The E90-1 card of “Shoeless” Joe Jackson is one of the most valuable and highly desirable of all the caramel cards. Jackson’s “rookie card,” the E90-1 is among his most valuable as well, and is always in high demand among collectors. Despite having been infamously banned from baseball as a result of his involvement with the 1919 Black Sox Scandal, there are actually a host of Jackson cards available, as many different companies produced cards during Jackson’s career, and many featured different back variations, creating multiple versions of the same card.But it is the E90-1 card, featuring Jackson with Connie Mack’s Philadelphia A’s, that is his true first card, having been issued even earlier than the ultra-valuable T210-8 card that has attracted so much attention in the news as of late.
In 1908 and 1909, Jackson shuttled back and forth between the A’s (where he managed 40 at bats in the two seasons), Greenville of the Carolina League and Savannah of the South Atlantic League. In 1910, Jackson split time between the Cleveland Naps and New Orleans of the Southern Association (where he is pictured on his T210-8 card), but by 1911, Shoeless Joe had proven himself a solid major league hitter, batting .408 in his first full season. From there his career trajectory went steadily upward before being derailed in 1920 by the aforementioned banning.
Despite not being an important part of the 1909 Athletics (he had just 17 at bats that season), he somehow managed to become a part of the 120-subject American Caramel set. This is likely due to the proximity of the American Caramel Company (also based in Philadelphia) to the Athletics. Their foresight is to our advantage, as collectors are now treated to this immensely popular card from a highly popular and in-demand caramel issue.
The card itself was once part of the Steve Soloway Collection, a PSA Hall of Fame member who assembled and then liquidated much of a spectacular collection several years ago. Our consignor has held the card since, electing to share it with the hobby as part of Love of the Game’s second auction. Despite being accurately graded, the majority of the card’s flaws are on the reverse; scrapes of paper loss at the top and bottom of the back consistent with scrapbook removal mar the card’s technical grade. The card image, however, is solid, with general corner wear and mild surface wear (including an upper-right corner crease) being the primary issues. Still, this is a spectacular card, one that rarely makes itself available in the hobby, and one that has been a key part of not one, but two spectacular collections. Yours can be the next.