What if Ty Cobb had a scarce 1909 Tennis Card?

[Bosox Blair]

I know this is a bizarre question, so let me explain...

In the pre-war hockey card world, there is an interesting twist because some Hall-of-Fame hockey players also played professional lacrosse. These players have both hockey cards and lacrosse cards that were printed around the same time. The lacrosse cards are typically portraits with the players wearing sweaters from their lacrosse squads. Generally, although the lacrosse cards appear to be much rarer (maybe 5-10x rarer), the hockey card of the Hall-of-Famer usually sells for a higher price.

Interestingly, it is not as though the hockey cards portray the timeless jerseys of the teams we still love...pretty much none of them look anything like curent uniforms anyway.

This got me thinking, if Ty Cobb or Matty or other baseball HOFs appeared on scarce early 1900s portrait tobacco cards as (let's say) tennis players: (a) would you want those cards at all, and (b) if so, would you pay more or less than a T-206 for such a card in equal grade?

Cheers,
Blair

[sbfinley]

Ty was never fond of tennis. He called tennis players "silly nannies" and much worse.

Now a Cobb racing card would be interesting. He was fond of cars and would even take laps at Indy. If one did exist I would expect to to be popular, especially with player and oddball collectors.

[Bosox Blair]

Originally Posted by sbfinley

Now a Cobb racing card would be interesting. He was fond of cars and would even take laps at Indy. If one did exist I would expect to to be popular, especially with player and oddball collectors.

Good example!

I know Ty loved golf too, but I think many people like to collect golf cards...I was trying to look for an analogous sport to lacrosse, which in and of itself likely does not have a huge collector following.

Cheers,
Blair

[sbfinley]

Now that I've stated that, I am curious as to what the earliest printed racing card is. Being that the Indy 500 hit it's hundredth birthday this year that puts competitive auto racing's beginning popularity at least as early as tobacco and caramel cards. I can think of almost every popular sport being represented in a set anywhere from the 1880's to the 1930's. Was there a driver in the Sports Kings set?

Wow, I'm getting off topic. Happens at three a.m. I guess.

[Bosox Blair]

To give you an example, from the hockey/lacrosse sets, the key hockey HOF player is Ed "Newsy" Lalonde. For a visual, here are scans of his hockey rookie card (graded by SGC, and sold by Heritage in 2010) and his ungraded C59 Lacrosse portrait card:

[sbfinley]

For clarity, which sport was more popular at the time. I.E. Would Lalonde at that time be considered a Hockey player who dabbled in Lacrosse, a Lacrosse player who dabbled in Hockey, or a cross-platform star. Because say if Matty was issued in a Golf set even at the time he would be instantly recognized as a baseball player who dabbled in golf.

[Bosox Blair]

Originally Posted by sbfinley

For clarity, which sport was more popular at the time. E.I. Would Lalonde at that time be considered a Hockey player who dabbled in Lacrosse, a Lacrosse player who dabbled in Hockey, or a cross-platform star. Because say if Matty was issued in a Golf set even at the time he would be instantly recognized as a baseball player who dabbled in golf.

Hi Steve,

At the time, Lalonde was considered to be one of the greatest at both sports. He made more money playing Lacrosse, which was definitely very popular at the time (much moreso than today, I believe). He was a legit two sport superstar.

Others featured in both sets, like HOF goalie Paddy Moran, I would say were probably better known as hockey players.

Cheers,
Blair

[HexsHeroes]

Originally Posted by sbfinley

Ty was never fond of tennis. He called tennis players "silly nannies" and much worse. .

.

And if memory serves me correctly, tennis was the sport that his son Ty Jr. took up and played competitively at the collegiate level.

[DaveH]

Ty's racing card.

dh

[Exhibitman]

Heavyweight champ Tommy Burns was another lacrosse-playing Canadian. He has two lacrosse cards, both of which are quite expensive in comparison to his boxing cards of the era. I will post one later on. Here is a card of him as a boxer:

[Bosox Blair]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

Heavyweight champ Tommy Burns was another lacrosse-playing Canadian. He has two lacrosse cards, both of which are quite expensive in comparison to his boxing cards of the era.

Very true! Here is his C60 lacrosse card (another PSA misidentification as C59, so I cropped that out...):