R. Bresnahan Batting

This card files under the variation tag "R. Bresnahan Batting," the T206 White Border pose of Roger Philip Bresnahan in batting stance rather than the alternate portrait or with-bat framings within the set. The player is Bresnahan (1879–1944), the Toledo-born catcher who had been John McGraw's backstop on the New York Giants championship teams of 1904 and 1905 and was, by the time this card was issued, the player-manager of the St. Louis Cardinals. Bresnahan batted and threw right-handed, stood 5'9", and is generally credited with being the first catcher to wear shin guards in a regular-season game, in 1907. He played 17 major-league seasons through 1915 and managed the Cardinals from 1909 to 1912 before brief stints in Chicago. He died December 4, 1944 in Toledo, the city where he had been born, and is buried at Calvary Cemetery there. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1945 by the Old Timers Committee that processed the deadball-era backlog.