Felix Mendelsohn & M101-4 and M101-5

[BobC]

Though originally referred to by many as the Sporting News M101-6 set, even the Standard Catalog eventually made the correction and change and finally referred to the 119 card set of 4-3/8" X 6-3/8" glossy photos as the 1917-20 Felix Mendelsohn set. I believe these cards are finally properly being referred to solely as Felix Mendelsohn cards as the company's initials appear beneath the copyright on most of the player photos, and unlike the earlier M101-4 and M101-5 cards that were also produced and sold by the Felix Mendelsohn company, this 1917-20 set was not shared and used by any other advertising companies like the M101-4 and M101-5 cards were. Also, the Felix Mendelsohn company prominently advertised and sold this entire set in the Sporting News magazines back in the day, which probably led to the earlier incorrect assumption that this was a Sporting News set as well. But the truth is it was only being sold through the Sporting News magazines, and in actuality was never a Sporting News set itself.

And as others have said, the M101-4 and M101-5 sets, though also produced/printed by Feliz Mendelsohn, were never specifically referred to as Felix Mendelsohn cards. They also are not (or at least should not be) necessarily referred to as Sporting News cards either. Also, though it had previously been thought and listed on catalogs that both M101-4 and M101-5 cards existed with Sporting News backs, it was later on (more recently) determined that M101-5 cards with Sporting News backs likely do not exist after all. So, calling the M101-5 cards Sporting News cards would seem to be completely wrong and inappropriate. The Standard Catalog lists the M101-4 and M101-5 cards as separate, blank back sets. And then the M101-4 Sporting News cards are listed as a separate set, as are many of the other backs/advertisers that also used these same cards, (Gimbels, Famous & Barr, etc.) and listed as their own separate sets. Oh, and the M101-5 cards were actually released and distributed before the M101-4 cards were.