Wednesday, June 13, 2018

Cards To See Before You Die, a.k.a. #BucketCards

I tweet about baseball as @Number5TypeCard and, every so often, I post photos of my #BucketCards, specific cardboard that's worth an extra look. Here's my latest, a 1930 minor league 8"x10" premium of "Specs" Toporcer.



Most of these "Cards To See Before You Die" show off something interesting, rare, or artistic. They don't need to be impossible or unaffordable. You could find this Joe Adcock on eBay for a few dollars.



Some #BucketCards put you in a baseball context without showing you baseball players.



Others highlight unconventional shots from a century ago.



I post many shots from the 1920s and 1930s, when companies reinvented each year what it meant to be a "baseball card." Art Deco's just one of many styles they tried.



Even if they "can't all be Waners," at least they're all #BucketCards!

Tuesday, April 17, 2018

Five Whys: 'Selected By The Youth Of America!'

This post follows my History of Topps According to 2016 Anthology, where Topps played loosey goosey with its legacy, nudging a collectors-first story to the forefront and their competitive business decisions to the back. Here's that blurb in full.


Notice how Topps called out the phrase, "Selected by the youth of America," without giving us more to chew on. Are modern collectors expected to know who "Youth of America" refers to? Is it these guys and gals?

Topps Winners proof sheet, via The Topps Archives

(No, that's a group of kids who won a 1971 Topps write-in contest. We need to go older.)

I traveled back to the 1950s to learn more about the "Youth of America" and why Topps highlighted their selection process. This led me to other questions, which led to others still. In all, I asked Five Whys, an approach some businesses take to finding the origins of something you want to know.

1. Why the phrase, "Selected by the youth of America?"

Topps used it on the 1960 All-Star Rookie subset of 10 players, #316-325, which I profiled in 2016. Willie McCovey's its biggest name.

1960 Topps #316

Check out McCovey's 1959 Baseball-Reference game log. He notched a 1.085 OPS and won NL's Rookie of the Year unanimously in just 52 games. Topps printed two 1960 "rookie" cards for Willie, both in subsets: All-Star Rookie #316 (above) and SPORT Magazine '60 All-Star card #554.

Most consider #316 Willie's "real" RC, as it came out in 1960 Topps series four (#287-374, released June-July). His #554 '60 All-Star is a high number from series seven (#507-572, released late in the season).

2. Why was Willie McCovey selected to multiple cardboard "All-Star" teams?

Willie didn't appear in MLB's "real" All Star Game in 1959 or 1960. In fact, McCovey made his first All-Star game three years later, in 1963. So who called him an "All-Star" in 1960?

1960 Topps #554

I'll expand on McCovey's #316 All-Star Rookie selection later in this post. His #554 '60 All-Star Selection proves easier to explain.

SPORT Magazine sponsored the first Topps All-Star subset in 1958, which I believe Topps added to their existing set because they'd signed Stan Musial to a card contract mid-season and wanted to take immediate advantage.

1958 Topps #476

No mainstream Musial cards existed between 1954-57, so 1958's All-Star card satisfied considerable pent-up demand. SPORT magazine chose these '58 All-Star Selections and perhaps also designed the cards, which look quite different from normal 1958 Topps. (See How and Why Topps Created the All-Star Set for more details.)

1959 Topps #561, Hank Aaron

Topps swapped periodical partners for 1959 and The Sporting News sponsored its Rookie Stars and '59 All-Star Selection (above) subsets.

1960 Topps #136, Jim Kaat

SPORT returned to pick lineups for the same 1960 subsets: #117-148 (1960 Rookie Star) and #553-572 ('60 All-Star Selections).

Note this SPORT 1960 Rookie Star subset remains distinct from Topps' own All-Star Rookie Team. That year's set contained two crops of rookies, The Sporting News early in the year (series two) and Topps All-Star Rookies at mid-season (series four).

1960 Topps #317, Pumpsie Green

As I covered in Comparing the Rookie Stars of 1959 and 1960 Topps, just two guys garnered real rookie cards in 1960's subset: Willie McCovey and Pumpsie Green, who broke the Red Sox color barrier. The other eight also appeared in 1959 Topps, so 1960 represented their second card.

