|
#1
|
|||
|
|||
T207 Mike Donlin Back Information
Posted By: barrysloate
I was just cataloguing a T207 Mike Donlin- I know, many feel it is the toughest card in the set- and the first sentence of his biography intrigues me. It reads: "One of the greatest hitters the game has ever known." |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
T207 Mike Donlin Back Information
Posted By: Jeff Lichtman
Barry, I think you're selling Turkey Mike a bit short. Keep in mind that baseball was never his main focus; he unfortunately treated it as a necessary evil as he was more interested in vaudeville, drinking and women. He even sat out a year at the peak of his skills in a contract dispute. Beause of all these things he had a very short peak of a career -- but his peak was extraordinary. He finished in the top 3 in batting in the National League for 5 years of his career and was a lifetime .333 hitter. While he wasn't on the level of Cobb he was still one of the best players in the league -- and perhaps the most flamboyant. His popularity is evidenced by the number of poses in the T206 set: 3, one less than Cobb (and two less than another very talented and popular -- albeit flawed -- player of the times, Hal Chase). |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
T207 Mike Donlin Back Information
Posted By: barrysloate
I can see you did your homework. But what is interesting to me is how history evolves. In his day, he was one of the greats. But a century later he has fallen out of the public eye, even among baseball historians. I knew he gave up baseball for a failed career in vaudeville, but I never realized how he was perceived in his time. |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
T207 Mike Donlin Back Information
Posted By: Jeff Lichtman
I suppose in our present day, the riches and fame associated with being a baseball star know no peer; back then the pay and perks weren't as good and many players just didn't place the same premium on their playing careers as perhaps they should. Turkey Mike would have been a Hall of Famer had he made baseball his one and only career (and didn't get into all sorts of trouble due to his drinking). As to your point of perceptions changing over time, keep in mind that Babe Ruth, late in his life, said that Hal Chase was the best first baseman he had ever seen. Ask any baseball fan today who Hal Chase is.... |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
T207 Mike Donlin Back Information
Posted By: Jason L
really didn't think much of Gehrig, did he? |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
T207 Mike Donlin Back Information
Posted By: john/z28jd
At the time of that card he was just outside the top 10 all-time in batting and some of the guys ahead of him werent as well known as they are now because stats werent kept and known as closely as they are now. Who knows if the people who made the t207 bios even knew who Dave Orr,Billy Hamilton,Dan Brouthers or Pete Browning were. How many people on this board can claim to know who Jake Stenzel is and this is a vintage board? While the set was being made only Cobb,Wagner and Lajoie had higher averages among active players than his .335(at the time) and the last 2 were just barely ahead of him,while Cobb was still very early in his career at the age of 25. |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
T207 Mike Donlin Back Information
Posted By: Jeff Lichtman
|
#8
|
|||
|
|||
T207 Mike Donlin Back Information
Posted By: Steve Murray
My contribution to his Vaudeville days: |
#9
|
|||
|
|||
T207 Mike Donlin Back Information
Posted By: Paul
The T207 player selection is starting to make sense. Does anyone have a Loudermilk handy? Maybe the T207 writers described him as one of the game's greats too. |
#10
|
|||
|
|||
T207 Mike Donlin Back Information
Posted By: Bob
When someone who has seen as many players as John McGraw did, from the Baltimore Orioles of the 1890's through the Babe, Foxx, Cobb and Gehrig, etc. says that Turkey Mike was one of the greatest hitters he ever saw, I think we can safely assume that Donlin was a great hitter. He might have been the best hitter who ever played the game but we'll never know, just as all the players, including notables like Buck O'Neil, said that had it not been for injuries and his lifestyle that Mickey Mantle could have been THE greatest player who ever played baseball. Like Mantle, opinions on how great Donlin really was will always be shrouded in "what ifs." |
#11
|
|||
|
|||
T207 Mike Donlin Back Information
Posted By: leon
His card says he batted .300. 7 times...(pardon the other scan) |
#12
|
|||
|
|||
T207 Mike Donlin Back Information
Posted By: Jeff Lichtman
|
#13
|
|||
|
|||
T207 Mike Donlin Back Information
Posted By: barrysloate
It's always fascinating to look at history from different perspectives. Collectors know of Donlin as some cardboard figure we look at on one of his many baseball cards. All we really know about him are his stats, and whatever stories have been handed down to us. And I assume there is no footage of his career either. |
#14
|
|||
|
|||
T207 Mike Donlin Back Information
Posted By: Ted Zanidakis
Mike Donlin was certainly a favorite in New York and that is why the T206 designers printed 3 poses of him. |
#15
|
|||
|
|||
T207 Mike Donlin Back Information
Posted By: Bobby Binder
|
#16
|
|||
|
|||
T207 Mike Donlin Back Information
Posted By: Matt
I've always been a fan of the T206 Donlin Seated, as one of the best looking T206 cards. It's almost as good looking as the T207 Becker. Which is a beauty. |
#17
|
|||
|
|||
T207 Mike Donlin Back Information
Posted By: Bruce Babcock
|
#18
|
|||
|
|||
T207 Mike Donlin Back Information
Posted By: Steve Murray
1906 New York Nationals. Lower right corner. |
#19
|
|||
|
|||
T207 Mike Donlin Back Information
Posted By: Rhett Yeakley
Here is another early Mike Donlin item... |
#20
|
|||
|
|||
T207 Mike Donlin Back Information
Posted By: Trae R.
