A History of 1926 Baseball Cards on the 100th Anniversary
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What collector hasn't wished for a chance to enter the time machine, turn the dial to days long ago, and buy up crazy amounts of incredible old baseball cards! Maybe the year is 1952 and its elusive Topps high numbers with Mickey Mantle, Jackie Robinson, and Eddie Mathews. Or why not 1909 and a hunt of the Hobby's holiest of grails, the T206 Wagner? Or if want your surroundings and cuisine to feel a little more familiar, how about just 2017 and going all in on Ohtani?
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For the most part, you can't go wrong with just about any year on the dial, but let's just say you could do better than 1926. To be clear, you could still make out like a bandit. After all, a mint condition card of literally anybody from a hundred years ago is worth a fortune and at 1926 prices you could afford to bring back thousands of them. Still, the selection might not be what you had in mind.
1926 Zee-Nuts
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Provided your time machine brought you to the West Coast, your options would be particularly limited. In this era long before the Giants and Dodgers headed west, the closest thing to Big League baseball was the Pacific Coast League, and the lone card set you'd find reflected that. Packaged with what might best be described as a cross between Cracker Jacks and a chocolate bar, the 1926 Zee-Nuts set consisted of 172 black-and-white, blank-backed cards of minor leaguers. The set's main highlights, viewed through a modern lens, are Lefty O'Doul and Hall of Famers Lloyd Waner and Earl Averill.
1926 Sporting News Supplements (M101-7)
Provided you could find a newsstand, another option (though not all collectors regard these as cards) would be one of thirteen supplemental player images published with the Sporting News. Depending which week your time machine dropped you off, you might get lucky and land the Babe Ruth. Then again, Harry Rice would be just as likely. (Still, better in your Sporting News than on your dinner plate!)
1926 Kut Out Die-Cuts
The possibilities open up somewhat for the collector who somehow made it to Times Square. All that was needed was a dime or a pair of nickels to pick up a Giants or Yankees team set of Kut Out Die-Cuts. Though it wouldn't be a crime to buy both, the clear winner of course was the Yankees set, which included among others Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig.
1926 Exhibits
By far the most plentiful cards, however, would be the 1926 series of blank-backed postcards issued by the Exhibits Supply Company, part of a long running release that spanned 1921 through 1966. The 1926 series was particularly strong, including top shelf Hall of Famers Ty Cobb, Lou Gehrig, Walter Johnson, and Babe Ruth. Lucky time travelers might also spot some of the postcard-backed issue that ran from 1925-1931.
What else?
While the cards described above weren't the only baseball cards around in 1926, more or less anything else out there was rare enough that you'd be hard pressed to find it, even with your time machine. Oversized, oddball, and black-and-white was pretty much the name of the game in 1926. Of course that's only if you're looking for the new stuff. Smart money would skip the newsstands and candy counters altogether and hunt for the older stuff: Old Judge, Allen & Ginter, T206, you name it!
Jason A. Schwartz is a collectibles expert whose work can be found regularly at SABR Baseball Cards, Hobby News Daily, and 1939Bruins.com. His collection of Hank Aaron baseball cards and memorabilia is currently on exhibit at the Atlanta History Center, and his collectibles-themed artwork is on display at the Honus Wagner Museum and PNC Park.