Recent Collection Purchased From 1909-1913: M101-2 Sporting News Supplements

1909-13 M101-2 Sporting News Baseball Supplements

At Dean's Cards, we buy hundreds of vintage baseball card collections through the mail each and every year. These collections range from cards acquired during childhood (that have most likely been sitting in a closet or attic for years), to collectors selling their baseball card sets and cards that have taken years to acquire through shows, card shops, or a website like DeansCards.com. This is another story of a recent collection we were able to purchase.

M101-2 Sporting News Ty Cobb

Typically, as we have stated before, collections mailed to us (and we get a lot! Hundreds a year.), are usually in the form of those little cardboard rectangles that Goudey, Topps, Fleer, Bowman and other gum companies made so popular. When you get into the late 1940's, to the beginning of Topps in the early 50's, and to the present; baseball cards (mostly around the 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" variety) are the standard.

That's not the case for the collection we are featuring in this post. They're not really cards, although they feature baseball players. These poster-sized supplements are more like something that you'd hang on your wall rather than put in your bike spokes.


So what are these things anyways?

The 1909 M101-2 Supplements were issued with the Sporting News
sporadically throughout 1909-1913.

The 1909-13 M101-2 Sporting News Baseball Supplements set includes 100 poster-sized supplements measuring 7 1/2" x 10".  The front of the Sporting News supplements include a sepia photo of the players with date and player name.  Backs of the M101-2 supplements are blank.

The supplements were issued with Sporting News sporadically throughout 1909 to 1913. I say sporadic, because they weren't included with every Sporting News magazine, and there are large gaps in time where there was no supplement included at all.

The most interesting thing about this set might be the photography used to depict the baseball players. You rarely will see better photos taken during this time period of guys like Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, or Walter Johnson.

What makes it even better is that there are several supplements which have multiple players featured on the front. These player combinations range from players talking to shaking hands. The most valuable of these multi-player photos has to be the March 17, 1910 Ty Cobb / Honus Wagner.

The recent M101-2 Sporting News Supplements Find

This Sporting News Supplements set is loaded with photos of Hall-of-Famers.

Recently we had a rather large collection of these supplements sent to us through the mail that we were able to purchase. Most of these posters were in low to mid-grade condition, but they all had great eye appeal. These things are just plain neat, and the photography is beautiful. If you want something that captures a moment in baseball history to place around the man cave, these are close to perfect.

Included in the collection were supplements depicting Hall-of-Famers like: Cy Young, Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Eddie Plank, Walter Johnson and a famous non-HOFer - Shoeless Joe Jackson.

So head over to DeansCards.com and check these unique items out!

By Dean Hanley


 Dean Hanley, founder and owner of DeansCards.com, is considered one of the foremost experts on the subject of vintage baseball cards, other sports and non-sports cards and has a regular column in the Sports Collectors Digest and publishes articles on his blog.

Dean has also written two books on vintage sports cards: The Bubble Gum Card War: The Great Bowman & Topps Sets from 1948 to 1955 and Before There Was Bubble Gum: Our Favorite Pre-World War I Baseball Cards. Both are available in eBook and paperback form.

The Sporting News: The Black & White Era

5/16/1951 issue

DeansCards.com recently finished organizing all of our Sporting News issues and we decided to write about our favorite weekly sports newspaper in three different parts.  The Sporting News can be divided into three distinct periods: Black & White, Color, and modern magazine.  This article will focus on the Black & White issues that are some of the most interesting baseball publications ever printed.

The Sporting News magazine was founded in 1886 by Alfred H. Spink, a former newspaper reporter and the current director of the St. Louis Browns.  At the time the Sporting News was first being printed, the Browns were experiencing some of the greatest success in the history of the franchise.  The Browns won the World Series in 1886, inspiring Spink to publish a weekly newspaper devoted to baseball.

The early Sporting News editions measure 17-5/16” by 11-5/16” and cost five cents per issue.  In 1899, Spink handed his publication over to his brother Charles and eventually phased himself out of the operation entirely.  Charles continued the emphasis on baseball, particularly on box scores.  Before the Sporting News, baseball box scores were hard to find, especially for baseball fans that did not leave near their favorite teams.  Circulation remained low for The Sporting News during the early part of the 20th century, possibly due to unflattering events such as the Black Sox scandal.  Fortunately for the Sporting News, baseball’s golden age sparked a new interest in the sport and circulation peaked.   

The black and white Sporting News layout is consistent with the daily newspapers of the time.  Under Taylor Spink’s direction, the Sporting News relied heavily on caricatures and catchy headlines.  Many of the covers of the early Sporting News issues look somewhat juvenile due to the cartoons on the front.  However, the articles inside the Sporting News were serious journalistic analyses, box scores, and opinion pieces.   The Sporting News was one of the most important sources for baseball news all over the United States.

10/6/1927 - Babe Ruth's 60 Home Run issue

In terms of sales, DeansCards.com has compiled information since we started selling old issues of The Sporting News several years ago.  The earliest issue that we have had was the August 30, 1902 publication that featured Hughie Hearne on the cover.  Hearne was a mediocre catcher for the Brooklyn Superbas.  His major league career spanned only two years, but somehow earned himself a spot on a cover.  The most expensive Sporting News currently in stock on our site is the October 6, 1927 issue.  Babe Ruth’s 60th home run is one of the lead stories, while the Pirates team is the photograph on the front.

The Sporting News has been around for 124 years.  It has been around for some of the most significant events in the baseball world.  It serves as an important relic of the baseball memorabilia world and continues to provide new and interesting information. DeansCards.com has hundreds of The Sporting News issues online and ready to buy.