In their October 11, 1902 issue, Sporting Life introduced their first full offering of 37 cabinets of "Celebrated Base Ball Players". These high-quality 5 1/4" X 7 1/2" cabinets depict a Carl Horner Studio portrait phototype of a professional baseball player printed on a golden-brown Mantello mounting board with his name, field position and team printed below. On the initial offering, 32 of the 37 players were pictured in dress suits and the remainder in uniform. A mix of both attires worn by players would be pictured until late in 1903, from that time on, until production ended in 1911, all Sporting Life cabinets were produced with players pictured in uniform. The only exceptions were three baseball team managers that were each pictured wearing suit and tie: Connie Mack - Philadelphia AL, John J. McGraw - New York NL, and Edward Hanlon - Brooklyn. Some players are pictured in both suit and uniform in this set; more information can be found on the following Distribution Chart.

By sending in a coupon found in their weekly newspaper along with six cents in stamps a reader could order a cabinet of choice from a list in their publication. In subsequent editions, this list was updated with the latest addition of new names and the deletion of others. Captioned under this list was the notice: We have no others. The above is our complete list. Each cabinet was sent in a protective glassine envelope to insure safe delivery in the mail. The momentum of new cabinets offered slowed significantly in 1908 and 1909 (The actual yearly output for each year can be found on the following Distribution Chart). In 1910 there was a projected attempt to revitalize customer interest by launching a massive circulaton of promotional flyers (sample shown below) and changing the acquisition policy by simply selling them for 10 cents each or $1.00 a dozen. An oval shaped advertisement was added on the back of the cabinets - as shown below.

Generally, vintage baseball card series were issued for a year or two. Most had a defined list of players' cards contained in each series. However the Sporting Life marketing philosophy was to offer single cabinets, devoid of any promotion directed at building a set. A checklist was never produced. This ten-year run required an extensive amount of player updates along with numerous manufacturing changes and countless variations such as: type of advertising display printed on the cabinet*, variations of players' cabinets**, and player's name errors***.

* Cabinet Advertising Display Types:
Type 1: Small letters, brown ink.
Type 2: Large letters, brown ink, with "Compliments of" printed.
Type 3: Large letters, brown ink, without "Compliments of" printed.
Type 4: Large letters, embossment, white ink.
All four types are represented on the player banner on the top of this page.

** The following are a sampling of cabinet variations in this set:
Roger Bresnahan NY NL appears on a type 3 in uniform and a type 4 in uniform in two different poses as a catcher and a 1909 type 4 St. Louis NL in uniform as manager and catcher.
Fred Clarke Pittsburg appears on a type 1 and a type 2 in a suit and a type 4 in uniform.
Connie Mack Philadelphia AL appears on a type 1 and a type 4 in a suit in different poses/suits.
Charles "Chick" Stahl Boston AL appears on a type 1 and a type 4 in different poses/uniforms.
Napoleon Lajoie Cleveland appears on a type 1 standard color card and a green color card type 1 in a suit and a type 2 as a designated second baseman in uniform and a type 4 as a designated infielder in uniform.
John "Buck" Freeman Boston AL appears on a type 1 in a suit and two type 2 cards with two different poses and field positions both in uniform: One uniform card with the "Buck" included as an outfielder, and the other without "Buck" as a rightfielder.
George Edward "Rube" Waddell Philadelphia AL appears on a type 1 standard color card with "Rube" and a type 1 on a green color card without the "Rube" both in a suit and a type 4 in uniform and a 1908 St.Louis AL type 4 in uniform. No "Rube" on either uniform cards.
Denton "Cy" Young Boston AL appears on a type 2 with a mustache wearing a plain uniform also on a type 3 clean shaven wearing a laced top uniform and on a 1909 Cleveland type 4 using the same picture as used on the Boston type 3.

***Errors on Cabinets:
William J. Bradley Cleveland has a 1903 cabinet misnamed Frank Bradley.
Fredrick L. Hartsel Philadelphia AL has a 1902 cabinet misnamed Fredrick Hartzell.
Christopher Mathewson New York NL has both a suit and uniform cabinets with his last name misspelled: Matthewson.
There is a 1902 Type 1 Frank Chance First Baseman of the Chicago NL that pictures Harry Wolverton.

There are two misidentified photo errors in this set: 1. The photo on the George Mullin cabinet is Roscoe Miller. 2. The photo on the Edward Doheny cabinet is William Bransfield.

In 1902, three former players of the failed Baltimore Orioles franchise joined the New York AL team and are included in the Sporting Life cabinet set. Two of these players: Harry Howell and James Williams are pictured in suits on both the Baltimore and New York AL cabinets. There is no known cabinet of the third player, Louis Wiltse.

Cabinets of all HOFers in this set are known to exist except Hugh Duffy and Branch Rickey. Duffy, who appeared on a dozen 1887-1890 N172 Old Judge cards and three 1888-89 Old Judge cabinets in the late 19th century was absent from baseball from 1901 to 1904. At the age of 37 he signed on with the Phillies in 1904 and played in a mere 34 games in three years before he retired. His Sporting Life cabinet was offered in 1905, it is likely there was little demand for it.
Branch Rickey struggled as a player for the St. Louis Browns and the New York Highlanders from 1905 through 1907. In March 1907 a Sporting Life cabinet of Branch Rickey as a member of the New York Highlanders team was issued but likely had few if any requests. After the 1907 season Rickey return to college, completing law school at the University of Michigan. He went on to become successful in team managing and as a front office excutive with several Major League Baseball teams. Rickey is credited with creating the baseball farm system, spring training and for breaking the color barrier by signing Jackie Robinson to the Brooklyn Dodgers. He was admitted to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1967.

These Sporting Life cabinets have the designation "W600" in the J. R. Burdick, The American Card Catalog".