1917 Collins-McCarthy Cubs

I recently found a reprint set that included all of the Cubs cards from the 1917 Collins-McCarthy set.  Actual cards from the set would have set me back several thousand dollars.  The reprints came at a fraction of that.

The San Francisco-based candy maker put out sets that featured players from the Pacific Coast League starting in 1911.  The run continued through 1938 and was a very popular item out west.

The 1917 set was their one and only foray into the major leagues. 

The set was made up of 200 cards and the backs of the cards proclaim the players make up Baseball's Hall of Fame.  This was 20 years before the actual Hall of Fame opened in Cooperstown.  That Hall would feature the likes of Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb.  This Hall includes Leslie Mann and Vic Saier.

The full Cubs set consists of thirteen players. Take a look and see how many names you recognize.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Only three names were familiar to me, Archer, Sheckard, and Vaughn.  The Cubs won the pennant the year after these cards came out and only six of the thirteen were on the roster (Deal, Hendrix, Mann, Vaughn, Wortman, and Zeider).  There aren't many household names and certainly no Hall of Famers.