The inaugural Cracker Jack set from 1914 was the first annual release to gain national acclaim for its fantastic imagery, an impressive lineup of legends that would go on to Hall of Fame status, and of course, its availability with the purchase of the mouth-watering confectionary. First appearing at major league ballparks in 1907, the caramel-coated popcorn and peanut mix rose to prominence soon after it received a shout-out in the lyrics of Jack Norworth's “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” After the company added "prizes" in 1912, it seemed inevitable that baseball cards would soon become the treasure hidden in the box, as it did just two years later. Sandwiched in between the termination of the T206 white border collection and just before the release of the Sporting News set, the Cracker Jack series owned the national spotlight. Other than a missed opportunity to introduce a Babe Ruth rookie card (Ruth was still relatively unknown at the time), the set hits upon many diamond legends whose Cracker Jack card stands as the most popular of their respective libraries. Though not as scarce as the 1914 series, the 1915 Cracker Jack set contains almost the same list of legendary Hall of Famers and was extended from the 144-card 1914 collection to 176 cards in total. The featured collection is just two cards short of completion (needs #30 Cobb and 103 J. Jackson, which are offered individually in this auction), and ranks #8 on the PSA Set Registry list. Almost the entirety of the set is in the PSA 3-PSA 6 range with key Hall of Famers including PSA 5 examples of #69 McGraw, 133 Rickey and 136 Maranville, and PSA 4 examples of #3 Tinker, 6 Plank, 12 Mack, 15 Crawford, 17 Bresnahan, 19 Bender, 23 Comisky, 32 M. Brown, 35 Hooper, 36 Walsh, 43 Marquard, 52 Wheat, 65 Speaker, 66 Lajoie, 70 Clarke, 73 Carey, 75 Huggins, 77 Jennings, and 167 Griffith. For a complete listing of individual grades, please visit our website for a link to the PSA Set Registry.
LINK: 1915 CRACKER JACK #10 SET