1910-1912 Sweet Caporal Pins Won’t Break Your Piggy Bank

If you’ve never collected the 1910-1912 Sweet Caporal Pins set because they were, well, pins rather than cards, it’s time to get over it.  You’re missing out on the opportunity to collect a century-old set that’s among of the coolest, most affordable, most attainable issues in the hobby.

Sweet Caporal Pins:  The Basics

Sweet Caporal, of course, was a brand of cigarettes and one of the most common logos you’ll find on the backs of the T206 cards issued during roughly the same time frame.  The pins were another promotional product aimed at increasing sales.  Rather than tacking them up on your wall, you could wear them–or stick them on something.  Unlike the ultra-popular cards, however, Sweet Caporal pins are a project most average collectors can chase without going broke.

The sepia-colored pins are about 7/8″ in diameter.  Player artwork is surrounded by the player’s team on each side of the top and his name at the bottom.  Jefferson Burdick referenced them as “P2” for his American Card Catalog.

There are  152 different players and a total of 204 in the set.  Some players appear twice, once with with the same photo but the  name and team are printed in larger letters.  The pins with the larger letters are more difficult to find. Most also feel the larger letter variations were issued later than the others.

The backs of the pins come with a colored paper backing.  Pins with paper that is intact and clean will grade higher and sell for more money.

Cheaper Than Cardboard

The pins are far more scarce than their cardboard counterparts of the time, yet much more attainable as a whole.  Lesser grade commons are often found for $10–or less but don’t let that turn off the mint freak in you.  Even lesser grade Sweet Caporal pins are generally still attractive. They’re fairly sturdy and have aged well.  

With few true rarities, there are no stops for collectors reluctant to take up the task of collecting the set. Even Hall of Famers in higher grades cost only a fraction of their cardboard relatives.  Consider these recent sales of Sweet Caporal Pins:

• Ty Cobb PSA 6  $383
• Cy Young PSA 8  $594
• Walter Johnson PSA 7  $408
• Christy Mathewson Large Letters $855
• Christy Mathewson Small Letters $358

The  small lettered pins all are drawings while the large are actual photographs.  There are three different photo variations for both the Roger Bresnahan and Bobby Wallace pins.

The T205 Twin?

Sweet Caporal Pins are almost a parallel set to the T205 trading card issue.  Both sets feature many of the same pictures and all but a few players in the pin set also show up in the T205 set.  Interestingly, though, two players are featured with different teams.  Jimmy Austin is shown as a member of the St. Louis Browns in the pin set and as a New York Yankee in T205, while Johnny Bates is a member of the Reds in the Sweet Cap Pins and as a Phillie in T205.

There are ten players who are in the P2 set but not in T205 including Nap Lajoie and Harry Hooper.

Honus, Wahoo and Jack

The Sweet Caporal pin set does not include Honus Wagner, who by the time they were put in packs, had apparently already registered his dissatisfaction over appearing on tobacco product promotional items.  Hall of Fame outfielder Wahoo Sam Crawford is also missing and so was Jack Coombs, a superstar pitcher at the time.

A Challenge Within Easy Reach

With over 150 different players in the set, it’s a fair representation of baseball at the time, yet building the set is not an overwhelming task–even if you choose to chase the variations.

While more scarce than the T205 or T206 cards, they are readily available.  In fact, if you click here, you’ll see hundreds of Sweet Caporal Pins available.

