The Rose Company (TRC) of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the early part of the 20th century produced and nationally distributed postcards of numerous subjects. In August of 1908 TRC commenced producing high quality ornate baseball format postcards featuring a Carl Horner Studio portrait photo of major league and Scranton Miners of the New York State League players that includes his name and team printed on a label as shown above. The initial issue consisted of 12 players from each of the 16 major league teams. Of the 12 players, eight represented each defense position, pitchers the remaining four. All subsequently printed postcards were produced with only the player's name on the label.

Baseball card pioneer Tom Collier, the T.C. part of the acronym T.C.M.A. with his partner M.A. Mike Aronstein (the 1970-80 baseball card publishers) also published "Tom Collier's Collectors Exchange, Baseball Player Post Cards" magazine, of Elkton, Maryland. Collier, with his hobby colleagues collaborated to develop TRC postcard checklist that was added to his baseball postcard publication. In its' 1979 edition there was a total of 158 TRC player postcards on the checklist. The only teams that had a full compliment of 12 players listed were: Chicago, NL, St Louis, NL, and New York, AL. There were five Scranton postcards listed and only one postcard with just a player's name (Coakley) - a "No Team" postcard. Today, the Scranton Team lists 14 postcards; the "No Team" list carries 17. Every major league team has its' 12 player postcards listed except St. Louis, AL., where there is one missing. In analyzing the 1908-09 St. Louis, AL roster it is likely that the missing card is of pitcher Bill Dinneen. Does a copy of this elusive postcard exist?

The great majority of TRC surviving postcards were not used as intended; they were not mailed, indicating they were purchased and saved for their visual appeal or subject. As it stands, a population of 10 is the largest number of graded TRC postcards for a player, that player being Honus Wagner. From there the population numbers taper off: Nap Lajoie, 7; Christy Mathewson and Frank Delehanty, 6 each. The population of the remaining player cards range between zero and five, with most on the lower end. The zero population cards are marked N (None) on the checklist; of which, there are 15. There are 238 players represented on the checklist.

There are players in this set that were issued two cards, the reason for a second card was either the player changed teams or his card was reprinted. In all cases his second card was produced with only his name on the label - a "No Team" card. However, the Michael Doolan postcard was issued after the Michael Doolin (same player) postcard, the rule was not followed; this exception is shown below - both cards have team designations. The clue to recognizing the second card is the font is slightly larger and thinner than the first run postcard on the left. This later font is used on "No Team" cards. The confusion in spelling Doolin/Doolan was not isolated to TRC. Other baseball card publishers had similar trouble apparently due to mistaken information. The T206 card set also has Doolin and Doolan cards.

The Weimer, Cinn. NL. postcard, shown below, was part of the initial August, 1908 publication. Jake Weimer was traded to the New York Giants on July 10, 1908 necessitating a revision of his card. The J. Weimer "No Team" card was created by salvaging and reworking his obsolete Cinncinati postcard by having his name printed on a paper strip and affixing it over the original printed name on the card. The original Weimer, Cinn. NL. postcard was issued a month after he was traded. The J. Weimer transformed card could have been made available directly after the initial release date of the set or any time after. A date of issuance can not be made for any "No Team" card. The "No Team" list on the checklist also shows players that were added to the set after the initial run. In addition the list includes teams that that player was associated with.

There are three significant errors in the set:
1. The photo on the Brown, Philadelphia, NL card is Mordecai Brown of Chicago, NL not Buster Brown as intended. Mordecai has different poses on the Chicago and Philadelphia as shown below.
2. The "Frank Delehanty, Wash, AL" card depicts Frank Delehanty, however Frank played for New York, AL. It was his brother Jim Delehanty that played for Washington 1907-1909.
3. The "Doyle, New York, NL" card depicts Slow Joe Doyle not Larry Doyle who played 2nd base for the New York Giants. Slow Joe Doyle pitched for the New York Yankees.

