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This Player Postcard Gallery showcases Pre-WWII postcards of Major League Baseball players and teams in chronological order. Nearly all of the cards featured are printed cards issued by an array of publishers. A select few are actually Real-Photo cards that are better suited for this gallery than the Real-Photo one, due to the significance of their subjects or publishers.
1900 - 1908
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Early 1900s Real Photo PC reproduces a photo of the 1888 St. Louis Browns of the American Association. The "Famous World Beaters" are shown with prize greyhounds, Fly and Prince. Players include Charles Comiskey, Arlie Latham, Icebox Chamberlain, Tip O'Neill, Tommy McCarthy and Silver King.
c.1905 NY Giants scorecard postcard with Mathewson, McGinnity, Taylor, Bowerman, Ames and Mertes; Pub. by Souvenir Postcard Co.; Manufactured by J.T. Dye; Sepia versions also exist.
Arthur "Circus Solly" Hofman played in four World series with the Cubs. This 1907 Grignon card features infield chatter from the World Champ.
A.C. Dietsche issued three Detroit Tigers sets from 1907 to 1909 and one Cubs set in 1907.
Published in 1907, by George W. Hull, these scarce cards depict the 1906 World Champion White Sox and all feature Ed Walsh and Charles Comiskey.
Another 1907-09 Detroit Tigers issue, these cards were issued by H.M. Taylor and are rarer than the Dietsche cards featured above.
1907 postcard featuring the Detroit Tigers hoisting the flags at their season opener. Ty Cobb can be seen on the far right of this team gathering, many of whom are wearing their light blue warm-up sweaters. Pub. By United News Co. of Detroit, Mich.
These two odd postcards from 1908 feature unusual poses of Cy Young in full fox-hunting regalia. One card captures him with his hunting dogs, while the other shows him similarly attired and riding his horse, Rambo.
These postcards were published by Hugh C. Leighton of Portland, Maine, and definitely are among the stranger images of the all-time victories leader.
Led by their tenacious manager, Hughie Jennings, the 1908 A.L. Champion Tigers found yet another postcard home in this series of
Highly scarce metamorphic postcard of the 1908 Boston Red Sox pub. by J.P. Furlong. This low-grade specimen is missing the fold-out section, but includes Manager John McGuire, the pre-Fenway Huntington Grounds Ballpark, Owner John Taylor and Secretary-Treasurer, Hugh McBreen.
These rare 1908 cards were issued by J.B. Coyle Co. as part of a Pittsburgh Pirates set offered for sale at Exhibition Park. The set included its own album and 15 cards. Here are cards of Hall of Famer, Fred Clarke, Tommy Leach, and rookie outfielder Owen Wilson.
Sought-after 1908 postcards featuring Cy Young in-action and in a posed portrait. The card at left was published by A.C. Williams of Boston. At right is a card by Victor Pub. Co., illustrating the "the things that old Cy didn't do."
Perhaps the most beautiful of the Pre-Linen Era baseball postcards, the Rose Company embossed set from 1908-09 featured major league talent, as well as ten players from the New York State League. This example showcases White Sox catcher, Billy Sullivan.
Scarce 1907 postcard of Jack Thoney who played from 1902 to 1911 in Cleveland, Boston, New York and elsewhere. This in-action card captures him on Opening Day in 1907 at Hanlon's Point in Toronto. Toronto would advance to win the pennant.
The 1906 Ullman "Art Frame" postcard series showcased members of the New York Giants. Shown here are obscure NY Giants catcher, Matty Fitzgerald, who played in only 11 games with the Giants in 1906-07, along with star pitcher Hooks Wiltse, and a two-player card of infielder Sammy Strang and catcher Frank Bowerman. Strang is wearing the team's special "World's Champions" uniform.
