Sovereign 150 – That T206 life

What I Have Learned from Pat Romolo’s Piedmont 150 Plate Scratch Research: Part Four

Luke January 27, 2018 January 28, 2018

Here is a good look at two mirrored poses from Sheet 2a/2b. Notice the identical Plate Scratch on each back. Brown is a Sheet 2a pose and Kling is located on Sheet 2b.

In the first three articles of this series, we’ve mostly looked at what the layout of Pat’s recreated Piedmont 150 Plate Scratch sheets can teach us. This article will be no different in that respect. However, we’ll also take a look at the relative scarcity of Plate Scratches on individual poses and the surprising connection between Piedmont 150 Plate Scratches and Sovereign 150 populations (for poses on one particular Piedmont 150 sheet).

Today we’re going to take a closer look at Sheet #2, which consists of two mirrored sets of poses that have identical Plate Scratches. Pat has dubbed them Sheets 2a and 2b. Sheets 2a and 2b are very interesting for a couple of reasons. First, all of the “150 Only” subjects with the exception of Powers are located on Sheet 2a. If you read Part One of this series, you already know the significance of that discovery. The second reason concerns the Plate Scratches themselves in a way that we haven’t delved into in the first three parts of this series.

This is the partial layout for Sheet 2a/2b. As you can see, there are still many missing pieces of the puzzle.

The above image of Sheet 2a/2b is too small to be viewed on many devices. Please click this link for a larger, zoom-able image

You would expect the population of Plate Scratches to be roughly equal for each mirrored pair of poses on each sheet. For Sheet #2, that expectation doesn’t hold. The poses on Sheet 2a are far easier to find with a Plate Scratch than the poses on Sheet 2b. Hold that thought for a moment, while we turn our attention in a completely different direction.

Flick (Sheet 2a) and Clarke Portrait (Sheet 2b) are a matched pair on Sheet 2a/2b

Recently, I found myself thinking about the Sovereign 150 subset. If you’ve collected this subset for a while, you know some poses are much more difficult to find than others. It’s relatively common knowledge that the “150 Only” poses are harder to find with Sovereign 150 backs than the typical 150-350 Series pose. I’ve accepted this as fact for a while, but it bothered me a little that I couldn’t explain why. Sovereign 150 backs were printed fairly early in the 150-350 Series, so it doesn’t really make sense that these poses would have been pulled from production during the Sovereign 150 print run. In addition, there are other poses that are extremely difficult to locate with a Sovereign 150 back. So, I got to thinking: Perhaps Pat’s recreated Piedmont 150 sheets could shed some light on the matter? I reached out to him with a list of the toughest Sovereign 150 front/back combos and asked him if by chance any of these poses might be located on the same sheet.

Before we get to his answer, let’s take a quick detour in order to prove that Sheets 2a and 2b were used to print both Piedmont 150 and Sovereign 150 backs. Check out the pink mark on the left border of the Piedmont 150 Cicotte above. This is a print mark that can be found on some (but not all) Cicotte Piedmont 150s. If you take a look at the Sovereign 150 example below, you’ll see the pink mark was printed on it as well. As a result, we can safely conclude that Sheets 2a & 2b were used to print both Piedmont 150 and Sovereign 150 backs with the exact same sheet layout.

As it turned out, Pat was way ahead of me. He already knew the poses on Sheet 2a were easier to find with Plate Scratches than the poses on Sheet 2b. And he had already found the connection I was looking for. The poses on Sheet 2a are easier to find with Piedmont 150 Plate Scratches than the poses on Sheet 2b. Conversely, Sheet 2a poses are much scarcer with Sovereign 150 backs than their Sheet 2b counterparts. Pat’s theory (which I agree with) is that Sheets 2a and 2b were printed in similar quantities, but Sheet 2a was printed with more Piedmont 150 backs than was Sheet 2b. As a result, Sheet 2b was printed with more Sovereign 150 backs than was Sheet 2a. This is the reason why the “150 Only” poses are scarce with Sovereign 150 backs (with the exception of Powers*). It has nothing to do with the fact that they were pulled from production early.

