NNO Eddie Collins

Edward Trowbridge "Cocky" Collins (1887–1951) is shown here in the E101 Anonymous Set of 50, the unbranded caramel issue that captures him near the start of his time as the Philadelphia Athletics' second baseman. Born May 2, 1887 in Millerton, New York, the Columbia-educated left-handed hitter who threw right debuted with Connie Mack's club in 1906 and ran a twenty-five-year career through 1930, finishing with 3,315 hits and a career batting average of .333. He was the keystone of Mack's "$100,000 Infield" that won four pennants and three World Series titles between 1910 and 1914, and he later anchored the Chicago White Sox club that won the 1917 Series and lost the infamous 1919 one — Collins playing it straight throughout the Black Sox affair. He took the 1914 Chalmers MVP Award. The E101 set's anonymous front made attribution a chore for early collectors but did nothing to dim the appeal of the imagery, which is shared with several contemporary candy and tobacco runs. He died March 25, 1951 in Boston and is buried at Linwood Cemetery in Weston, Massachusetts. The Hall of Fame elected him in 1939.