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SPOTLIGHT: NOTEWORTHY 1908 TEAM CARDS
HONUS WAGNER & THE "GREAT" TEAM
The postcard above is an exceptional example of a scarce issue published by the Masterpiece Jockey Club cigar maker, depicting "The Pirates, Pittsburg's Great Baseball Team." This attractive piece features images of Honus Wagner and Fred Clarke showcased at center with portraits of their teammates arranged around them. The reverse advertises game tickets and Liberty Havana cigars.
Click on the Image to Enlarge
A CUBAN POWERHOUSE: THE NEW BRITAIN PERFECTOS
The card above truly is unique, capturing some of the biggest Cuban baseball stars of the day playing for The New Britain Connecticut Minor League Class B team, which was nicknamed the Perfectos in their honor. Pictured in this amazing postcard are Armando Marsans, Rafael Almeida, Alfredo Cabrera and Luis Padron who had formerly played together in Cuba for the Almendares team. All would go on to play in the Major Leagues, with Marsans and Almeida signing with the Cincinnati Reds in 1911. Interestingly, in 1910 Almeida and Marsans failed to report with Cabrera for another Connecticut baseball season. This 1908 New Britain postcard is a true gem for fans of Cuban baseball stars. Click on the Image to Enlarge.
BEFORE THEY WERE STARS: "HOME RUN" BAKER & JAKE DAUBERT
These two postcards, above, feature two minor league teams with major stars.
The Reading, PA Tri-State team card at top showcases a major young talent in Frank "Home Run" Baker during his days before joining Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics. Interestingly, he is shown standing next to Dan Shaugnessy, the player for whom he was traded. Shaugnessy later went on to become the president of the International League from 1936 to 1950. Other major leaguers also are pictured in this team shot.
The Nashville team postcard at bottom captures other young talents shortly before their major league careers, including future Dodgers and Reds star first baseman, Jacob Daubert. Other players on this team who played in the big leagues include Hub Perdue, Pryor Mcelveen, Win Kellum, Jack Hardy, Carl Sitton, George Hunter, and Harry Bay. Like the Reading card, all of the Tennessee players are identified beneath the photo. Click on The Images to Enlarge.
This postcard features the first Major Leaguers to tour Japan. It shows the 1908 Reach U.S. All Star Tour of Japan in a partially colorized view. Seen here are catcher Jack Bliss of the St. Louis Cardinals and a batter named Kanki of Keio University playing at the East Recreation Ground in Kobe. Hard to find, it has Japanese, Russian, French, English and other languages on reverse.
WESTERN LEAGUE CHAMPIONS
After the Western League became the American League, a void was left in many midwestern cities, and the Western League soon reformed. This postcard captures the 1908 league champion Sioux City Packers.
The Sioux City Packers were led by manager, Howard "Ducky" Holmes, the former St. Louis Cardinal. The team was paced to the championship by pitcher Al Furchner, who led the Western League with 30 wins and by Tom Campbell, the league leader in runs scored with 113. This card likely features several other players who notched "cups of coffee" in the big leagues. Click on the Image to Enlarge.
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In 1907, the Morgan Stationery Co. of Cincinnati issued the first-ever color postcard set of baseball players, showcasing the hometown Reds and their opponents.
An exceedingly hard-to-find series, the 1905 -1906 Lincoln Publishing Co. set depicts 20 members of the American League Champion Philadelphia Athletics in street clothes. Shortstop Lave Cross is at left, and at right is centerfielder Danny Hoffman who stole 46 bases in 1905 to lead the American League.
This 1905 Philadelphia Athletics team card captures the entire pennant winning team. Seen here are such stars as Rube Waddell, Chief Bender, Eddie Plank and Harry Davis with some of their loyal rooters in the background.
PLAYER POSTCARDS
Smaller versions of Sporting Life magazine's team composite premiums, these 1906 -1907 postcards feature the New York Giants and the Washington Nationals.
The 1906 World Series champion Chicago White Sox are on this card, published by Suhling & Koehn, featuring a photo by F.P. Burke.
