T201
Encyclopedia
T201's, also known as Mecca Double Folders, were a type of tobacco trading card
. They were issued in 1911 by the Mecca cigarette company, and featured color drawings of professional baseball players. The ‘T201’ designation comes from the American Card Catalogue, an authoritative guide to trading cards issued prior to 1951. (In other words, before the Topps
company began to dominate the industry.) The set features a total of 50 cards measuring 2-3/16 inches x 4-3/4 inches. The 100 players pictured include a number of Hall of Famers, such as Ty Cobb
, Christy Mathewson
, and Tris Speaker
.
T201’s were called Double Folders because of their innovative design. Each card featured two players, one in a full picture on the front and one on half of the back. The other half of the back featured player statistics (one of the first baseball trading cards to do so) and an ad for Mecca. The cards were designed so that, when they were folded appropriately, the player on the back would appear on the legs of the picture on the front. Topps borrowed this idea in designing its 1955 Doubleheaders set.
Like other tobacco sets, such as the famous T205
and T206
issues, T201's were not numbered. Checklists generally list the cards alphabetically by the last name of the player pictured on the front of the card.
T201 checklist
Gallery of full T201 set
Trading card
A trading card is a small card, usually made out of paperboard or thick paper, which usually contains an image of a certain person, place or thing and a short description of the picture, along with other text...
. They were issued in 1911 by the Mecca cigarette company, and featured color drawings of professional baseball players. The ‘T201’ designation comes from the American Card Catalogue, an authoritative guide to trading cards issued prior to 1951. (In other words, before the Topps
Topps
The Topps Company, Inc., manufactures chewing gum, candy and collectibles. Based in New York, New York, Topps is best known as a leading producer of baseball cards, football cards, basketball cards, hockey cards and other sports and non-sports themed trading cards.-Company history:Topps itself was...
company began to dominate the industry.) The set features a total of 50 cards measuring 2-3/16 inches x 4-3/4 inches. The 100 players pictured include a number of Hall of Famers, such as Ty Cobb
Ty Cobb
Tyrus Raymond "Ty" Cobb , nicknamed "The Georgia Peach," was an American Major League Baseball outfielder. He was born in Narrows, Georgia...
, Christy Mathewson
Christy Mathewson
Christopher "Christy" Mathewson , nicknamed "Big Six", "The Christian Gentleman", or "Matty", was an American Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher. He played his entire career in what is known as the dead-ball era...
, and Tris Speaker
Tris Speaker
Tristram E. Speaker , nicknamed "Spoke" and "The Grey Eagle", was an American baseball player. Considered one of the best offensive and defensive center fielders in the history of Major League Baseball, he compiled a career batting average of .345 , and still holds the record of 792 career doubles...
.
T201’s were called Double Folders because of their innovative design. Each card featured two players, one in a full picture on the front and one on half of the back. The other half of the back featured player statistics (one of the first baseball trading cards to do so) and an ad for Mecca. The cards were designed so that, when they were folded appropriately, the player on the back would appear on the legs of the picture on the front. Topps borrowed this idea in designing its 1955 Doubleheaders set.
Like other tobacco sets, such as the famous T205
T205
The tobacco card set known as T205 was issued in 1911 in cigarette and loose tobacco packs through 11 different brands owned by the American Tobacco Company. It is a landmark set in the history of baseball card collecting.- History :...
and T206
T206
The tobacco card set known as T206 was issued from 1909 to 1911 in cigarette and loose tobacco packs through 16 different brands owned by the American Tobacco Company...
issues, T201's were not numbered. Checklists generally list the cards alphabetically by the last name of the player pictured on the front of the card.
See also
Cigarette CardsT201 checklist
Gallery of full T201 set