This beautiful M101-4 card shows young Wally Pipp during his breakout seasons for New York, years ahead of an infamous replacement at first by Lou Gehrig. Wally led the AL in homers for 1916-17, a crown he then yielded to Babe Ruth, making him twice bitten by future Yankee legends.

The condition echoes his champion status, with near-perfect clarify and centering almost never seen on cards from this era. Its PSA NM-MT 8 grade reflects sharp corners, clean borders, and strong registration, with a hint of ghostly ink transferred during card production. Their population report shows just one more at this level and none higher! Look for more top-tier M101-4 cards offered in this auction.

The 200-player M101-4 set itself originated with printer Felix Mendelssohn, who sold advertising on its card backs. Sports newspaper The Sporting News sponsored so many of these sets that many in our hobby also call M101-4 blank back examples "Sporting News" cards. Contemporary advertising from the 1910s shows most M101-4 advertisers gave cards away as an incentive for in-person shopping or sold their sets by mail order.