In his Nationwide Pastime (2023) article “For Whom the Ballgame Tolls,” Sean Kolodzieg presents the next on the boyhood Cubs fandom of writer Ernest Hemingway:
Hemingway was such a fan of the Chicago baseball groups that he ordered “motion photos” of Cubs gamers Mordecai “Three Fingered” Brown, Jimmy Archer, and Frank “Wildfire” Schulte from an commercial in The Sporting Information.
Sean’s quotation for this enjoyable tidbit pointed to The Letters of Ernest Hemingway, 1907-1922, and particularly a letter, circa 1912, that Hemingway despatched Charles C. Spink and Son of the Sporting Information. Right here is the total textual content of the letter. (Forgive any misspellings and grammatical peccadilloes as Hemingway was only a child.)
Mr. Charles C. Spink & Son
gentelmen—Enclosed discover $.35 for which ship me the next baseball motion photos—
Mathewson—Mordecai Brown. Sam Crawford. Jas. P. Archer. Frank shulte. Owen Bush. Fred Snodgrass.
Yours Really
Ernest Hemingway
600 N. Kenilworth
Oak Park. Unwell.
Because the letter was undated, it appeared a enjoyable train to see whether or not the particular motion photos Hemingway ordered may be helpful in pinpointing a spread of dates for the letter. Because it turned out, that pursuit was not solely profitable however unraveled extra insights concerning the set not beforehand printed and maybe unknown to most collectors. Earlier than sharing these outcomes, I’ll first present background for readers who don’t contemplate the M101-2 set a specialty.
Between July 1909 and December 1913, choose editions of the Sporting Information included 8-by-10 “motion photos” of 100 totally different baseball topics. For instance, readers of the October 13, 1910, publication discovered the Jack Coombs picture (above left) inserted inside its pages, and readers of the February 10 Sporting Information that very same yr obtained Sam Crawford (above proper). Quite a few sources, together with the Normal Catalog and Old Cardboard present the particular launch dates for all 100 topics.
That mentioned, and because the Hemingway letter implied, springing for the periodical every week wasn’t the one technique to get hold of the dietary supplements. Numerous (however not at all all) editions included print ads that provided readers the possibility to order these similar dietary supplements on demand. For instance, the advert beneath appeared in March 9, 1911, editions of the Sporting Information.
Clearly it was precisely such an advert that Hemingway would have ordered from although not this particular one. Amongst different issues, the record of topics doesn’t embrace Fred Snodgrass whose picture would come out, appropriately sufficient, that December 7.
For completeness, listed below are the difficulty dates of all seven gamers Hemingway ordered:
- Christy Mathewson – August 5, 1909
- Mordecai Brown – December 9, 1909
- Owen Bush – December 30, 1909
- Sam Crawford – February 10, 1910
- Jimmy Archer – January 12, 1911
- Frank Schulte – March 2, 1911
- Fred Snodgrass – December 7, 1911
What’s wanted then is an advert from December 7 or later. From what I might discover, the earliest such advert got here January 4, 1912. Not surprisingly it included Snodgrass. Sadly, it didn’t embrace Mathewson, whose picture had evidently bought out!
May or not it’s then that younger Ernest’s letter mirrored wishful considering? Did he suppose he might order “off menu” in requesting the image of Huge Six? Because it seems, no. That is Hemingway in any case, so it is best to anticipate extra to the story.
Whether or not the Sporting Information merely omitted Mathewson accidentally in its earlier advert, printed new copies, or just occurred on a beforehand undiscovered stack, Mathewson was as soon as once more out there within the journal’s February 1, 1912, version. For good measure, so have been the opposite six gamers Hemingway requested. Of the 19 instances an advert for these photos appeared within the pages of the Sporting Information, this was additionally the one such advert to incorporate all seven gamers. Subsequently, I feel it may be mentioned with some confidence that Hemingway’s order got here from the February 1 version. He was twelve years previous on the time.
