This postcard was likely created by a collector in October 1907. It depicts the 15 Detroit Tiger players who were included in the Dietsche Tigers postcard set. The collector likely collected the entire set, handwrote the players names and positions on the front of the postcards, made a paper label “Detroit Tigers 1907” which he placed over the center postcard at the feet of Manager Hughie Jennings, and then he set out the postcards and photographed the entire set to create the trimmed RPPC we see today. It is in all likelihood the most unique 1907 Ty Cobb rookie postcard that exists.
We can date this postcard to circa October 1907 based on several factors. One is the back, which is a real photo postcard back from that period. It is the same back used on the 1907 Detroit Team RPPC in the Collection which is postmarked October 12, 1907.
Another key factor in dating the postcard, and what adds even more interest to the postcard, is that it includes the Ty Cobb “Fielding” rather than the Ty Cobb “Batting” postcard. Examples of each are shown below.
It has long been thought within the hobby that the Fielding varietal was short produced and replaced at some point with the much more commonly found Batting varietal. Here is the strongest evidence to date to solve that riddle.
Look closely at the window display at the LaFond cigar store that is shown in the 1907 Floral Horseshoe postcard, which is also in the Collection at: <<LaFond Horseshoe postcard>>.
The window display shows the Cobb Fielding, but no Cobb Batting, just as our RPPC here does. We know from the research on the LaFond postcard that this window display was up by October 5th and down by October 10th.. There are no known Dietsche Tiger postcards postmarked before October, 1907 and the first ad in the Detroit Free Press for the Dietsche Tiger postcards appeared on October 2, 1907 as shown below.
This October 6, 1907 Detroit Free Press ad featured many of the Dietsche poses, including the Cobb Fielding.
By October 11th the Detroit Free Press had an ad for the Dietsche postcards and the Cobb Fielding has been replaced by the Cobb batting (2nd row, 2nd from right).
It is very likely that the Cobb Fielding postcard was only produced during the first week of October, 1907 before being replaced by the Cobb Batting. This would explain why the Cobb Fielding is so much scarcer than the Cobb Batting.