Still, there’s more to the story. The 11 “150 Only” poses are not alone on Sheet 2a. Other notoriously scarce Sovereign 150 poses such as Joe Birmingham, Fred Clarke (With Bat), Ty Cobb (Green Portrait), Elmer Flick, and Frank Isbell also reside on Sheet 2a. As you can see from the recreated sheet above, Pat has already found where Cobb and Isbell fit. However, there are a number of Plate Scratches that Pat hasn’t found yet, so for now the puzzle remains unfinished. As for the other three poses I just mentioned (Birmingham, Clarke (bat), and Flick), they belong on this sheet, but as of now it’s unclear where they fit.

You might be wondering how we know they belong on Sheet 2a if their Plate Scratches don’t fit neatly into the layout above. To discover the answer takes a complete understanding of how Sheets 1a/1b, 2a/2b, and 3 are laid out. Sheets 1a and 1b are similar to Sheets 2a and 2b in that they are also a set of matched pairs. However, there is one big difference. Sheet 1b was also used to print Sweet Caporal 150 Factory 649 backs. So, if we find a matched pair of Plate Scratches, and neither pose was printed with a Sweet Caporal 150 Factory 649 back, we know that pair of Plate Scratches doesn’t belong on Sheet 1a or 1b. The Plate Scratches that comprise Sheet 3 do not have a matched pair.

In other words, any matched pair of Plate Scratches that doesn’t include a SC 649 pose is a virtual lock to belong on Sheets 2a and 2b. The connection between Piedmont 150 Plate Scratches and Sovereign 150 populations is perhaps the most exciting of Pat’s discoveries, at least in my opinion. As someone who has been collecting Sovereign 150s for a while, I know that some of them are fairly common, while others are like ghosts. It’s not unusual to find variances in populations within a given back subset, but it’s very rare that we’re able to definitively prove why they exist.

Another reason this discovery is exciting is that the research is ongoing. There are still a bunch of holes that need to be filled on Sheet 2a/2b. I have my suspicions of which poses belong on Sheet 2a (based on which as-of-yet uncatalogued poses have the lowest Sovereign 150 populations), but hopefully in time, Pat will be able to find the missing Plate Scratches and put the full sheet back together.

If you find any Piedmont 150s with a Plate Scratch on the back, please either post scans in this net54 thread, or email them to me at luke@thatt206life.com and I will get the scans to Pat.

* The reason that “150-Only” poses are scarce with Sovereign 150 backs is because they are located on Sheet 2a. Because Powers was printed on Sheet 1a/1b rather than Sheet 2a, he shouldn’t be considered a tough Sovereign 150 pose just because he is a “150-Only” subject. However, population reports indicate that Powers is only slightly easier to find with a Sovereign 150 back than say, Pattee. There are a number of SC 649 poses that are quite tough to find with a Sovereign 150 back (Goode, O’Leary and Wilhelm come to mind).

I’d like to thank Pat Romolo for collaborating with me on this series of articles. Thanks for answering all my questions, making sure I wasn’t missing anything, and for providing all the scans I kept asking for. I also want to thank Steve Birmingham for noticing the Plate Scratches and commencing the research years ago.

T206 Player Bio: Harry Lumley

Luke January 12, 2017

During his short MLB career, Harry Lumley was one of the most feared sluggers in the game. He played only 5 full seasons in the Majors, and his stats are staggering. He was sidelined by injuries, rheumatism, and a tendency to put on weight. If he had remained healthy, it’s not hard to imagine him as a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

In 1903, Lumley played for Seattle of the Pacific Coast League, which was an outlaw league at the time. He led the league in batting average with a .383 clip. Following that season, the PCL joined organized baseball. As a result, all of Seattle’s players were eligible for the Rule 5 Draft, and Lumley was selected by the Brooklyn Superbas. As a 23 year-old rookie in 1904, he led the National League in both triples (18) and home runs (9). He put up an average of .279 with an OPS of .759. It was an incredible rookie season, but he was just getting started.

