1909–11 American Caramel (E90-1) Joe Jackson
Jackson's consensus major-league rookie card, from the 1909–11 American Caramel Company issue cataloged as E90-1. The cards came with hard caramel candy; the backs claim "one of 100 subjects," though more than 120 are known today, including short prints that make a full set a long hunt. Jackson leans on his bat against a purple backdrop in a Philadelphia Athletics uniform — the look that anchors this collection's caramel focus. This copy is off-center and graded PSA 1, with the surface and corner wear that grade implies; what carries it is the registration. The color plates land cleanly, and the red of his lips sits exactly on the mouth — on many E90-1 Jacksons that red drifts up toward the nose.
- Issue
- 1909–11 American Caramel (E90-1)
- Year
- 1909
- Subject
- "Shoeless" Joe Jackson
- Grade
- PSA 1
- Cert #
- 12209512
- Population
- 32 at this grade (per Card Ladder)
1909–11 American Caramel (E90-1)
Issued by the American Caramel Company of Philadelphia and packed one to a box of caramels, E90-1 is the best-known caramel set of the pre-war era. The backs promise "100 subjects," but collectors have since documented roughly 120 cards of 108 different players, printed across 1909–1911. Marketed to children rather than smokers, the cards took a beating, and PSA notes that only about 1% of graded examples top a 6. It holds the consensus rookie card of Joe Jackson alongside Cobb, Mathewson, Wagner, Young and Baker.
More on this issue →"Shoeless" Joe Jackson
A South Carolina mill-town hitter with almost no schooling, Jackson became one of the purest hitters the game has ever seen: a .408 average in his first full season with Cleveland in 1911 and a .356 career mark, among the highest ever. Babe Ruth later said he had copied Jackson's style because he thought Jackson the greatest natural hitter he had ever seen — a widely repeated attribution, even as historians still argue how literally Ruth meant it. Jackson hit .375 and played errorless ball in the 1919 World Series, yet admitted to a grand jury in 1920 that he had taken gamblers' money. Acquitted by a Chicago jury in 1921, he was banned for life by Commissioner Landis anyway. The unresolved question of how guilty he really was is the reason this collection exists.
More on "Shoeless" Joe Jackson →