got the majority of them (missed a few).

As one can see on Ed's 94 "need" list there are twenty three 350/460 cards (making up 25%):

George Bell (Pitching Follow Through)
Al Bridwell (Portrait, With Cap)
Hal Chase (Holding Trophy)
Josh Devore
Hugh Duffy
Russ Ford
Buck Herzog (Boston)
Harry Howell (Hand at Waist)
John Hummel
Joe Lake (St. Louis, Ball in Hand)
Arlie Latham
Rube Marquard (Pitching Follow-Through)
John McGraw (Portrait, With Cap)
Tom Needham
Rube Oldring (Batting)
Orval Overall (Hand Face Level)
Billy Payne
Wildfire Schulte (Back View)
Cy Seymour (Portrait)
Happy Smith
Lee Tannehill (Tannehill on Front)
Joe Tinker (Bat on Shoulder)
Zack Wheat

Maybe Howe gave up in 1911 ??

These 23 probably "never were." I'd like to think that the next "Howe discovery" will bring out the others, some day. Heck, it "only" took 3 or 4 decades for the Golden Lot to surface ...........

EXTRA Fun, Fun, Scott

[Leon]

Great write up, Ed. I know a lot of us will let you know when we see one. Good luck in the hunt.
.

[Zach Wheat]

Ed,

Interesting story. What a fun way to collect

[Cory]

Ed,
I've read several of your posts and find the story fascinating. I ended up buying quite a few HM stamped cards - both from ebay and from Scott directly. I have 5 that you are missing. Shad Barry, Downey Fielding, Mullen, Murphy Throwing Horizontal, and Heinie Smith. I don't have dupes of any of these cards, but I can likely find replacements given my much broader parameters (i.e. with or without stamp). I would be willing to trade if you have any cards that I am missing that you have dupes of. I will send you a PM with contact info.

[FrankWakefield]

Ed, great write up! I recall that several years ago you posted about that backstamp, and if anyone had any of the cards. I think I had 2 or 3, and I sold them to you. I recall over the years that you were still after them. Then, I find someone on eBay who's selling the backstamped cards. I bid on several, and bought a few. He listed a bunch more on eBay and I wondered if some guy had found a Howe McCormick stamp and he was creating the cards... Then I got cards I'd bought and I see "S Gross" somewhere... that name sounded familiar, partly because I think I'd bought a card or two from him some time ago... and I think he might have bought a few red border cards from me. And now, the cobwebs in my mind are cleared away by your fine write up. Thanks, and congratulations to both you and Scott. Update this in a few months, especially if you manage to add a few more.