In 1905, Lumley’s average climbed to .293, though his triple (10) and home run (7) totals dropped a bit. His 7 HRs were still good for 3rd in the NL. 1906 was his best year by far. His batting average jumped to .324, good for 3rd in the NL behind only Harry Steinfeldt and Honus Wagner. He led the league in slugging (.477) and was second in triples (12) and home runs (9), trailing only his teammate Tim Jordan.

1907 was another great year for Lumley, but sadly it was the last season he performed at a high level. He hit 9 home runs, good for second in the NL and slugged .425, which slotted in just behind Wagner and Magee on the NL leaderboard. Near the end of the season, he broke his ankle while sliding, which ended his season after 127 games. The injury lingered into the 1908 season and made it tough for him to keep his weight down. Prior to the season, he was named team captain. He played 127 games in 1908, but only hit .216 with 4 home runs.

Prior to the 1909 season, Brooklyn owner Charles Ebbets named Lumley manager. He skippered his squad to a 55-98 record, which was good for 6th in the NL. That doesn’t look too good at first glance, but in 1908 the club went 53-101 and finished 7th, so it was a nice, if small, improvement. As a player, Lumley appeared in 55 games, but injuries and weight gain had sapped him of his effectiveness. He put up a decent average (.250) but didn’t hit a single home run.

After the season, Ebbets replaced Lumley with Bill Dahlen as the new manager. Lumley started the season with the club as a player, but he only played 8 games before being released in June of 1910.

If the T206 set had begun production in 1904, Lumley might have been featured on three or four cards. As it was, he made the cut to be included mainly because he was the current manager of the 1909 Brooklyn team. Fans no doubt were hoping for him to return to form, but injuries had taken their toll. Lumley is one of the more compelling players in the T206 set, and I am very happy he was included, even if we only got one card of him.

I want to thank baseball-reference.com for the stats and leaderboards and Tom Simon for his great article that can be found here. Both of these resources were a big help to me in telling the fascinating story of Harry Lumley.

The Easiest T206 Back Run: Jiggs Donahue

Luke February 9, 2017 November 4, 2016

So, what’s the easiest back run to complete in the 150-350 series? Chicago White Sox first baseman Jiggs Donahue. Donahue (mis-spelled on his t206 as Donohue) is the only player from the 150-350 series that was not printed with a Hindu, El Principe de Gales or Old Mill back. All other subjects were printed with at least one of those backs, and often more than one.

Here is the complete checklist for Donahue:

Piedmont 150
Sovereign 150
Sweet Caporal 150 factory 25
Sweet Caporal 150 factory 30
Piedmont 350
Sovereign 350
Sweet Caporal 350 factory 25
Sweet Caporal 350 factory 30

Donahue had a fairly nondescript career, and it helps to understand why he was not included in the aforementioned print runs. He played a little outfield and catcher in his first 3 seasons, but by the age of 22, was solely a first baseman. In 1904, his first year with the White Sox, he topped 100 games played for the first time. His career batting average (.255) and WAR (13.5) are very solid, but he rarely ranked among the top 10 in any category. In 1905, he was 7th in the A.L. in WAR for position players. He hit .287 that year, which was the 7th best average in the A.L. In 1907 he led the A.L. in games played and at bats. He never approached that number of games again. In 1908 he played just 93 and followed it up with 86 in 1909, his final year.

When production began in 1909, there was no way to know that it would be Donahue’s last year in Major League Baseball. He was just 29. So, his initial inclusion in the set makes sense. He was a young regular on one of the premier teams in the league. It also makes sense that he was omitted from the Hindu print run. For reasons unknown, only 102 of the 150 series subjects were printed with a Hindu back. So, 48 players were left off the Hindu print run. After his part-time duty in 1908, he seems like a logical candidate to be omitted. In 1910, when it came time to choose which players would be used for the EPDG and Old Mill print runs, Donahue was out of baseball and he was not printed with either back.