1906 Cubs
1907 Cubs Variation
1906 Sox w/Overprint
V.O. Hammon issued postcards featuring both Chicago World Series contenders in 1906. After the series concluded, a rare version of the White Sox card was issued with a red overprint proclaiming the team World Champions. As far as the Cubs were concerned, when the team won the 1907 pennant, Hammon issued a variation of the Cubs card with a print line denoting its 1907 league victory.
Scarce 1907 American League Publishing Co. postcard showcases 19 composite photos of the Detroit Tigers -- including young newcomer, Ty Cobb. Notables include Sam Crawford and Hughie Jennings. This company would issue attractive single player cards in '08.
1906-07 Lancaster Red Roses
These two postcards depict the 1906 and 1907 Lancaster, PA, Tri-State Base Ball Team, also known as the Red Roses. Hall of Fame pitcher Stan Ceveleski and his brother Harry both played for this team during this period. Five Coveleski brothers all played pro ball regionally, with two making it to the majors.
While not a postcard, this 1907 blotter of the Tigers team closely resembles a blank-backed postcard in both card stock and size. Curiously, this piece includes Hugh Jennings, Sam Crawford and the entire team -- except for Ty Cobb.
Published in 1907, this postcard features a the Eastern league Champion Toronto Maple Leafs. In 1906, the Maple Leafs had been helmed by Ed Barrow who would go on to fame as a Yankees executive. They shot from last place to first in 1907.
The American League Publishing Co. of Cleveland issued this set, weighted with Indians players The card at left depicts hometown star, Napolean Lajoie, while the one at right shows Indians pitcher, Glen Leibhardt, dubbed "Iron Man" in the text.
These scarce 1908 cards from F.J. Offerman are virtually identical to the American League Publishing Co. cards, save for their subjects: Buffalo Bisons Eastern League players.
Among the scarcest of the pre-linen baseball postcards are the 1908-11 H.H. Bregstone postcards of the St. Louis Browns and Cardinals. These Real Photo postcards feature sepia images of unique photos of players taken on the field before or after games. This card shows Cardinal pitcher, Stoney McGlynn in a posed follow-through. In 1907 he led the league in games started, innings and losses.
A remarkably scarce set of baseball postcards was issued by photographer / publisher, Billie Jones of Wabash, Indiana. Seven cards are known, all depicting Detroit Tigers pitching star, George Mullin. These crude cards are Real Photos and show Mullin "at bat," "in action," "on the bench" and with an actual tiger. Issue date unknown.
THE CLEVELAND NAPS
This spectacular colorized postcard of the 1908 Cleveland Indians was issued by the Colonial Post Card Co. of Cleveland. Napolean Lajoie, the team's biggest star, not surprisingly is featured in the center square directly in the center of the entire card. Other notable stars include pitcher Addie Joss, who can be seen in the top row of players, and Hall of Famer, Elmer Flick. This is the only full color team image from this period that has been seen on a postcard and the richness of the greens and reds is particularly striking.
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MORE MAJORS IN THE MINORS
The five cards, above, depict minor league teams with major league talent.
The Williamsport Millionaires won the Tri-State League Class B Championship in 1908, no doubt due in large part to such talented team members as Harry Wolverton, Eddie Foster, Jack Warhop and others. Wolverton, in honor of whom was penned "That Wolverton Rag" song in 1919, most notably managed the New York Highlanders and played for a number of Major League and PCL teams. Warhop similarly starred for the New York Yankees. For his part, Eddie Foster enjoyed a 13-year career in the majors.
The Winchester, KY team card also showcases minor league standouts in the days prior to their major league careers, including Fred Toney, who spent many years on the leaderboard for such teams as the Cubs, Reds and Giants. In 1917, while pitching for the Reds, Fred Toney squared off against Hippo Vaughn of the Cubs for a nine inning battle in which both pitched no-hitters, the only such occurrence in baseball history. Unfortunately, this Winchester team came in dead last in the 1908 Blue Grass League season.
