NNO Frank Chance

Frank Chance (1876–1924), the "Peerless Leader" of the Chicago Cubs, played first base and managed the team through the most successful stretch in franchise history — four pennants and the 1907 and 1908 World Series titles. A right-handed hitter and thrower, he was the namesake third corner of the Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance double-play combination that Franklin P. Adams immortalized in verse. This card is from the E101 Anonymous Set of 50, one of the early caramel-card issues that circulated without manufacturer marking — a generic-back release whose images were licensed and reused across multiple confectioners. Chance appears in the set in his Cubs portrait pose. As a player-manager he led Chicago to four pennants in five years and posted the franchise's highest winning percentage of the modern era, a stretch the team has not since approached. He died September 15, 1924 in Los Angeles, his health long compromised by the accumulated beanings of a dead-ball career spent crowding the plate. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1946 alongside his famous middle infielders.