The thing that really doesn’t make sense is, “Why was he printed with a Sovereign 350 back when he was omitted from all of the other non-Piedmont/Sweet Caporal runs?” Only 80 subjects from the 150-350 series were used for the Sovereign 350 series. That means they chose not to use about half of the players from Print Group One. Many players who were still in the big leagues were printed with a Sovereign 150 back, but not with a Sovereign 350 back. Some players such as Bill Bergen, Wid Conroy, and Doc Crandall were left off the Sovereign 350 print run and then had another pose released later on in T206 production. So clearly, some players were left off the Sovereign 350 print run who were still popular Major Leaguers. It’s a mystery why Donahue was one of the players chosen for inclusion in the Sovereign 350 print run. Vive Lindaman, whose career ended in 1909 as well was pulled from production in 1910 right after being included in the EPDG print run, and right in the middle of the Piedmont 350 run.

Every front/back combo on Donahue’s checklist is readily available, making it a good choice for an easy introduction into collecting a back run. The card itself is one of the most beautiful from the 150-350 series in my opinion. Heck, maybe that is the reason they decided to continue to include it in 1910 print runs? We’ll probably never know the reason, but it is fun to speculate.

Back Scarcity in the T206 150-350 series: Part One

Luke February 9, 2017 October 28, 2016

In this series of blog posts, I’m going to take an in-depth look at the different backs that make up the 150-350 series (also referred to as Print Group 1). The truly rare backs were not printed until the 350 series (Broadleaf 350 and Drum) and 460 series (Broadleaf 460, Lenox, Red Hindu, and Uzit). Because the 150-350 series is made up of backs which are considered relatively common, many very tough front/back combinations fly under the radar.

Cards from Print Group 1 can be found with the following backs:

Hindu
Piedmont 150
Sovereign 150
Sweet Caporal 150 factory 25
Sweet Caporal 150 factory 30
Sweet Caporal 150 factory 649
El Principe de Gales
Piedmont 350
Sovereign 350 Forest Green
Sweet Caporal 350 factory 25
Sweet Caporal 350 factory 30
Old Mill

Many of the most iconic portrait cards in the T206 set were printed in the 150-350 series. Finding a card with one of these backs is easy, but finding a specific front/back combo can sometimes be quite difficult. For example, if you want a Green Background Ty Cobb portrait with the scarcest back, you need to find one with an Old Mill back. It might seem like this should be an easy task because Old Mills seem pretty common, but it could take you a few years to locate one.

I’m going to start with a very broad overview and drill down into the individual backs to see if we can find any patterns that will help us understand the 150-350 series better.

By the Numbers

There are 159 cards in the 150-350 series. Here is the checklist (thanks to the fine folks at t206resource.com).

Below is a breakdown of the backs that make up the 150-350 series (also known as Print Group 1 and abbreviated here as PG1):

As you can see, the vast majority of PG1 is represented with these backs:

Piedmont 150 (98%)

Sovereign 150 (94%)

Sweet Caporal 150 factory 25 (96%)

Sweet Caporal 150 factory 30 (96%)

The percentage is a bit less with these backs:

Piedmont 350 (91%)

Sweet Caporal 350 factory 25 (83%)

Sweet Caporal 350 factory 30 (84%)

Old Mill (81%)

The percentage is much lower with these backs:

Hindu (64%)

Sweet Caporal 150 factory 649 (21%)

El Principe de Gales (51%)

Sovereign 350 Forest Green (50%

In some cases, the reasons for differing percentages are known. Often, certain players were traded or they retired during production of the set. These players were removed from subsequent printings. For the most part, this is why players are missing from Piedmont 350 and both Sweet Caporal 350 print runs.

In other cases, the reasons are not known. Hindu backs were issued in 1909 near the start of T206 production. They had access to the same 150 subjects that were used for the Sovereign 150 printing, but only used 102 of them. For the the El Principe de Gales print run beginning in 1910, only 81 poses from PG1 were used. Likewise, only 80 PG1 players were used for the Sovereign 350 print run.

Were these omissions chosen randomly? Or is there a pattern? Let’s find out.