Newspapers are supposed to be informative. Some still do it long after all of their employees have departed this world. I recently bought a copy of the April 23, 1910 issue of Sporting Life, a one-time competitor of the much longer lasting Sporting News. The auction's cool selling point was a big ad on the back page, touting the weekly newspaper's new baseball … [Read more...]
Marketing the T206 and M101 Sets: Old Sporting Life Ads Offer Insight
An issue of The Sporting Life sold on eBay for over $2,000 on Sunday. While surviving copies of the long defunct sports paper aren’t common, that’s a lot more than they usually bring. This one attracted bidders not for the stories inside or whose picture may have been on the front of the September 4 issue. It was because of one of the ads … [Read more...]
Philly Find: Stunning M116 Near Set Heading to Auction
Heritage Auctions will offer a nearly complete set of 1910-11 M116 Sporting Life baseball cards in its upcoming November Trading Card Auction. “The Philly Find” is a group of 315 cards that were kept by a Philadelphia family where they had been passed down since the time of issue. The set, which immediately took over first place on the PSA Set Registry after the … [Read more...]
Many Key Releases Found Within M-Card Classification
M-Cards were defined as 'Periodical Issues' by Jefferson Burdick in his American Card Catalog. While not generally as widely collected as caramel or tobacco cards, several M-Card sets are extremely popular with pre-war collectors. One interesting feature of the classification that it includes a wide range of types of collectibles that were related to publications, including … [Read more...]
Updated with Grades: 1911 Sporting Life Cards Found in Connecticut Attic
Finding old items to auction is nothing new for Jack DeStories of Fairfield Auction. Selling the contents of old homes in part of his business. Sometimes, though, true treasures are discovered and this time, it’s a find that will bring a smile to collectors of vintage baseball cards. The complete set of 12 cards from Series One (plus one additional card of Hooks Wiltse … [Read more...]
M116 Sporting Life Cards Uncovered; Heading to Auction
A new to the hobby find of more than one hundred, 1910-11 M116 Sporting News Life trading cards recently discovered by a family in the Midwest will hit the auction block for the first time ever in the Goldin Auctions 2015 Opening Day Auction this April. The elusive M116 issue features the finest baseball players from the early 1900's as chosen by the editors of the popular … [Read more...]
Unique M116 Variation to be Featured in REA Fall Auction
On August 9, 1910, right handed pitcher Frank Smith was traded from the Chicago White Sox to the Boston Red Sox. In parts of two seasons with the Red Sox, Smith appeared in five games and posted a 1-2 record with a 5.64 ERA. Smith barely lasted a year in Boston before being purchased by the Cincinnati Reds on May 11, 1911 for the sum of $5,000. Few would take note of Smith's … [Read more...]
History of The Sporting Life and its Baseball Cards
The Sporting Life newspaper was born from the mind of Francis Richter, who believed America was crazy about its games. With a successful career in journalism by 1883, he set up the publication that covered all sports but focused in on the wildly popular game of baseball. By the latter part of the decade, The Sporting Life had a circulation of 40,000. Richter's weekly … [Read more...]