However why cease there, proper? Why not go via advert by advert and topic by topic to crosswalk each time a given topic was out there for order. Yeah, why not!
In finishing up this train, two largely predictable issues occurred together with one considerably unpredictable factor.
- As time went on the variety of out there topics tended to extend because of new topics being added.
- Often a topic would turn out to be unavailable, presumably because of having bought out.
- Generally a “bought out” topic would turn out to be newly out there, as was the case with Mathewson in February 1912.
The primary advert to omit sure topics got here on October 26, 1911. Solely 58 of a attainable 69 topics have been listed in that advert with key omissions together with Ty Cobb and Honus Wagner. Cobb would by no means once more return, whereas Wagner and the opposite ten would make anyplace between one and several other extra appearances in future advertisements. Straightforwardly then, we are able to conclude that Ty Cobb was the primary topic to promote out. Following Cobb, the following topics to promote out have been Ed Walsh, Honus Wagner, and “Cobb-Wagner Shaking Arms,” all unavailable to collectors in advertisements later than February 1, 1912.
Here’s a nearer have a look at the eleven topics lacking from the October 26, 1911, advert. It’s actually attainable that surplus stock merely turned up come February, nevertheless it’s additionally tempting to marvel if the Sp0rting Information didn’t simply print extra of sure photos whose provide had been exhausted.
Now in case you seemed on the above graphic rigorously, you seemingly observed one of many columns, reasonably than a date, has the header “Wooden.” And that is the place issues get actually enjoyable. The advertisements I’ve proven up to now provide the assorted dietary supplements a la carte model. Nonetheless, different advertisements provided readers an entire stack with the acquisition of 1 yr’s subscription to the Sporting Information. My favourite of those got here December 3, 1914, which was greater than a yr after the dietary supplements ceased their run as journal inserts.
The commercial notably presents a “set” of 75 motion photos. The precise ones are usually not recognized, however we are able to seemingly infer them to be a subset of the 80 photos nonetheless out there as of the earlier advert, which ran August 28, 1913. Nonetheless, these journal advertisements weren’t the one place “units” have been marketed. Whereas only a few appear to have survived into the current, partial units have been additionally provided on the backs of choose dietary supplements. One in all solely two I’ve seen was on the again of a Joe Wooden.
The “advert again” Wooden was not merely a variant of his normal complement, which was issued October 31, 1912, because the 84th topic within the sequence. For one factor, the again advertises 93 topics, together with the ultimate complement of the sequence (Joe Birmingham), issued December 11, 1913. (The seven unavailable topics have been Bresnahan, Mathewson, Cobb, Lajoie, Walsh, Wagner, and Cobb-Wagner Shaking Arms.) For one more, the descriptions of accessible topics have been up to date to replicate their standing as of the top of the 1913 season. One instance is Orval General, who’s listed as a San Francisco Seal reasonably than Chicago Cub, however there are a number of. My finest guess for the “advert again” Wooden then is that it was inserted right into a late December 1913 (or probably early 1914) concern of the Sporting Information in an effort to spice up subscriptions whereas disposing of surplus stock.
I imagine comparable is true of the opposite “advert again,” I’ve seen, Zach Wheat. Nonetheless, the Wheat comes with a twist. Just like the Wooden, its advert consists of the ultimate topics within the sequence, solely now there are 84 out there topics reasonably than 93. Nonetheless, it’s not simply the evident depletion of the guidelines that dates the Wheat later than the Wooden. Test the groups and descriptions of most of the topics.
The combination of Federal Leaguers, Pacific Coast Leaguers, and retired gamers definitively date the guidelines to 1914. Only a few fast examples from the primary column alone are Joe Tinker, Doc White, and Solly Hofman. The conclusion? If the “advert again” dietary supplements are to be counted, the 1909-13 M101-2 launch was technically a 1909-1914 launch!
Be happy to take a look at my raw data from this analysis, and let me know if you determine something cool. Please additionally let me know in case you can level me to any advertisements I missed in my analysis.
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