1902 Metropolitan Life Casey at the Bat Trade Card
It’s in the Details
| Title | Metropolitan Life Casey at the Bat Trade Card |
| Year | 1902 |
| Size | 3″ x 5″ |
| Images | Color |
| Type | Trade |
| Number in Set |
1 |
1902 Metropolitan Life Casey at the Bat Trade Card Overview
This interesting trade card was produced by the American Lithographic Company based in New York.
The cards were produced as advertising cards for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, also located in New York. The front features a small girl wearing a dress and a catcher’s chest protector with a baseball cap. She is holding a bat and ball while wearing a baseball glove. The title ‘Casey, at the Bat’ is printed at the bottom.
While the image is copyrighted as 1900 at the bottom, it is evident that this was a 1902 issue from the back. The reverse has various insurance statistics from Met Life from 1901. The card claims that payments to policy holders and addition to reserves totaled $75,617.30 in the year while the company wrote more than $1.2 million in new policies as a daily average.
The easiest explanation for the copyright date conflicting with the date on at least some of the backs of the cards is that these cards were likely produced over more than one year. The company could have used this image in 1900 and 1901, in addition to 1902, with the information on the back simply varying from year to year.
The back also listed the company’s home office at 1 Madison Avenue in New York City.
1902 Metropolitan Life Casey at the Bat Trade Card Checklist
This card is a standalone issue and not a part of a known set.
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