So why did Willie McCovey get a second "All-Star" card in 1960? Because Topps dedicated their All-Star subset to SPORT magazine, who picked McCovey to recognize his great play, not because he made NL's All-Star roster.

3. Why didn't All-Star subsets show All-Star starters?

This has more to do with shenanigans that can creep into any voting process. Due to considerable ballot-stuffing by locals prior to 1957's All-Star game in Cincinnati, they claimed top spots at seven NL field positions; all save Stan Musial at 1B were Redlegs.

1959 Topps #1, Ford Frickin' Frick

MLB commissioner Ford Frick took a dim view of this lopsided outcome, with direct consequences for fans and All-Stars. He replaced two of Cincy's outfield starters with Willie Mays and Hank Aaron and removed the public's role in All-Star voting for an unspecified period. Players, managers, and the Commissioner's office, who'd always held a stake in the process, took over full team selection. I think this loss of fan All-Star voting for 1958 "lit the fuse" for what followed.

Baseball's All-Stars magazine, circa 1958, printed by SPORT

The loss of fan voting didn't dampen popular interest in "All-Stars," as the term served both formal and informal meaning for great players. Magazines like SPORT and The Sporting News picked their own All-Star lineups at the start of each year, as in the issue shown above. Being accessible to anyone with 35 cents, they also held bona fides to know who fans liked on the field better than MLB front offices.

Unlike today, 1959-62 saw baseball play two mid-season All-Star games in two different cities, further separating fan voting from the starting nine. Player availability and travel logistics impacted who took the field and Topps just wasn't in the habit (yet) of matching All-Stars on the field to All-Stars on their cards.

1982 Topps #339, Mike Schmidt AS

From our modern perspective, it feels right for All-Star cards to reflect last year's starting lineups. Mike Schmidt started at 3B in the 1981 game, so he's your NL All-Star at that position for 1982 Topps. As mentioned above, that tradition didn't exist in 1960: the Topps mindset seemed to be, let's see the stars of this year, now.

1936 National Chicle #8, with Austen Lake byline

Giving the long hours required to create each year's set, I'm not surprised Topps handed off All-Star subsets to magazine editors. It echoes how two prewar sets contracted back text to Boston sportswriter Austen Lake (1934-36 National Chicle) and sports agent Christy Walsh, ghostwriting for Lou Gehrig (1934 Goudey).

In summary, why didn't 50s and 60s All-Star cards show All-Star starting lineups? The loss of fan voting after 1957 and complications from multiple All-Star games encouraged Topps to leave everything up to writers at SPORT and The Sporting News. It took Topps until 1974 for All-Star cards to intentionally represent the prior year's starting lineups.

1973 Topps "Missing NL All-Star" Hank Aaron

If you enjoy other All-Star oddities, check out writer Rich Klein's Early 1960s Topps All-Star Mysteries and this Missing All-Stars series from the blog When Topps Had Balls.

Some of their head-scratchers make more sense considering sportswriters chose All-Star rosters, not Topps itself, and they didn't intend to match actual All-Star lineups. I assume writers sometimes picked guys they knew well as a personal favor. After all, it's just a baseball card!

4. Why (again) the "Youth of America?"

Soon after the 1957 All-Star voting ban, I think Topps saw the business opportunity to craft its own style of All-Star voting and pump up their Bazooka gum brand. This ballot shows the resulting partnership with NBC-TV's late September's "World Series Special" broadcast, with show details printed in red text.

1959 All-Star Rookie Team ballot (front & back)

Starting around mid-season of 1959, Topps distributed millions of mail-in ballots that asked kids to pick a favorite player and then watch NBC's "World Series Special" on September 29th to see who won. According to September 26's issue of Sponsor, a trade journal for advertisers, Prestone (named on the ballot itself) paid $90,000 to underwrite the 1959 show.

