Card of the Day: Christopher Columbus 1924 Ogden’s Cigarettes Leaders Of Men #8

“Pin-Up” of the Week: Honus Wagner 1924 Mrs. Sherlock’s Home Made Bread Pin

There was some big Honus Wagner news (although not very surprising) this week.  Bill Mastro admitted that he trimmed the infamous T206 Honus Wagner tobacco card he purchased for $25,000 in 1985.  Its no surprise to most collectors.  Everyone that has owned that card has made money on it, except for Ken Kendrick who is the card’s current owner and owner of the Arizona Diamondbacks.  Mr. Kendrick might have a difficult time making a profit after Mastro’s little announcement.  That’s if he ever decides to sell the card which he purchased for $2.8 million back in 2007.

If you don’t have the cash for a 1909-11 T206 Honus Wagner, you could always settle for one of his many other collectibles ,like this pin.  The 1924 Mrs. Sherlock’s Home Made Bread set consists of 10 pins – Grover Alexander, Ty Cobb, Rogers Hornsby, Walter Johnson, Rabbit Maranville, Paddy Moran, Babe Ruth, George Sisler, Tris Speaker, and Honus Wagner.  These were offered as a premium for people that purchased Mrs. Sherlock’s Home Made Bread.  Pins from this era are highly collectible.  The Wagner can sell for $100.00 to over a $1,000 depending on its condition.

A Small World

This afternoon I was sitting here finishing my 20+ paper analyzing the sports card industry when the doorbell rang.  I forgot that a lady was coming over to do something with decorating the upstairs bedroom.  Lets face it, this was the last thing on my mind.  Looking around the house she could see that someone was interested in baseball cards.  She told me that her uncle was Herold (Muddy) Ruel who played for the White Sox a long time ago.  I’ll admit that the name didn’t ring any bells at first, but then I did a little research.

It turns out Muddy Ruel scored the winning run of the 1924 World Series and was the catcher the day Ray Chapman was killed by a pitch.  Chapman is one of only two people killed from an on field injury.  Doc Powers was the other.  

She told me that she does own a baseball card of her uncle, but she can’t recall what kind it is.  Ruel has a handful of cards, but his most popular would probably be his 1933 Goudey #18.  I thought this was really interesting and I hope to learn more in the future.

Reading about Ruel, I learned that he was just one of a few baseball players to have a law degree.  There aren’t too many players today that have one of those.