E102 NNO Johnny Evers

This entry catalogs an unnumbered (NNO) Johnny Evers card from the E102 Anonymous Set of 25, the small caramel issue distributed circa 1910 with no manufacturer mark printed on the back. The player it pictures is John Joseph Evers (1881–1947), the slight, nervous second baseman of the Chicago Cubs and the middle name in Franklin P. Adams's "Tinker to Evers to Chance" verse that fixed the Cubs' double-play combination in newsprint folklore. Evers was a left-handed hitter who threw right, and he played for the Cubs through their 1906–1910 pennant run that produced four flags and the franchise's last two World Series titles for over a century. The E102 set is one of the smallest and most condition-sensitive caramel issues from the 1909-era window, with its blank-back design making provenance work difficult and forgeries common. Evers died March 28, 1947 in Albany, New York, and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1946 alongside his Cubs infield mates Tinker and Chance, the three of them processed as a unit by the Old Timers Committee.