The Oshkosh Indians can be seen in the third postcard and their future Hall of Fame manager, Kid Nichols, who came out of retirement to manage. Also shown is an 18 year old Heinie Groh and several other future major leaguers, including Cozy Dolan, an Oshkosh native. This Real Photo card was printed from a glass negative that was cracked in two places.
The fourth card above is of the Lima Cigarmakers and places each team member at his position on the diamond. Several of the players were also Major Leaguers, including Jim Jackson and Frank Foutz.
Finally, the fifth card depicts the Rochester baseball team of 1908. Rochester sported many players who played in the majors, including Cy Barger, Emil Batch, Tex Erwin, Steamer Flanagan, Ed Holly, Ed Lennox and many others.
Click on The Images to Enlarge
FOR 1909 - 1914
PLAYER POSTCARDS
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Highly scarce postcards of the Providence Grays. The card at left is of "Husky Jack" Cronin, issued by the Providence Tribune. He pitched in the Major League from 1895 to 1904.
The team card is from 1907 and includes Hall of Famer Hugh Duffy, who managed and even played in 35 games. The team sported 13 players who played in the Majors.
Among the stranger postcard mysteries is the case presented by these two postcards. The card at left is labeled "York Tri-State League Baseball Team: and is postmarked 1906. The double-fold panoramic card at right is of the 1907 Tri-State League Harrisburg Senators. Interestingly, three of the players (Zimmerman, Smith and O'Neil( can be found on both cards, along with the manager (Charlie Heckert).
The big question: Why did these players and their manager move from the York White Roses to the Harrisburg Senators? The answer is as-yet unknown, although manager Heckert had a fierce rivalry with York rival the Lancaster White Roses, so perhaps he moved to what he felt was a stringer team in the new league.
In any event, these two cards feature a number of major leaguers, including a tough to find image of Lou "Snake" Wiltse, brother of Hooks Wiltse, along with Kip Selbach (who played in the majors from 1894 to 1906), Stoney McGlynn, Harry Pattee, and most likely Brennan and Zimmerman.
F.P. Burke 1907 World Series Opponents: Tigers & Cubs
These three postcards were issued by the prolific F.P. Burke in 1907, celebrating the two World Series opponents -- the Detroit Tigers and Chicago Cubs. These cards feature the two teams' animal motifs and all payers are identified The Cubs cards include these words: "The Cubs National League Champions 1907 -- It's A Grand Old Rag And A High Flying Flag And Forever In Chicago May It Wave."
V.O. Hammon Chicago Variations
1907 Central League champion Canton team postcard with future HOFer, Rube Marquard and other MLBers.
Oversized postcards by Fred H. Wagner of Chicago, depicting 1906 World Series rivals, the Cubs and White Sox. Issued as both real photo and printed postcards with unidvided backs.
This Tigers postcard features an image of the 1907 pennant-winning squad that was used on several postcards by different publishers -- in both printed and Real Photo forms. This card was issued by Heimer and has the legend, 'Pennant Winners." at right.
Yet another postcard set of the league-topping Detroit Tigers, the 1908 Detroit Free Press postcards are much scarcer than the HM Taylor, Dietsche and Wolverine cards.
Freddy Parent, the first Red Sox shortstop and one of the stars of the 1903 World Series and 1904 pennant-winning team, is shown on this undivided back postcard. A Maine-native, this card showcases Parent's new house.
From 1873 to 1898, the U.S. Post Office was the only entity allowed by law to print postcards. These cards were labeled "Postal Cards" and were emblazoned with the words "United States of America" at the top.
This unique 1892 baseball themed Postal Card was sent by the manager of a Dillenburg, PA team to the manager of a team in Carlisle, PA, arranging for a game to be played. It was either sent through the mail with a gem tintype of one of the team's players affixed to it, or the picture was stored for over 100 years atop the card, as the paper beneath the tintype holder hasn't yellowed to the same sepia hue as the rest of the card.
