H804-8 Sporting Life Trade Cards Set and Checklist

‘It’s In The Details’

Title H804-8 Sporting Life Trade Cards
Year 1800s
Size 3″ x 5″
Images Color
Type Trade
Number in Set
23

H804-8 Sporting Life Trade Cards Overview

Sporting Life H804-8 Trade CardIn the early 1900s, Sporting Life distributed a popular set of baseball cards known today as the M116 set. Before that, however, they created this small set of trade cards to advertise their publication.

This set is part of the Baseball Comics series, as catalogued by Jefferson Burdick in the American Card Catalog. The cards feature a variety of colorful and humorous baseball scenes as well as some advertising text on the front, encouraging collectors to read their publication, The Sporting News.

Three different subsets exist, all featuring different pictures and captions. They have been sorted and checklisted below. It should be noted that while eight cards are in the first two, H804-A and H804-B, only seven are known for the third (H804-C). Given that the first two have eight, however, it is possible that an eighth card exists that has not been recognized.

Collectors of these cards often tried to separate the advertiser name from them. Because of that, these are often found trimmed with the bottom portion having been cut off. The cards uncut, of course, are more valuable.

Speaking of prices, these cards are more desirable than many other trade cards and pursued for their relative rarity. Usually, they will sell for more than $100 and sometimes, will fetch several hundred dollars. They are certainly among the more valuable trade cards not featuring actual players.

As is the case with most trade cards, these are fragile and printed on thinner card stock. For that reason, they can be torn or ripped quite easily and damaged easier than standard baseball cards.

H804-8 Sporting Life Trade Cards Checklist

H804-8A

  1. A Base-Ball Meeting.
  2. A Good Base-Stealer
  3. All Persons Who Are Interested In Out of Door Sport …
  4. An Easy Pitcher To Hold
  5. Old and Young Are Pleased With
  6. Read the Sporting Life (two crossed bats and a ball)
  7. The New electric Light Scheme Will Raise a Demand For Catchers.
  8. The Sporting Life Has All The Scores.

H804-8B

  1. A Catcher At The End Of The Season
  2. Aint This a Daisy.
  3. Give Me A Dew Drop.
  4. Hold It.
  5. Judgment.
  6. Our Base Ball Manager.
  7. The Curve For This Season.
  8. The Sporting Life Fiend.

H804-8C

  1. For All Sporting News Read the Sporting Life
  2. Pitcher Under The New Rules.
  3. Read the Sporting Life (woman, man and boy read the paper)
  4. Safe At Second?
  5. Sporting Life for Sale … Champion Batsman
  6. Sporting Life is the best 5¢
  7. You Can Buy the Sporting Life of … Ball or Strike?

Follow Pre-War Cards on Twitter and also be sure to like our page on Facebook.