This wasn't Topps' first 1959 gum promo: the one below sold Bazooka Joe shirts! Close inspection of the scan shows the tee shirt insert shares a left edge "notch" with the All-Star Rookie ballot, so would've been packaged by similar equipment. It's logical that the shirt promo started prior to opening day, when baseball interest was lower. All-Star Rookie ballots took over by summertime.

1959 Bazooka tee shirt insert, via Bob Lemke's blog

I think Topps boosted Bazooka gum during 1959 because that's the same year Dubble Bubble maker Fleer cracked into the baseball card market with its own Ted Williams exclusive set.

1959 Fleer Ted Williams wax box and packs

Topps now faced Fleer on two fronts: gum revenue and card revenue. They responded with an on-box set of appealing, full-color cards you could trim off with scissors. By linking baseball to Bazooka and pumping money into its marketing, Topps showed Fleer it was ready to fight both battles. Topps buyers got gum with their cards and Bazooka buyers got a card with their gum.

1959 Bazooka baseball, Mickey Mantle

This sharp set, one player per panel, says it appeals to "Young America" right on the gum box. Given the size match and Bazooka branding, did All-Star Rookie ballots slip into Bazooka boxes as well?

Here's how Topps announced ballot distribution in a July 1959 issue of The Sporting News.


Kudos to Phungo's article about Willie McCovey's 80th birthday and the first All-Star Rookie Team for locating these Sporting News scans about the voting, complete with sample ballot!


Being part of NBC's "World Series Special" broadcast appears to be one Topps goal for their campaign. That list of awards for "Winning Rookies" connects to their second goal, a media-friendly All-Star Rookie Banquet planned for October 29. Let's cover both goals, in that order.


Check out that red text on the back of each ballot. The perennial "World Series Special" show made big money for NBC producers, so I bet Topps saw dollar signs from their year-long role in its advertising and as an "All-Star Rookie" feature of the show itself.

As fate would have it, a tie in 1959's National League standings required a best-of-three playoff between the Braves and Dodgers, so the World Series started later than predicted. I found three newspaper excerpts about that complication and apparent resolution.

LA Times, Sept 26, 1959: "NBC has set a World Series special for Tuesday at 9:30PM. Martin Stone, the producer, is having fits now that the National League race could end in a play-off, setting the Series back a couple of days. NBC had lined up an expensive show, but it may never happen. This thing is giving everybody fits."

Jack Brickhouse, longtime Chicago broadcaster (photo by WGN)

Chicago Tribune, Sept 28: "JACK BRICKHOUSE will interview fans waiting in line for World Series bleacher tickets [for the White Sox] on NBC-TV's World Series Special at 8:30PM Tuesday. The show will include interviews with managers and players, and highlights of the pennant races in both leagues."

Lowell Sun, Sept 29: "WORLD SERIES SPECIAL, with Mel Allen; host, sportscasters Jack Brlckhouse, Howard Cosell, Vince Scully, Lindsey Nelson; former Dodger star Roy Campanella; stars of the White Sox; National league stars [of] the 1959 All-Star Rookie team."

Tie those pieces together and it seems NBC worked things out to broadcast World Series Special as planned, complete with some All-Star Rookies. Team selections McCovey, Joe Koppe, and Jim O'Toole all played in the NL and weren't part of the series itself, so that's who I assume took part in the broadcast.

Calling them the "First Annual" awards is classic Topps chutzpah

Topps' second successful end goal of all this balloting? The inaugural All-Star Rookie Banquet, held in NYC's Manhattan Hotel on October 29. Topps claimed they received 1.7 million mailed ballots. Eight of the ten rookies pictured on 1960 Topps cards attended, all but Jim O'Toole and Willie Tasby.

Sporting News team photo from Phungo's article

Former catcher (and future HOF broadcaster) Joe Garagiola hosted the proceedings. Given the pleasant tone of its New York Times news coverage, attendees had a good enough time that they decided to do it again in the future.

This, in the end, is why Topps said the "youth of America" selected their 1960 All-Star Rookie team.

