T202 End Panel frequency list and how it relates to T206

[molenick]

Does anyone know what "...mowing down the Yankees in 1910 (14 in one game)..." refers to on the back of Mathewson's card?

Neither the Giants or Yankees were in the World Series in 1910 and according to Mathewson's game log on Baseball Reference, the most he struck out in a regular season game in 1910 was 11. Does this refer to an exhibition or pre-season game? And weren't the Yankees called the Highlanders in 1910?

[brianp-beme]

Originally Posted by molenick

Does anyone know what "...mowing down the Yankees in 1910 (14 in one game)..." refers to on the back of Mathewson's card?

Neither the Giants or Yankees were in the World Series in 1910 and according to Mathewson's game log on Baseball Reference, the most he struck out in a regular season game in 1910 was 11. Does this refer to an exhibition or pre-season game? And weren't the Yankees called the Highlanders in 1910?

Nice spotting on the Mathewson T202 writeup. Here is an article on mlb.com https://www.mlb.com/news/new-york-ya...am-name-origin that indicates the usage of "Yankees" to identify the New York team went back to as early as 1904, and was quite often used in newspaper articles to refer to the team up until it was officially designated as the team name in 1913. The 14 strikeouts by Mathewson against the Yankees must have been preseason or exhibition game.


Brian

[nolemmings]

Originally Posted by molenick

Does anyone know what "...mowing down the Yankees in 1910 (14 in one game)..." refers to on the back of Mathewson's card?

Neither the Giants or Yankees were in the World Series in 1910 and according to Mathewson's game log on Baseball Reference, the most he struck out in a regular season game in 1910 was 11. Does this refer to an exhibition or pre-season game? And weren't the Yankees called the Highlanders in 1910?

The New York teams played an inter-league city series at the end of the season. Matty won the first game on October 13, 1910, striking out 14. He also won two other games in the series. FYI:



As for the team name, the New York Americans were often called the Yankees as well s the Highlanders. The T205s from the prior year carried that name on the card fronts as did some of the back descriptions. T202 apparently stuck with the same theme.

[brianp-beme]

Originally Posted by nolemmings

The New York teams played an inter-league city series at the end of the season. Matty won the first game on October 13, 1910, striking out 14. He also won two other games in the series. FYI:



As for the team name, the New York Americans were often called the Yankees as well s the Highlanders. The T205s from the prior year carried that name on the card fronts as did some of the back descriptions. T202 apparently stuck with the same theme.

Nice digging Todd. My assumption that the writeup on the back wasn't an early version of fake news was accurate.


Brian

[nolemmings]

Hi Brian, it’s amazing the minutiae one remembers. I learned of the New York city series some time back when I was researching Louis Drucke, the Giants pitcher who appears in only a handful of sets, none of which are standard “cards” unless you count Pinkerton cabinets in that group. Anyway, one of Matty’s appearances in that series was in relief of Drucke, who faltered in the 7th inning of game 3. Five days later Drucke was on board a New York subway train that derailed, and what were thought to be relatively minor injuries then manifested during the following Spring training games. He was never the same, and was out of baseball not long thereafter– a shame in that he was projected to be a star.

Sorry for the hijack, but I always wondered who this Drucke guy was and it led me down this path.

[molenick]

Thanks everyone for the research! It does sound familiar that Yankees was used "unofficially" before it was official.

Curious that they went with an exhibition performance rather than say "won 37 games in 1908" or "retroactively led league in WAR the past four seasons."

I guess striking out 14 batters in a game was bigger news than winning 30 games (ho hum) in those days.

[marcdelpercio]

I've always been intrigued by the Blair, Devlin (Rustlers), and Wood panels as these are the only 3 out of 144 designs not included in the T205 set, whereas all the others share nearly identical artwork to their T205 counterparts. This is especially interesting as the backs of the T205s advertise "400 Designs" which, of course, is far greater than what was actually produced. I am aware of the many theories as to why this discrepancy exists, but I can't help but to wonder if Blair, Devlin, and Wood (along with many others) were at some point intended to be a part of the T205 set and somehow snuck into the T202s.

Great research as always, Brian!

[nolemmings]

Originally Posted by marcdelpercio

I've always been intrigued by the Blair, Devlin (Rustlers), and Wood panels as these are the only 3 out of 144 designs not included in the T205 set, whereas all the others share nearly identical artwork to their T205 counterparts. This is especially interesting as the backs of the T205s advertise "400 Designs" which, of course, is far greater than what was actually produced. I am aware of the many theories as to why this discrepancy exists, but I can't help but to wonder if Blair, Devlin, and Wood (along with many others) were at some point intended to be a part of the T205 set and somehow snuck into the T202s.

Great research as always, Brian!

Actually Devlin is in the T205 set, just not as a Rustler, a team he did not join until 1912. I don't know about Wood, but Blair likely was not intended for a T205 release because he had only played 6 games in the Bigs during 1910. Catching half the games for NY in 1911 probably earned him a spot in T202, but ironically, he was sent to Rochester after the 1911 season as his T202 card notes, so arguably he belongs in neither set.