|
#21
|
|||
|
|||
T207 Mike Donlin Back Information
Posted By: Jeff Lichtman
Well, Trae, why do you think Mabel liked him so much? |
#22
|
|||
|
|||
T207 Mike Donlin Back Information
Posted By: Paul
What year was the Coupon of Donlin with the .300 Batting Average caption issued? I've always assumed it was after he retired (or maybe during 1913 when he was temporarily out of baseball). That would explain why they included the unusual caption instead of a team name. |
#23
|
|||
|
|||
T207 Mike Donlin Back Information
Posted By: Ted Zanidakis
As I noted in above post......Donlin's batting record |
#24
|
|||
|
|||
T207 Mike Donlin Back Information
Posted By: Scot Reader
With the passing of a few short generations many of the greatest players of their respective eras are relegated to the dustbin of history. For the most part, the only greats who escape this undeserved fate are those fortunate enough to make it to Cooperstown--which like it or not has become the primary arbiter of baseball greatness. So alas we pay 3X common value for Bobby Wallace but are able to steal the great Turkey Mike for about the same price as Charlie Rhodes (Sorry, Charlie). |
#25
|
|||
|
|||
T207 Mike Donlin Back Information
Posted By: Bobby Binder
|
#26
|
|||
|
|||
T207 Mike Donlin Back Information
Posted By: Rhys
The best comparison to Mike Donlin you will find is Bill Lange. He was considered possibly the best player in baseball in the mid-late 19th century as he could run and field better than a few of the other big names. If you saw something from 1898 that said he was the best player in baseball it would seem weird to us today, but it made sense to those that watched him at the time. |
#27
|
|||
|
|||
T207 Mike Donlin Back Information
Posted By: leon
There are no other Coupon cards with stats on the front.. like Donlin.... |
#28
|
|||
|
|||
T207 Mike Donlin Back Information
Posted By: Ted Zanidakis
Thanks for the confirmation......Mr Donlin is a "unique" dude. |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
LOOKING TO BUY A T204 RAMLY MIKE DONLIN | Archive | Tobacco (T) cards, except T206 B/S/T | 0 | 04-05-2009 01:15 PM |
Turkey Mike Donlin | Archive | Net54baseball Vintage (WWII & Older) Baseball Cards & New Member Introductions | 13 | 06-04-2008 04:10 PM |
ernie orsatti and mike donlin with buster keaton | Archive | Net54baseball Vintage (WWII & Older) Baseball Cards & New Member Introductions | 12 | 04-12-2008 03:15 PM |
Tobacco Reincarnations (or, tonight the role of Mike Donlin will be played by Gary Sinese) | Archive | Net54baseball Vintage (WWII & Older) Baseball Cards & New Member Introductions | 6 | 11-10-2006 02:31 PM |
T204 Ramly Turkey Mike Donlin For Sale | Archive | Tobacco (T) cards, except T206 B/S/T | 2 | 06-26-2006 04:46 PM |