5. Why didn't the "Youth of America" select All-Star Rookies every year?

Willie McCovey garnered most of 1959 banquet's event coverage, so I expect he also received the most mail-in votes. Jackie Robinson, now in business, led the 1959 advisory committee charged with tabulating and announcing the results. He served in that capacity for several years, since he's still listed on my 1964 banquet #5 type card.

1964 Topps All-Star Banquet #5, Election Committee

Topps continued to insert ballots into 1960 wax packs, again under the Bazooka mailing address. Thanks to The Topps Archives article Programs! Get Your Programs Here! for this scan.


Here's a 1960 Topps All-Star Rookie and future Hall of Famer, #35 Ron Santo. I believe he's part of the last crop voted for by the "youth of America."


Why would 1960 be the last year? Consider why a committee of marketing men would grapple with 1.7 million votes. Bob Lemke's "30 million wax pack inserts went 'poof'" article lists that group, circa 1959.
  • Tim Cohane, sports editor, Look magazine
  • Dan Ferris, honorary secretary, National Amateur Athletic Union
  • Ed Fitzgerald, editor-in-chief, SPORT magazine
  • Frank Frisch, Hall of Famer
  • Tom S. Gallery, director of sports, NBC
  • Dave Grote, public relations director, National League
  • Sid James, managing editor, Sports Illustrated
  • Carl Lundquist, public relations director, Natl Assn. of Professional Baseball Leagues
  • Bill MacPhail, director of sports, CBS
  • Joe McKenney, public relations director, American League
  • Jackie Robinson, vice-president, Chock Full O'Nuts
  • Marshall Smith, sports editor, Life magazine
  • J.G. Taylor Spink, publisher, The Sporting News

Given that committee's density of public relations and media muscle, I think Topps' 1959-60 All-Star Rookie effort proved their marketing clout to both print and television partners. After 1960, they no longer needed to pay for ballot inserts. They'd solidified a durable relationship with pro baseball, advertisers, and sportswriters during a transformative time for baseball itself.

"Sports Briefs," Madera Tribune, Oct 7, 1965

This 1965 newspaper blurb referenced 578 total All-Star Rookies votes, which strikes me as a combo of willing players, scouts, coaches, and/or sportswriters. (1965 also happens to be the year Topps regained its exclusive right to print MLB cards, after the Federal Trade Commission reversed a 1964 ruling that would've allowed more competition.)

1960 Fleer Baseball Greats box and wax packs

Speaking of competition, what did Fleer do after 1959? Fleer followed its Ted Williams-only set with this Baseball Greats set in 1960. Ted appeared as its sole active player, surrounded by legends, former greats, and off-field executives.


1961-62 Fleer Baseball Greats box panel

Williams retired after 1960, making Fleer the first to publish this "all retired" set, a somewhat dubious distinction, across 1961 and 1962. They tried to publish a full set of active players in 1963, before being stopped by legal action from Topps after just 66 cards.

Bazooka shrunk their single-card size starting in 1960, giving them space for three players per box panel. Topps continued to run Bazooka baseball sets through 1970, well after Fleer lost their legal fight to stay in the baseball market.

1961 Bazooka box panels

Remember that this whole Topps business opportunity started with the conceit that Ford Frick removed fan All-Star voting for 1958, which led to Topps creating the SPORT All-Star subset, which led to fan mail-in voting for Topps All-Star Rookies, which led to All-Star Rookie Teams that continue to this day.

At last, we know who the "Youth of America" were, how they voted for their selections, and why Topps set up the whole thing to start with. It's amazing to me that this Topps marketing phrase, pulled from 1950s Bazooka gum packs, proved durable enough to stick around into the 21st century.

BONUS CONTENT: THE VENEZUELA-CUBA CONNECTION

Topps didn't just spend 1959 starting new revenue streams in the good ol' USA; they also partnered with South American publisher Industrias Benco to print a debut Venezuelan baseball set.

1959-60 Venezuelan #96, Lou Berberet

Benco's set replicated Topps' first two series, #1-198, on cheaper paper stock and with no protective surface gloss. They sold packs during Venezuela's winter league season, which runs October to January (more league history at Wikipedia). (I think Venezuelan sets should be tagged "1959-60" because their league season spanned two years, so makes more sense to treat like basketball or hockey sets.)

