1887 Kalamazoo Bats N690-1

The Charles Gross Company of Philadelphia marketed this series of baseball players in 1887 in packages of tobacco with the intriguing name Kalamazoo Bats. This name involved a two-fold meaning since the word "bat" also referred to a wad of tobacco. There are 61 sepia photographs of baseball players known; most cards are blank backed although some are found with a list of premiums printed on the reverse. A Tom McLaughlin card was found recently, so thi… [Read More]

The Charles Gross Company of Philadelphia marketed this series of baseball players in 1887 in packages of tobacco with the intriguing name Kalamazoo Bats. This name involved a two-fold meaning since the word "bat" also referred to a wad of tobacco. There are 61 sepia photographs of baseball players known; most cards are blank backed although some are found with a list of premiums printed on the reverse. A Tom McLaughlin card was found recently, so this checklist may not be complete and all additions are appreciated. There is only one card known of both the Tom Poorman and the Wilbert Robinson/Fred Mann combo so we are not pricing those cards due to market scarcity. Cards with advertising backs are valued at 1.5X the prices listed in our data base. [Collapse]