General Forum

This hobby is a lot of fun, as we all know, or else we would not be on this website. But sometimes you just never know where it will lead you.

I just spent the last two hours crosschecking with Wikipedia to get the proper names of various Cricket players from two sets, issued in 1934 and 1938, so I could add them to the Database. I bought a lot of vintage tobacco era cards which arrived in the mail today, with two cards from each set. Unfortunately, Player only used first initials on the cards, not proper names.

I wondered if I could get the proper names, so I started researching, and of the 50 cards, I was able to get the name for 49 cards! As it turned out, every other player (some were in both sets) has a Wikipedia entry.

In my life I've seen a grand total of  under 10 minutes of Cricket action, the TV channel was too staticy to watch any more. I try to give each sport a chance to see if I like it or not. I never imagined when I woke up today that I would have a 4-card Cricket collection or familiarize myself with the names of about 35 players who played in the decade my grandparents were born in.

This hobby (and the internet!) can be very unusual at times. And I wouldn't change a thing about it.

Overall I got 13 new sets for my collection, 12 of which were not yet listed on the Database, and one of them I can't find any record of online at all. It was a good day for tobacco era cards, for me. They range in age from 1913-1939.

Billy if you need info for cricket try using cricinfo.com, this lists stats for just about every international player

hope it helps

wayne

Billy sounds like quite a haul. Congrats on the completed sets.

I hear you.  

Since my baseball sets are organized into teams by player age, I find myself having to look up each player on baseball-reference for my vintage collection (or reprint sets) when DOB is not listed on the card backs.  

I actually was using cricinfo but found that the Wikipedia player listings worked much better for me. It may have been my lack of experience with the site that caused me to not be able to find some people though.

I only wish I had completed any of them...most of the sets I got yesterday I only got one card of, expect for 1939 Wills Life in the Royal Navy, of which I got 11 cards and three duplicates, my first tobacco era duplicates.

That's an interesting way to store your cards...I've never heard of anyone doing it that way before. That must be pretty difficult for some of the obscure players. I'm a set guy so for me they won't be right until they are back by sets- they have not been sorted truly since 2003!

Im strictly a baseball guy, more specifically Phillies and Yankees.....

That said, I want to congradulate you Billy on a job well done. It is always nice to learn new things about people and the hobby......I wish you the best with this :).

Thanks! I have learned so much since I started posting on the Database, about lots of various sports, some of which I'd never even heard of before coming here.