This repurposed 1959 set added a local touch to existing Topps practices for the 1950s, where the Brooklyn company shipped unsold cards south each autumn for sale to baseball-happy Venezuelan fans. Check out The Topps Archives article, Where Have You Gone, Dom DiMaggio?, for some great research and lingering questions about the fate of 1952's infamous high numbers.

If you're a fan of history or geopolitics, you might remember another baseball-related thing that happened in 1959: Fidel Castro came to power in Cuba.


It's hard to overstate the impact Castro's regime had on winter league baseball and America's relationship to it. To compress years of international action into a few sentences, Havana's image as the Western Hemisphere's casino-and-gangster party town presented an easy target for socialist change. Baseball owners used Cuba as a winter base of operations beyond American law, so felt considerable pain when Castro suspended its professional league following his rise to power. Dozens of star players left Cuba to seek paydays, flooding winter leagues of nearby countries. On the political front, America's revulsion at socialism just 90 miles from Florida sent MLB teams scrambling away from financial association with existing Cuban teams and partners.

Due in part to the influx of Cuban winter league "immigrants," Venezuela even canceled its 1959-60 postseason series. Hard to know what impact this had on the season's card market. I imagine Benco distributed and sold its 198 cards as best they could.

However 1959-60's set turned out, Topps continued to license their images for Venezuela printing and sale during 1960-61, 1962-63, 1964-65, and 1966-67 winter league seasons. Local sets made after 1967 strike me as too amateurish to be done with Topps involvement.

There's much we don't (or can't?) know about the history of Venezuelan sets and distribution. Given their multitude of 1959 efforts stateside, it appears Topps added this one more business deal overseas, perhaps to avoid complications with Cuba's new political climate.

IS THERE ANYTHING TOPPS DIDN'T DO IN 1959?

I'm starting to think they didn't dump 1952 high numbers into the ocean! But why get mired in a complicated truth, when an "aw shucks, we should have known better" story will do? :-)

Monday, March 12, 2018

One for Five : The History of Topps According to 2016 Anthology

Today post follows the spirit of a pair of posts from spring 2016 and give you a head-start on the evolving business of 1950s Topps baseball sets. Feel free to check those out first.

Modern card collectors will know Topps often revisits their past glory with Heritage sets, vintage reprints, throwback inserts, and so forth. Back in 2016, Topps beefed up this tradition by releasing a Topps Anthology series that reprinted many significant baseball cards from their past on pricy, postcard-sized (5"x7") paper in boxed albums.

2016 Topps Anthology, 1951 - 2016

The marketing blurb accompanying Anthology gave me pause, as it mixed facts and errors in pursuit of a kitchen-to-castle story of Topps baseball and the collecting market in general.

2016 Topps Anthology Series One marketing poster

How well did Topps compact their decades of hobby history into two paragraphs? Not great.

Error #1: "...started producing baseball trading cards in 1951..." is three years off.

1948 Topps Magic Photo, George Sisler

Topps first printed baseball cards in 1948 with the sepia-toned Magic Photo set. Today, you'll find type cards on eBay for low money, $10 or less. Magic Photo's gimmicky and ugly as sin, so I don't blame Topps for pretending they never happened.

Fact: "...Sy Berger designed the standard-setting cards at his kitchen table..." 

Sy Berger, 1952 style

Sy Berger garnered a great deal of credit for creating the 1952 set and it sold well, forcing other card makers to play catch-up in both design and set size. Did Sy design this seminal set at his kitchen table? Sure, why not! I'm writing this post at my kitchen table. It's comfortable and it's where the food is.

Error: "By '74...rookie cards are more valued than ever."

That's somewhat true...and yet misleading. First-year rookies didn't drop in value before 1974, so their value was indeed "more than ever." Circa 1974, premium pricing in the hobby went to stars and rarity far more than prospects and rookies. That held true until cards like this came along.