The Scranton Club

The Scranton postcards were likely printed in the first run with the major league postcards at a reduced production that were only regionally distributed. Of the 14 Scranton member team postcards issued there are only 29 total postcards known to exist.
Only Lew Groh, Jocko Halligan, Charles Moran, George Schultz and Gus Zeime of the 13 original players remained as members of the Miners in 1909.
The "Scranton Club" is printed on all Scranton postcards except for the Moran and Kittridge cards where only "Scranton" appears.
The only non-player in TRC set is: E. J. Coleman, president of the Scranton Club.
Nine of the 14 Scranton members represented on these postcards are pictured wearing a cap - the only major league player pictured wearing a cap is Michael Doolan.
Why was the Scranton Club included in this set? The only connection found is that TRC postcards were produced in a Scranton print shop.

TRC postcards were available for purchase until the fall of 1909. PC760 is this set designation as listed in the J.R. Burdick's American Card Catalog.

Variations:

TRC baseball series postcards were purchased by businesses with the intent to use them as a promotional medium or correspondence by overprinting on the address side of the postcards. Greenfield's Delatour Chocolates of New York, NY was most active in choosing this form of advertising. Shown below are two variations of Greenfield ads: Type 1 the earlier ad with their address at Barclay Street, New York. Type 2 their sequential address is Fifth Avenue, New York. There are 17 players that have either one of these two type Greenfield ads printed on their postcards. Jacob G. Shirk also chose this method for his communication using the postcards as calling cards. There are only two known Jacob G. Shirk overprinted postcards. All players with Greenfield (G) and Jacob G. Shirk (J) ads are noted on the checklist.

TRC sold copies of their baseball format postcards with a blank area inside the wreath. Vendors transposed these postcards into greeting messages by overprinting the space formally reserved for pictures of baseball players. Some were used for private invitations as shown below:

TRC also constructed a novel "do-it-yourself" variation of their baseball format postcard by having the center of the wreath cut out at a slightly less diameter than the inside diameter of the wreath. Attaching a thin overleaf, with the printed TRC address format on the back, to the top of the card enabling the user to flip it up and affix a picture directly behind the wreath opening. When viewing the attached picture, a white ring appears around the picture caused by the cutout in the card being smaller than the inside of the wreath. A name label can be appended in the space provided on the card. Here is a picture of an unused TRC "do-it-yourself" baseball format postcard:

A significant circumstance occurred in May, 1909 relating to these "do-it-yourself" postcards. It created an opportunity for 13 baseball players of the Springfield Ponies of the Connecticut State League. They obtained a quantity of these postcards, each player produced his own card by getting a photo of himself and having his name and Springfield printed on a label and attaching them to a "do-it-yourself" postcard; thus simulating the original baseball series. Each player wrote a short personal thank you note, some added an autograph, on his postcard honoring Mrs. John Edgar, a team benefactor and wife of Mr. John Edgar, the proprietor of the Russell House Hotel in Springfield, Massachusetts; adjoining was The Russell Cafe, a hangout of the players. These are the 13 participants: Louis Barbour, James Burns, J. F. Collins, Connor, Luby, Harl Vestin Maggert, McClean, Parker, Rising, George Tacey, Wachob, Chet Waite and Edwin E. Warner. Shown below is a typical Springfield postcard - note the white ring around the photo and the contrast to a Carl Horner Studio photo - also a picture of a postcard of The Russell Cafe.

These Springfield postcards eventually found their way to an ebay auction on March 7, 2004 through the seller, a Saratoga Springs, N.Y. antique dealer, who purchased an album of these postcards from a Vermont picker. The lot of 13 were presumed to be authentic, a find, an unknown part of the original 1908-09 TRC postcards. Although these postcards were foreign to the theme of the original TRC set and the player photos bore no resemblance to the studio photos of the authentic postcards but the baseball format was original. The lot sold for $6178.

The estate of Jimmy Burns, one of the Springfield baseball players and contributor to the original 1909 honors to Mrs. Edgar, consigned his eight unused extra postcards: Collins, Connor, Luby, Maggert, Parker, Wachob, Waite, and Warner - duplicates of the same players of the initial Springfield group, to the spring 2013 Robert Edward Auction. The overhelming evidence that the Springfield postcards in the 2004 ebay auction were homemade did not factor into the prolix, fantasy Robert Edward Auction description of this lot. The lot of eight postcards sold for $1659.

Here are two boys that are not likely to be baseball team members that took advantage of TRC "do-it-yourself" postcard.