Sam Crawford Throw

This card files under the variation tag "Sam Crawford Throw," the T206 White Border pose of the Detroit Tigers outfielder caught in throwing motion rather than the alternate "batting" pose that runs as a separate card in the same set. The player is Samuel Earl "Wahoo Sam" Crawford (1880–1968), the Nebraska-born left-handed thrower and hitter who manned right field on the Tigers club that took three straight American League pennants from 1907 to 1909. Crawford finished his 19-year career with 309 triples — still the all-time major-league record — and 2,961 hits, batting third in the Detroit order in front of Ty Cobb for most of his prime. He had jumped from Cincinnati to Detroit in 1903 in the truce that ended the AL–NL war and never returned to the senior circuit. Crawford died June 15, 1968 in Hollywood, California, at age 88, and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1957 by the Veterans Committee — a delay he had outwardly resented for years.