The Want List, Part I: Rube Waddell (1910 E93)

Every baseball card collector has a most wanted list of cards. Some collectors need a card to complete a set, and others want a card of a favorite player. I want a card because it looks cool (whether it's the player's pose, face, or the card's colors), or I want a card because of the player's history. Until I can afford the cards on my want list, I will have to be happy with writing about them. 


The Want List, Part I: Rube Waddell (1910 E93 Standard Caramel)

Rube Waddell
1910 E93 Caramel Card

Rube Waddell was a man who would get into a fight over a straw hat. He was a man who could be distracted from a game by tinker toys or fire engine bells. He was a free-spirit, who was known to assist firefighters as well as disappearing for days on drinking binges.

Anecdotes about Rube Waddell are as numerous as his strikeouts. Known as the first power-pitcher of the 20th century, Waddell's 1904 total of 349 strike-outs remained a towering single-season record until Sandy Koufax eclipsed it with 382 strikeouts in 1965. When the Rube was on, he was ON. The dichotomy of Waddell the goof and Waddell the dominating player secured his place in baseball lore and attracts collectors to his baseball cards. Of his tobacco and candy cards, Waddell's E93 card is arguably the most attractive.

Unlike their tobacco card counterparts, the cards from the E93 set were packaged with caramel candies. The quality of the player picture was higher than the tobacco cards of the era. Using a player photograph, artists colored in the player photo matching the uniform colors, while making the background a solid color. Collectors love the card's colors and player picture detail. Demand for this set is high and so are their prices.

Basis of the E93?

Waddell's card catches him about to fire one over. Rearing back and gathering his arm strength, who knows which pitch is coming? Is it a blazing fastball, or one of his diving curves? Waddell had very large hands that could wrap around the ball causing it to spin left or right or waif in the air like a knuckleball (1). Waddell, captured here as the dominating player, stares at his target, concentrating.

Aided by color, the E93 card trumps its B&W photo origins in bringing these players to life. His golden belt buckle, the red of his undershirt and collar, the matching green background combine to create a striking life-like portrait of this exasperating man-child who was known equally for his antics as his pitching prowess.


(1) Rube Waddell: the zany, brilliant life of a strikeout artist By Alan Howard Levy, Page 1