E102 NNO Sam Crawford

This entry catalogs an unnumbered (NNO) Sam Crawford card from the E102 Anonymous Set of 25, the small caramel issue distributed circa 1910 with a blank back and no manufacturer identification. The player is Samuel Earl "Wahoo Sam" Crawford (1880–1968), the Detroit Tigers outfielder who batted and threw left-handed and held down right field on the Tigers' three consecutive American League pennant winners from 1907 to 1909. Crawford finished his 19-year career with 309 triples, a major-league record that has only become more unreachable as ballparks shrank and outfield walls came in. The E102 set is the smallest of the anonymous-back caramel issues from this period — just 25 subjects — making it scarcer than the related E101 and E105 issues despite using overlapping imagery. Identifying an E102 from a sister set requires inspection of trim, stock, and back. Crawford died June 15, 1968 in Hollywood, California, and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1957 by the Veterans Committee.