Sometimes you have to compromise. I dearly love adding vintage cards to my small but much loved Charles 'Chief' Bender* collection. But I'm just not willing to pay the asking price for graded and slabbed cards.
I found this 1911 Mecca Double Folder on eBay and the price was right. Chief shares it with his A's teammate Rube Oldring. Bender was a big part of five World Series clubs in Philadelphia between 1995 and 1914. Oldring played on three of those teams. Bender won three titles, Oldring two.
This is such a wonderful set. Players generally share a card with a teammate. Here is a short description of the set and the star-laden checklist. The 'back' of the card has both players' 1910 stats. I like how Bender's pitching numbers are labeled as 'Field' and they also list his hitting stats. Also interesting is the fact that home runs are not listed but stolen bases are. It was a different game back then. Oldring was second in the league in dingers in 1915...with 6!
Here is Oldring's side of the card. An outfielder, he played for 13 seasons in the majors beginning and ending with short stints with the Giants and Yankees. But the bulk of his time was with the A's. He hit .270 for his career and twice finished in the top ten in hitting including 1910 which was his best season at the plate..
BTW...don't be fooled by the scan. The corners on my card are in decent shape but they are not as perfebt as my scanner made them out to be. I have a couple other of Bender's cards targeted but as with this one I'll wait for the right card at the right price.
*=I cringe a bit whenever I type 'Chief' but that's what he is widely known as throughout his baseball life. Although he usually used his given name when signing autographs he at least tacitly accepted his nickname.
