M101-4 Kauff

[BuzzD]

I have an old Lew Lipset catalog that has a large group of M101-4 blank backs listed, including NYNL and NYAL variations for Benny Kauff.
Does anyone have an image of the NYAL version?

[nolemmings]

Does it list a card number? There is no known Kauff with N.Y. A.L. designation.
It would be interesting to know if the card number matches m101-4 (#94) or m101-5 (#92).

There is virtually no way the card could exist with N.Y. A.L. back if it were m101-4. M101-5 came first, and Kauff is listed with the Giants. M101-4 also shows him with the Giants. Mendelsohn did make some corrections from one set to the other, but there would be no reason to change from Kauff correct to Kauff error and then back to Kauff correct again.

In theory the card could exist in m101-5, but that would be highly unlikely. Kauff did play with the Highlanders a handful of games in 1912 before venturing off to the Fed Lg., and conceivably Mendelsohn could have assigned him to his last known MLB team. Still, his signing with the Giants came with a lot of fanfare in December 1915, as he was the defending two-time batting champ of the Feds. He also had signed with NYG before the 1915 season but the contract was void because he was already under contract. Under the circumstance, it seems pretty certain Mendelsohn would not have assigned him to the NY AL in an early release of m101-5 which he then corrected, and no examples are known to exist. So most likely this was a mistake in the listing.

[BuzzD]

I agree but he listed both as #94 and different estimated grades. It does look like an error, but a pretty specific one!

[brianp-beme]

Based on how he listed the other multiple examples of cards, abbreviating due to space when a condition was listed, it seems he just made an error. Looking at the list, he had a a lot of typing to do.

Brian

[nolemmings]

Originally Posted by brianp-beme

Based on how he listed the other multiple examples of cards, abbreviating due to space when a condition was listed, it seems he just made an error. Looking at the list, he had a a lot of typing to do.

Brian

Indeed--note that a little below Kauff, he lists Lavan as being with either St. Louis A.L. or N.L, which is also inaccurate, unless again there's some rare example out there that at present has not been documented.

[timn1]

As Todd says, the fact that Lipset also has a Lavan with STL AL suggests he was working with a lot less firsthand info than we have today. My guess is he got the bad info from someone else and decided to put it in - I doubt either variation exists.

This makes me also wonder about the supposed "Lavin" error card that I don't think anyone has ever actually seen. It's not listed in the checklist pictured above, but I suspect it got into the set's checklist in a similar way and still lingers in most of them.

Tim