T3: Rise of the Redemption
Sorry for the Terminator reference, but its true. In 1911 the American Tobacco Company created one of the world's first known baseball card redemption programs. Those who were fortunate enough to collect enough redemption coupons could exchange them for T3 Cabinet baseball cards. The American Tobacco Company also pioneered the concept of mailing in redemption coupons to obtain baseball cards.
I think it is just amazing that these cards have survived for almost a century. In those times, cards were considered disposable items to reinforce cigarette packs. When someone would open a new pack of cigarettes, they would usually throw away the card inside. In 1911, it would take a lot for someone to save up the coupons and then remember to mail them in. Each card measures 5 ¾” x 8” and to this day, have been theonly known cabinet sized tobacco cards to have been made. To obtain a cabinet card, you would need around 10 to 25 coupons based on where you received the coupon from.
Most of the cards in the set have a checklist on the back, but some of the harder to find cards have the Turkey Red ad. The checklist includes some of the best players of the time such as Christy Mathewson, Walter Johnson, John McGraw, and Ty Cobb. Product checklists of today sometimes don’t include players of that magnitude. Today, you can expect to find these cards worth well into the thousands. The T3 design is one of the most colorful and artistic early 20th century sets to complete. Card manufacturers of today should use the American Tobacco Company as a model of how to operate a redemption program.
In today’s hobby, collectors can wait months, even years without receiving the card they were promised. Sometimes after all the waiting, collectors end up with a replacement anyway. Maybe today’s card manufacturers need to make things a little less complicated, and start operating as if they were back in 1911.
Andrew Chrisman is the author of Sports Card Info, a blog that provides hobby news, stories, thoughts, and fake card information.
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