After losing the 1909 World Series in 7 games to the Pirates, the Detroit Tigers (minus Ty Cobb and Sam Crawford) headed to Cuba for a barnstorming tour against the two top teams in the Cuban League, Almendares and Habana. From November 4th to November 30th they played 12 games against the two Cuban teams which were fully integrated and loaded with Negro Leaguers. The Tigers went 4-8 against the Cuban teams, in spite of having two of the best pitchers in the American League that season, George Mullin, who won 29 games, and Bill Lelivelt, who won 21. The most memorable game was played on November 18th when Cuban legend and Negro Leaguer, Eustaquio "Bombin" Pedroso pitched an 11-inning no-hitter, earning the victory against Bill Lelivelt. 

To commemorate this series, Cabañas cigars issued a series of cards for each of the three teams. There are a total of 35 cards in the set: 15 Habana players, 8 Almendares players, and 12 Detroit Tigers, with one of them being Major League umpire Silk O'Laughlin who joined the Tigers on the trip. In the packs (or however they were issued) of Cabañas cigars at the time, you could also get cards of famous Cuban historical figures, mostly military heroes and politicians. 1909 Cabañas cards measure about 1 1/2" by 2 1/4" and are on a card stock similar to American tobacco cards, only thinner.

This lot includes 14 cards of baseball players, which is the largest lot of 1909 Cabañas cards ever offered for sale or auction publicly:

ALMENDARES:

Rafael Almedia - SGC 1

Armando Cabañas - SGC 1

Alfredo Cabrera - SGC 2.5

Rogelio "Mamelo" Garcia - SGC 2

Heliodoro Hidalgo - SGC 1

Armando Marsans - SGC 4

Carlos "Bebe" Royer - SGC 1

HABANA:

Agustin "Tini" Molina - SGC 1

Emilio Palomino - SGC 1.5

DETROIT TIGERS

Frank "Silk" O'Laughlin

Bill Hopke - SGC 3

George Mullin - SGC 1

Davy Jones - SGC 4

Charles Schmidt - SGC 3

It also includes 36 cards from the "Galeria de Cubanos Ilustres" set, as well as one of the most remarkable artifacts relating to Cuban baseball cards that exists - a proof sheet featuring all 12 of the Detroit Tigers cards! It's a miracle  this proof sheet survived, especially since it has the words "para borrar" stamped on it. Roughly translated, "para borrar" means "to throw away. There are proof marks visible on the left and right of the sheet. Images are the same size as on the cards. The full sheet measures 8 1/2" by 12 1/2".

The 1909 Cabañas set is one of the most desirable of all Cuban baseball card issues, and this lot is an opportunity to pick up nearly half the set all at once.