1981 Donruss #538, Tim Raines RC

Unless my memory's faulty, the mania for rookies didn't blow up until Topps' competitors Fleer and Donruss arrived in 1981 and all three looked for ways to outsell and out-promote each other. Tim Raines and Fernando Valenzuela drove high demand in 1981 itself, where Donruss was the only set to put Tim on his own card and Fleer was the only set for Fernando's own card.

1985 Topps #401, Mark McGwire RC

Remember Mark McGwire's 1985 Topps rookie card? People went nuts for it in 1986, when he broke the rookie HR record. This hobby-changer happened because Topps licensed cards for the 1984 Olympics team (made up of college players) as a way to undercut Fleer and Donruss. Anthology misses the "mark" a bit when it pushes rookies-as-savvy-investments back to the 1970s, to when local, informal pricing defined the hobby over annual price guides. (Lest this sound like a critique, I think centralized pricing helped the hobby mature and we'd still be wandering the desert without it.)

Error: "...first Traded series in late '74..." 


Topps introduced Traded in their last series of 1972 baseball by airbrushing players into post-trade uniforms, like #751 Steve Carlton going from St. Louis to Philly. Why introduce this subset in 1972 and not sooner? I credit the early stages of MLB free agency, which promoted freer movement of players. Topps hoped these up-to-date cards sold during pennant races would give fans a reason to keep buying packs in the late season months.

Error: "...stacking [1974 Traded] with rookies called up from the minors..."

1974 Topps Traded, a 44 card late-season insert set

Traded cards in 1974 feature airbrushed players who'd been traded, same as 1972. They did much the same with another Traded set in 1976. No rookies to be seen!


If what you want is vets in new uniforms and rookie phenoms, Topps first offered that in 1981 as Topps "Traded," a tidy boxed set that added 132 cards to the existing regular set, #727-858. As mentioned earlier, this kind of release followed new competition from Fleer and Donruss.

Before 1981, Topps took just three, low-quality shots at "traded" players in 1972, 1974, and 1976. Starting in 1981, they made the Traded series an appealing, annual look at fresh faces and new jerseys. To tie back to my early note about Tim Raines and Fernando Valenzuela, one could argue they created 1981's Traded set as a hedge against innovations Fleer and Donruss would release and hot players they'd miss out on.

.200, The Mendoza Line

How'd they measure up? Topps went 1-for-5 on their own history, batting just .200! I'm a little disappointed, given how easy it is to check these details via Google.

Why do I care in the 21st century about how Topps characterized their first quarter century? Because there's a business history that runs parallel to their baseball history. The financial decisions that Topps made in those years enabled them to create all those great 1950s and 1960s cards that became part of Anthology and I want that business history to be just as visible to hobbyists, even if it risks making the baseball side feel less magical.

And I'm not done with you yet, Anthology ad copy!


For my next post, I'll dive deeper into the phrase, "Selected by the youth of America." Anthology didn't give us more to chew on and, as it turns out, there's plenty of meat on that bone. What should modern collectors know about who the "Youth of America" were? How does it relate to collecting today? More to come soon.

Monday, January 8, 2018

1927 American Caramel Baseball (E126, set of 60) #5, E.T. Cox

Between the 1910s tobacco era and Goudey's landmark 1930s gum sets, candy and toy companies made most of America's baseball cards. Pennsylvania's own American Caramel Company produced several and this #5 comes from their 1927 "set of 60" issue, designated by collectors as E126. There's more to it than meets the eye, which I examine after name-checking E. T. Cox.


Ernest Thompson Cox pitched a single MLB game for Chicago on May 5, 1922. He faced 6 batters, walked 2 of them, gave up a hit, allowed 2 runs, and...that's it. E. T. never appeared in another White Sox game and, according to available stats, didn't play in the minors either following his 1922 big league appearance.

310 Pythian Place, a blog about Birmingham, Alabama history, provides a play-by-play account of Cox's single MLB appearance in "One Game -- One Inning." (It also mentions teammates mislabeled him as "Elmer," which is significant later.)

