E102 NNO Chief Bender

Charles Albert "Chief" Bender (1884–1954) pitched right-handed for the Philadelphia Athletics during Connie Mack's first championship era, the Carlisle-trained ace whom the manager called the man he wanted on the mound for any game he absolutely had to win. Bender helped the Athletics to five American League pennants and three World Series titles between 1905 and 1913, posting durable seasons with sub-2.00 ERAs and a fastball-curveball mix that translated cleanly into the dead-ball game. This card is from the E102 Anonymous Set of 25, the smaller unmarked caramel issue that ran in parallel with the more widely catalogued E101 series in the late tobacco-era window. Bender threw a no-hitter against Cleveland in 1910 and pitched in five World Series for the Athletics, finishing his sixteen-year career 212-127 with an ERA under 2.50. He died May 22, 1954 in Philadelphia. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1953.