Saturday, October 25, 2008

19th Century Only: Pacific Coast League Cards

19th Century Only focused their recent summer auction on the usually forgotten West Coast major league- the Pacific Coast League. During the early part of the 20th Century it was the only professional game in town.

I picked out examples of 3 different rare cards featuring players from a PCL teams local to the Los Angeles area. Below is a 1911 Pacific Coast Biscuit card of Los Angeles Angels Bert Delmas.

This card has the most unusual name for a set. Below is a 1912 Home Run Kisses card of Smith from the Los Angeles Angels. These cards were produced by a candy maker named Collins-McCarthy in San Francisco. They are a bit larger than your modern Baseball card and feature sepia toned photographs.

Zeenut Pacific Coast League cards were produced for 28 years from 1911 to 1938. They are very popular and the most collected West Coast based vintage set. Below is from the 1928 offering and still retains its coupon on the bottom. It is very rare to find them with the tag in place since most were torn off and redeemed for prizes. This card is Heath of the Hollywood Stars.