1921 W9316

Researching the history of the Chicago White Sox and baseball cards can be a daunting task. I've run into my share of oddball items, misspelled player names and misidentified cards, players and teams. The further one goes off from the safety of T206, the weirder it tends to get.

Strip cards are nothing new. They've been around for at least a century. They could be considered a novelty in today's hobby. Most of the strip cards that I've seen are very well done for something so tiny. If there aren't photos on the cards, there are drawings or paintings that range from average to excellent.

With great disappointment, I found a set of ten strip cards from 1921. Identified as W9316, these ten cards have to be the absolute poorest example of a vintage card. If there wasn't a player's name underneath the crude drawing, I don't think that anyone would be able to identify each player.

Out of ten players, the White Sox unfortunately have one card.

9 - Ray Schalk

I must point out the positives in this set. It's technically vintage. Ray Schalk's name is spelled right. The kid who colored the cards with crayons kept inside the lines. That's all the positive aspects that I can find for this set. If it were a kid's drawing, the cards would rate higher. The outline of the player tells me that a kid did not draw it. A child may have colored it, but the outlining skill is actually too well done, if that can be believed. This is where being an art major pays off.

This set is known for the bright ruby red lips that every transvestite was known to wear in the privacy of their own home in the early twentieth century. What that says about the ten baseball players chosen, I have not a clue. I can guarantee that no player ever wore this shade of lipstick during a game.

Adding to the embarrassment of this set is the poor condition that most of these cards are found in. It looks like the kid who colored inside the lines passed the strip of cards down to his toddler sibling to have a go at it with the safety scissors. Every cut example that I've seen from this set suffers from a horrible hand cut butchering.

The generic player masquerading as Ray Schalk has no idea that he will be part of the most hated vintage set. The "deer caught in the headlights" look on "Ray's" face seems pleasant enough, but if you could lift the plain white cap off of his head, you would find lobotomy scars.

Worst. Set. Ever.