MY FAVORITE CARDS:

1914 CRACKER JACK GAVY CRAVATH

 

 

            For fans of vintage cards, the Cracker Jack issues of 1914 and 1915 are among the most attractive of all time. The white borders make the deep red backgrounds stand out. And the “Cracker Jack Ball Players” logo in the top-center of each copy reeks of old-school charm. The pictures, which are colorized photos of baseball’s early diamond stars, are more realistic and vivid than a majority of cards that were printed before then.

            While the set contains more than 100 Deadball greats (including Honus Wagner, Ty Cobb, and Christy Mathewson), the card that has always attracted me most is #82—Gavy Cravath. Largely forgotten today, Cravath was baseball’s first true home run king in an era when home runs were rare. The Deadball Era got its name from the balls, themselves, which were kept in play by umpires until they were misshapen and spongy. Fans who attended games in the early-20th century were actually encouraged to return foul balls, sometimes under threat of arrest. Pitchers resorted to all kinds of dirty tricks, such as moistening the ball with various substances or deliberately throwing directly at batters to move them off the plate. It was in this challenging environment that Cravath briefly established himself as baseball’s reigning home run king.

            Cravath joined the Red Sox in 1908 after a productive five-year run with the Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League. Due to a considerable lack of foot speed—the result of a high school football injury—he had difficulty establishing tenure in the Sox outfield. Though he sat out more than 60 games in 1908, he finished second on the club in triples and fifth in RBIs. Considered somewhat old for a second-year player at 28 years of age, he was traded twice in 1909 and demoted to the minors by Washington manager Joe Cantillon. He found a permanent home with the Phillies in 1912.  

            A right-hander, Cravath was an opposite field hitter. When pitchers tried to jam him inside, he would step back and slice the ball to right field. This worked exceptionally well for him as the right field foul pole at the Baker Bowl in Philadelphia was only 280 feet from home plate. A 40-foot wall was installed to discourage cheap home runs along with a 20-foot screen, but it remained one of the most hitter-friendly venues in the majors for many years. Commenting on its cozy dimensions, sportswriter Red Smith once joked: “If the right fielder had eaten onions at lunch, the second baseman knew it.”

            In 1914, each of Cravath’s league-leading 19 home runs were hit in Philly. The following year, his output (24) was more than the collective totals of almost every club in the majors. In all, Cravath led the National League in homers six times and finished in third place twice. At the time of his retirement in 1920, his 119 lifetime blasts were the most by any 20th century hitter. Playing in an era when foul balls weren’t counted as strikes, Hall of Fame infielder Roger Connor gathered 138 homers between 1880 and 1897. But 17 of those were inside-the-park shots and one bounced over the fence (ground rule doubles weren’t an official thing in Connor’s day. They were counted as home runs until the 1930s). With the foul-strike rule in effect throughout his career, only four of Cravath’s lifetime homers were inside-the-park shots. And only two bounced over the fence.

            Because Cracker Jack cards were inserted directly into boxes of the candy, they were often stained by the caramel coating. In 1915, the company offered the first promotional box set in the history of the hobby. The entire series could be obtained by mailing 100 Cracker Jack coupons to a Chicago address. Today, graded copies of Cravath’s card are extremely rare. As of 2026, the PSA grading company listed the total population at 29. There are no PSA examples currently above Grade 7. While copies in various conditions have sold for well over $1,000, it was a Grade 3 example that fetched the highest price to date in 2018, selling for $2,305 on eBay. PSA has placed the estimated value of a Grade 8 copy (Near-Mint/Mint) at $3,000.