The cards depicting American League players are especially attractive. The player's name written on a flowing banner, the player's head and shoulders bordered by the classic baseball diamond, and the antique glove and catcher's mask sitting at the bottom of the cards gives the collector a sense of history and beauty like no other set.
One card stands out as a masterpiece of the T205 American League sub-set, if not of the entire pre-war card galaxy. The card boasts the most beautiful portrait in all of the baseball tobacco card sets. The cap, tight around his head, is slightly tilted. The uncapped brown hair flows out. His head is also slightly tilted on a neck covered by the upturned collar of a classic baseball uniform. The collar is upstaged by a blue and yellow kerchief around his neck. His eyes, carrying bags, appear sleepy. One eye appears lazy; pointing upwards. The nose is large, and the ears poke out a little.
What makes the T205 tobacco card of Addie Joss a classic is his smile. The right side of his lips are almost impassive, but the left side has a little smirk. It may just be the cocky smile of a pitcher with the 2nd lowest ERA in baseball history, but, hyperbole aside, it is almost as inexplicable as the smile of a certain young lady in the Louvre.
Addie Joss's lifetime stats: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/j/jossad01.shtml
Addie Joss's bio: http://bioproj.sabr.org/bioproj.cfm?a=v&v=l&pid=7202&bid=1782
