John D Wagner - Early Hobby Collector HOF'er

[Huysmans]

Originally Posted by ullmandds

great read. so can we put to bed why the wagner and plank are so rare????

Sure... but how do we explain the cigars sold with Wagner's name?

While I acknowledge there is a difference, considering baseball cards would specifically end up in the hands of youngsters, I find it extremely hard to believe he was so against children smoking that he didn't want his likeness portrayed on cards... but he was fine with his mug splashed across large cigar boxes.

[ullmandds]

Originally Posted by Huysmans

Sure... but how do we explain the cigars sold with Wagner's name?

While I acknowledge there is a difference, considering baseball cards would specifically end up in the hands of youngsters, I find it extremely hard to believe he was so against children smoking that he didn't want his likeness portrayed on cards... but he was fine with his mug splashed across large cigar boxes.

do we know when such cigars were sold? perhaps cigars were mainly consumed by adults whereas cigs were the "gateway" drug into smoking more likely to be picked up by kids?

[Huysmans]

Originally Posted by ullmandds

do we know when such cigars were sold? perhaps cigars were mainly consumed by adults whereas cigs were the "gateway" drug into smoking more likely to be picked up by kids?

If it was a scenario where he had a "mild" aversion to children puffing... it would seem plausible that he would have no problem endorsing cigars - seen as an adult vice. But, if he was so against children indulging that he went out of his way to have his image removed from those printing T206 cards... it seems very unlikely that he would endorse a similar smoking product with packaging and advertising that prominently featured both his endorsement and image. That would paint the ole' Dutchman as quite the hypocrite... especially considering the cigars probably brought real revenue as an endorsed item, opposed to the small pittance paid for use of his image on cards.

On a side note... does it not seem odd that out of the hundreds of players that appear in The Monster, ONLY Wagner and Plank - two of the biggest contemporary stars coincidentally - served as the lone individuals to have their images pulled??

[trdcrdkid]

Great article, Leon! I hadn't seen it before. Wagner wrote about his meeting with Honus Wagner in the October 1, 1941 Card Collector's Bulletin, with additional comments from Jefferson Burdick. He specified that the meeting took place on August 12, 1941, and his account is a little different from his recollection 45 years later. Below is that article, which I previously included in my post on the first T206 checklist, here:

http://net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=239973