M101-4/5 Expert Needed

[nolemmings]

Originally Posted by Spike

Earlier posts mentioned how M101-4/5 calls out that the photos show players in action and using game equipment. Given the number of different store-related backs, is it fair to guess they sought out stores/advertisers who sold baseball gear and other athletic stuff as prospective partners? (In preference to other kinds of stores that happen to be where families or kids shop.)

I’m not sure Mendelsohn had a strong preference when seeking advertisers, since he also ended up with a few breweries and a movie theatre along with some bakeries and publications. Still, it is clear he had an advertising plan for stores that sold stuff to boys, because half of the eighteen m101 advertising backs are affiliated with department stores, and nearly all of those used very similar newspaper ads that Mendlesohn no doubt helped create, describing the cards and showing pics in the same format. These ads told readers the cards could be had on the floor where boys clothing was sold. I am uncertain how many stores sold mostly or only sporting goods back then, as I know many such goods were ordered via mail or catalogue, but Green-Joyce directed folks to its sporting goods department for Mendelsohn’s “Stars of the Diamond”.

On a different note but in keeping with other posts in this thread, I reviewed the 1915 W-Unc cards and recall that Larry Doyle is included. Like many others in the set, his card is based on a pose found in a Police Gazette supplement; however, the Doyle supplement did not get issued until February, 1916, which not only calls into question the dating of the W-Unc set but runs into the beginning of m101 production. Can someone show us that the Doyle photo was used elsewhere in 1915? I know Lew Lispet wrote an article about the W-Unc set for Old Cardboard in 2010 that might help explain the dating, but I cannot find my run of OC mags anywhere and am tired of searching. See below (obviously not to scale):