Extremely rare 1905 Rotograph Company postcards of Bill Dahlen of the New York Giants and Hall of Famer Jack Chesbro of the New York Highlanders. This series only featured players from these two teams. Only eight cards have been checklisted. The Dahlen photo is also seen in the 1904 Giants team postcard at right.
This 1905 team card of the Indians was issued by The Cleveland Souvenir Post Card Shop and spotlights such stars as Napolean Lajoie, Addie Joss and Elmer Flick. Some of these photos were used in the T206 tobacco card set and the Colgan's Chips set.
c.1900s postcard of the 1892 Odwell, NY baseball team. Date of issue unknown. This card includes Fred Odwell, who went on to lead the National League in home runs in 1905.
These extremely scarce fold-out postcards showcase the 1906 New York Highlanders (above) and the 1906 New York Giants (below) with scorecards and team schedules for the year.. The Highlanders card includes individual photos of 18 players, including Hall of Famers, Manager Clark Griffith, Hal Chesbro and Wee Willie Keeler.. Also contained is Hal Chase, in just his second year with the team. This postcard also sports a photo of the "New York American League Grounds," also known as Hilltop Park, on it's exterior. In 1906 the Highlanders finished in second place, just three games behind the White Sox. The Giants card includes images of such stars as John McGraw, Christy Mathewson, Roger Bresnahan, Joe McGinnity, Mike Donlin and others, along with a view of the Polo Grounds on the oustide.
Seldom-seen postcard with unique image of the 1906 Chicago Cubs, identified as National League Champs, prior to their loss in the World Series to their crosstown rivals. Made by The Photo Co. of Am., with the image copyrighted to E. Frieberg.
Oversized, elongated card of the 1906 White Sox team with an ad for an establishment named Gilbert's, presumably a restaurant or bar. The image is copyrighted to F.P. Burke and was used on many other postcards.
1907 Brooklyn Superbas team card with Nap Rucker, Charles Ebbets, Patsy Donovan and others.
1907 comic card published by The Simplicity Co., commemorating the Chicago Cubs thumping of the Detroit Tigers in the World Series.
Published by the Raymond Kahn Co. Cleveland, this very scarce 1907 card depicts Hall of Fame second baseman and Cleveland manager, Napoleon Lajoie.
Scarce 1907 Cleveland team card issued by Raymond Kahn Co., with Napolean Lajoie, Addie Joss and Elmer Flick.
These two cards capture the 1907 Tecumseh, MI Ball Club. In the card at top, Fred Merkle, is clearly noted. He joined the New York Giants the following year. In 1907 he led Tecumseh to the Southern Michigan League championship, clobbering a league leading six home runs. The second card shows a play at first between Tecumseh and the Bay City, MI.
1904 Real Photo card of the New York Giants, issued by The U. S. Souvenir Post Card Co., spotlighting portrait images by Boston photographer Carl Horner. Some of these shots were used in the T206 tobacco card set. Included are Roger Bresnahan, John McGraw, Joe McGinnity and "Dummy" Taylor
Amazing Real Photo card of the 1907 World Series between the Detroit Tigers and Chicago Cubs, mailed from Chicago after the Cubs won the series.
Anonymously-issued postcard of the 1908 Chicago Cubs. This card denotes the team as both National League and World Series Champions. This same image was used in the Suhling series of postcards, with the suited figure cropped out.
One of the more unusual postcard publishers, Novelty Cutlery, issued these highly sought-after ornate gems from 1907 to 1909. NY Giant third baseman Art Devlin is shown in the card at left, Giants catcher Roger Bresnahan in the center, and Philadelphia Athletics star pitcher Eddie Plank at right.
1908 real photo card of Roger Bresnahan, George Gibson and an uknown player in Spring Training at Hot Springs, Arkansas, from the Bresnahan estate.
This 1907 Real Photo of the Scranton Miners of the New York State League includes Moonlight Graham, who was later immortalized in W.P. Kinsella's novel "Shoeless Joe," which was adapted into the 1989 movie "Field of Dreams."