The Checklist

Below is a complete checklist: (names as shown on pin.  “L” designates “large letters” variation)

BOSTON (AL)
Carrigan
Carrigan (L)
Cicotte
Engle
Engle (L)
Hooper
Karger
Speaker
Speaker (L)
Wagner

CHICAGO (AL)
Callahan
Dougherty
Duffy
Duffy (L)
Lord
Lord (L)
McIntyre
McIntyre (L)
Parent
Walsh
White

CLEVELAND (AL)
Bal
Birmingham
Lajoie
Stoval
Stoval (L)
turner
Cy Young
Old Cy Young (L)

DETROIT (AL)
Ty Cobb
Cobb (L)
Delahanty
Donovan
Jennings
Jennings (L)
Tom Jones
Killian
Mullen
Mullin (L)
O’Leary
Schmidt
Schmidt (L)
Stange

NEW YORK (AL)
Chase
Chase (L)
Cree
Ford
Ford (L)
Hemphill
Knight
Knight (L)
Quinn
Warhop
Wolter

PHILA. (AL)
Baker
Barry
Chief Bender
Bender (L)
Collins
Eddie Collins (L)
Dygert
Hartsel
Krause
Livingston
Murphy
Oldring
Thomas
Ira Thomas (L)

ST. LOUIS (AL)
Austin
Austin (L)
Hoffman
LaPorte
LaPorte (L)
Pelty
Stone
Wallace (cap)
Wallace (no cap)
Wallace (cap) (L)

WASHINGTON (AL)
Elberfeld
Elberfeld (L)
Gray
Groom
Johnson
Johnson (L)
McBride
Milan
Schaefer
Street
Street (L)

BOSTON (NL)
Abbaticchio
Ferguson
herzog
Mattern
Mattern (L)

BROOKLYN (NL)
Barger
Bell
Bell (L)
Bergen
Dahlen
Erwin
Hummel
Rucker
Rucker (L)
Scanlon
Smith
Wheat
Wheat (L)

CHICAGO (NL)
Archer
Archer (L)
Brown
Brown (L)
Chance
Chance (L)
Evers
Korh
McIntyre
Needham
Overall
Pfiester
Reulbach
richie
Schulte
Scheckard
Steinfeldt
Tinker
Tinker (L)

CINCINNATI (NL)
Bates
Beebe
Bescher
Downey
Downey (L)
Fromme
Gaspar
Grant
Griffith
Clark Griffith (L)
Hoblitzel
McLean
McLean (L)
Mitchell
Suggs

NEW YORK (NL)
Ames
Becker
Bridwell
Crandal
Devlin
Devore
Doyle
Doyle (L)
Drucke
Herzog (L)
Latham
Marquard
Mathewson
Mathewson (L)
McGraw
McGraw (L)
Merkle
Meyers
Murray
Murray (L)
Wilson
Wiltse

PHILA. (NL)
Bransfield
Dooin
Dooin (L)
Doolan
Doolan (L)
Lobert
Magee
Moran
Paskert
Paskert (L)
Rowan
Titus
Titus (L)

PITTSBURGH (NL)
Byrne
Camnitz
Camnitz (L)
Clarke
Fred Clarke (L)
Flynn
Gibson
Gibson (L)
Leach
Tommy Leach (L)
Leever
Leifield
Maddox
Miller
Phillippe
Wilson

ST. LOUIS (NL)
Bresnahan (mouth open)
Bresnahan (mo. closed)
Bresnahan (mo. closed) (L)
Evans
Harmon
Hauser
Huggins
Huggins (L)
Konetchy
Oakes
Oakes (L)
Phelps

Related Stories:

5 Bargains in the T205 Set E95 Philadelphia Caramel – An Underrated Pre-War Gem T211 Red Sun Issue A Distinctive Pre-War Set E103 Williams Caramel Baseball Set is a Rare Portraits Issue Seven Affordable Pre-War Cards of Hall of Famers Five Cool Pre-WW2 Baseball Cards You Can Afford 10 Affordable Vintage Ty Cobb Cards 10 Great 1930s Baseball Cards For Budget-Minded Collectors 1933 George C. Miller Set: Beautiful, But Challenging 1914 Polo Grounds Set Good Value For The Money

About Rich Mueller

Rich is the editor and founder of Sports Collectors Daily. A broadcaster and writer for more than 30 years and a collector for even longer than that, he's usually typing something somewhere. Type him back at [email protected]