Ty Cobb Detroit Honus Wagner Pitts. 3/17/10

This entry catalogs a dual-portrait Sporting News Supplement dated March 17, 1910, pairing Ty Cobb of the Detroit Tigers with Honus Wagner of the Pittsburgh Pirates — a marketing nod to the previous fall's World Series, which the Pirates had won in seven games behind Wagner's hitting and Babe Adams's pitching. Cobb (1886–1961) was the American League's batting champion three years running entering the 1910 season; Wagner (1874–1955) had taken his fourth straight National League batting title in 1909. Both men batted from opposite sides — Cobb left, Wagner right — and both threw right-handed. The Sporting News supplements of this era are oversized newsprint premiums distributed loose with the weekly paper between 1909 and 1913, and dual-subject sheets like this one are scarcer than the single-portrait majority. Both subjects were charter Hall of Fame inductees in 1936, with Cobb topping the ballot at 222 votes and Wagner tied with Ruth for second at 215. The dateline 3/17/10 sets the supplement at the start of spring training that year.