A Tale of Two T206 Rule-breakers: Crawford Throwing and Jennings Portrait

Two cards that play by their own rules are Sam Crawford’s throwing pose and Hughie Jennings’ portrait.  Each were late additions to the 150-350 Series.  Neither was printed with Hindu or Sovereign 150 backs.  However, they were included in Piedmont and Sweet Caporal 150 Series print runs and most of the other 150-350 series backs.  Here is the complete checklist of backs that Crawford throwing and Jennings portrait were printed with:

Piedmont 150
Sweet Caporal 150 factory 30*

Old Mill
Piedmont 350
Sovereign 350
Sweet Caporal 350 factory 25
Sweet Caporal 350 factory 30

Jennings Portrait was also printed with El Principe De Gales, but Crawford Throwing was not.

When I first learned that these two poses were added to late additions, the following theory came to mind:  Since Honus Wagner and Eddie Plank were also not printed with Hindu or Sovereign 150 backs, perhaps Crawford Throwing and Jennings Portrait were added to the set in order to replace those two.  It makes sense that the American Tobacco Company would have wanted to replace Wagner and Plank, two huge stars, with players who had achieved a similar level of stardom.

This theory sounds pretty good until you realize that Plank was printed (albeit very briefly) with a Sweet Caporal 350 factory 30 back.  At that point the theory kind of falls apart.  It’s still a possible explanation for why Jennings and Crawford were added in the middle of the 150 Series, but it requires a bit of mental gymnastics.

Whatever the reason for their delayed inclusion in the set, these two poses are notable in that they don’t follow the same rules as other 150-350 subjects.  When I first started to collect T206, it took me awhile to learn this.  I even found a Hindu checklist online that listed Crawford throwing.  For a couple weeks (until I asked a friend about it) I really wanted to find a Crawford throwing with Hindu back.  Sadly, no such card exists, so don’t waste any time looking for one.

*Crawford has been confirmed with SC 150 factory 25 on t206resource.com but Jennings is listed as a “no-print”, meaning they do not believe it was part of the SC 150/25 print run.