eBay: Vintage Boxing Cards

I know. I know. Where are the Baseball cards? Why are you showing us boxing stuff. Well, the long answer is that vintage boxing cards have been a side interest of mine for awhile now, and watching boxing matches with my family is one of my strongest memories as a child. The short answer is that I like the cards.

These gems arrived in this afternoons mail. An eBay find I think I lucked out on. These come from the same set as the James Jeffries highlighted below. They where produced in 1910 by American Caramel Company, and are designated as E76 by the collecting community. They are not considered especially rare for early 20th Century boxing cards, but boxing cards in general are much harder to find than Baseball cards from the same time period. As you may know, they where distributed in packages of candy, much like how baseball cards where distributed with gum from the 1950's to 1980's.

The cards shown feature Marvin Hart, Jack Munroe, Gus Ruhlin and Kid McCoy. Marvin Hart was a former Heavyweight Champion and is famous for defeating a young up'n-coming fighter named Jack Johnson in 1905. Jack Munroe, the Butte Miner, was a heavyweight who lost to Champion James Jeffries in 2 rounds in 1904 after whooping Jeffries in 1902. Gus Ruhlin was a heavyweight who was known as the "Akron Giant." Kid McCoy is famous for his corkscrew punch and is included in Ring Magazines list of 100 greatest punchers of all time.

McCoy is also famous for the phrase "the Real McCoy." At least, that's the tale.

It is thought that the expression The Real McCoy originally referred to him. With regard to this, once again, stories abound. One scenario involves a local tough who bumped into McCoy in a bar. McCoy, who was slight of build and a dapper dresser, did not look like a fighter. The bar room bully reputedly laughed when told the slender fellow he was annoying was Kid McCoy. He then challenged McCoy to fight, and upon reviving from being knocked out allegedly remarked "Oh my God, that was the real McCoy".

Update: I am still in the process of scanning, taking photos and uploading the remainder of my collection online in my photoalbum; including Dodger collectibles. Unfortunately, it has proven to be more time consuming than I ever imagined. Nevertheless, I know I'll be posting a bunch of pics next week. The National Sports Collectors Convention, "The National," is headed for Anaheim and I plan on spending alot of time at the Anaheim Convention Center. This will be the biggest card show in Southern California in several years.