How and why did Cox pitch just one inning? I compared rosters for that year's AL teams and Chicago shuttled a lot of pitchers through their 1922 staff. The 1st place Yankees used a grand total of 8 pitchers for all 144 games. Cellar-dwelling Boston used 10. The White Sox used 18 and most made less than 5 appearances. All that roster shuffling speaks to oddities in the front office. Chicago endured the Black Sox trial and banning of eight players in 1921, so I imagine player management and finances proved chaotic in 1922. Chicago could've trimmed travel costs or other expenses by signing in-town players to the briefest of contracts. Perhaps something even more obscure was going on.


The 1927 E126 card back promotes their collectors album for "60 of the most prominent baseball players in the country." Since E. T. Cox hadn't played in 5 years, they're playing fast and loose with the truth. In fact, American Caramel's 1927 set is 90% re-cropped player photos from 1922, numbered #1-60. Match names in these galleries and you'll see what I mean.

Could a mistaken name or photo be how "E. T. Cox" ended up on a card? As mentioned above, American Caramel reused many photos and he first appeared in 1922 as "Elmer."


Did American Caramel get the right "Cox?" We have a few other 1920s candidates.

Future MLBer Elmer Joseph "Dick" Cox played outfield for Brooklyn in 1925-26, but toiled in the PCL as a Portland Beaver in the years American Caramel would've obtained this photo. An Oregon-based outfielder wouldn't strike pitching poses for the 1922 White Sox. No real chance that's our guy.

Plateau Preston Rex "Red" Cox hurled three games for Detroit in early 1920, with some minor league years thereafter. I can't find any evidence he played for Chicago.

Leslie Warren "Les" Cox pitched two career games for Chicago, both in September 1926, so he's a peripheral match for someone named Cox appearing in this 1927 set. It's believable an American Caramel employee reused this 1922 card based on Chicago's 1926 roster containing a guy named "Cox."

George Melvin Cox pitched a full 1928 season for Chicago, six years too late to be on a photo from 1922 or earlier. If American Caramel printed E126 in 1928, they could've again picked E. T. based on last names alone.

Back in 2004, collectors on the Net54 baseball card discussion board asked similar questions about E. T. Cox in the thread, "E126: Who is card #5?" They arrived about where we are now, with a smattering of overlapping baseball stats and one enigmatic photo of a White Sox pitcher.


That Net54 conversation hints at another reason American Caramel dusted off their 1922 photos and revamped them for 1927: stars Ty Cobb had just joined the Philadelphia A's, and Tris Speaker, the rival Washington Senators.


Cobb and Speaker weathered game-fixing allegations following the 1926 season (see Cobb's SABR bio for details) and both announced plans to retire. When baseball commissioner Mountain Landis declared them innocent of the gambling allegations, they followed lucrative contracts to new cities for the final years of their legendary careers.

It's a good bet that Pennsylvania-based American Caramel capitalized on Cobb's arrival in Philly to rush out a smaller version of their earlier sets, updating current teams and adding album-based encouragement for collectors to get all 60 cards. I can't find an E126 album online (yet), so expect they adapted these similar E120 albums from 1922.

1922 E120 "set of 240" AL and NL albums

As mentioned earlier, I think E. T. reappeared for 1927 because American Caramel might've referenced a recent White Sox roster with a pitcher named "Cox" (Les in 1926 or George in 1928, depending on actual year of printing) and mistook them for E. T., so he got a second card out of it.


I also have a theory about why E126 cards prove so scarce today. That on-card (IF)S copyright by Cox's foot stands for International Features Service, a William Randolph Hearst-owned source of news wire photos and publisher of baseball strip cards from the 1910s and 1920s. (IFS also appears in my W516 post about Cobb and Speaker.)

When American Caramel printed their 1922 E120 "set of 240," photo attribution appears on every card, some for IFS and some for other photo sources. None of their re-cropped 1927 E126 "set of 60" photos show these attributions, which could've raised legal issues and cut short the distribution of cards.

Value: 1927 American Caramel cards don't come along very often. Legendary Auctions sold a graded set for $15,000 in 2007 and low-grade commons go for $50. This fair-good Cox card cost me $40 on eBay.