(LOT 8)
1908-09 Rose Company Postcard Cy Young – Extremely Rare "No Team" Variation PSA 3 VG – One of Only Two Examples Listed on the Combined PSA & SGC Pop Charts!
EXTREMELY RARE CY!!!... One of the immortal Cy Young's rarest cards is his ultra-elusive 1908-09 Rose Postcard, presented here in a superb PSA 3 holder and one of only two existing examples on the prestigious PSA and SGC census reports! Boasting the scarce "no team" name variation, both PSA and SGC list only a single example in any version, with this time-tested dynamo standing front and center on the bucket lists of virtually every esteemed vintage enthusiast or Rose Postcard collector. In 1908 and 1909, the Rose Company produced a set of postcards considered to be one of the most ornate cardboard relics extant. The Rose Co. aggressively advertised in 1908 trade newspapers, announcing they would be offering 12 different players for each of the 16 MLB teams (originally 192 subjects).

Later updates included eight additional MLB players as well as a 14-card set featuring players from the New York State League's Scranton Miners, updating the total known subjects to 214. When we speak of baseball's most unbreakable records, the first one that comes to mind is Denton True "Cy" Young's unfathomable 511 lifetime victories, as well as Young completing an unthinkable 749 complete games or 92% of his 815 MLB starts! It would take 25 wins a year for twenty years just to reach the 500-mark, still leaving a pitcher 11 victories short of Cy's impossible record total. These unachievable marks left baseball no other choice but to link Cy's iconic name to the annual award for pitching excellence, the ultimate compliment for any hurler. Cy Young obtained this legendary nickname when he was trying out for the Canton, Ohio minor league team in 1889.

One of his blazing fastballs whizzed past the catcher and broke the rear fence, prompting a reporter to state, "The fence looked as if it had been hit by a cyclone!" Word of this quote spread like a brushfire throughout the local town, and the "Cy" nickname was forever etched in stone. Synonymous with Young's pinnacle standing are the captivating aesthetics emanating from this classic Carl Horner portrait pose, also seen on so many of his revered cardboard issues including the 1903-04 W600 Sporting Life Cabinets, 1906 Fan Craze, 1909 E90-1 American Caramel, 1909-11 T206, and 1911 M116 Sporting Life subjects. Revealing fine mid-grade aesthetics, Cy's spine-tingling illustration literally jumps off the card, with the crystal-clear image uncompromised by even corner wear, some diminutive enamel peel near the upper right corner, and negligible etching along the upper edge. No obtrusive surface flaws are evident on the critical obverse side, and preventing a higher assessment are some extremely faint surface abrasions near the postal stamp area on the postcard's verso (a trivial blemish compared to the overall spectacular aesthetics). Most significantly, the legendary Cy Young portrait image, elaborate gold embossed oval/bat designs and green grass setting still retain the majority of their original eye-pleasing attributes. Pre-T206 cards boasting Cy Young's exalted Carl Horner illustration are few and far between, and the mere handful of known examples of this timeless offering even surpasses the rarity of Young's earliest 20th century cardboard keepsakes. A near-impossible cardboard heirloom of the incomparable Denton True "Cy" Young, it turns back the clock to an era when the iconic Cy was entering the twilight of his extraordinary career, with the 41-year-old Young still crafty enough to muster up 21 wins and an unfathomable 1.26 ERA during the 1908 season, his final Beantown campaign!

MIN BID $5,000
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