Month: August 2018

My 2019 National Trip Report: Day 3 and Final Thoughts About the Show

Friday was my last day at the show before flying back home to Seattle.  We got another amazing breakfast at the Root before heading over to the IX Center.  On Thursday, I went into the day under the false impression that I had seen pretty much everything on the show floor.  So on Friday, I reversed that thinking, instead figuring that there were still some cards that would interest me that I hadn’t yet seen.

Ironically, Friday ended up being the best day of the show for me, in terms of finding cards to buy.  It was also the most fun because I had met some new (and old) friends the previous night, who I ran into at various times on the show floor Friday.  In terms of new cards, I added two cards to my 1917 Collins McCarthy set, and bought a couple 1906 Fan Craze PSA 8s that I thought were priced very fairly.  I also returned to a booth I had visited on Wednesday and bought a PSA 5 T205 Miller Huggins with American Beauty back that I had been thinking about since seeing it on Wednesday.  With just a few minutes left, a friend told me that he had seen a stack of Elite 11 Piedmont 350s at a booth near the back of the show.  I knew I hadn’t seen that table, so I took off in search of it.  I found it, and as the show was closing at 6:00pm, I finalized a deal to pick up Cycle 460, Tolstoi, American Beauty 350 no frame, and an American Beauty 350 with frame backs.

Later that night, I went back to the hotel bar for another evening of hanging out with new friends.  As I arrived, I almost bumped into Henry Winkler, who I guess was in Cleveland to sign autographs at the show.  Later that night, I walked out to the pool area just in time to see Jose Rijo saying goodnight to three of my friends.  Turns out they had about an hour-long conversation with him, and he couldn’t have been a nicer or cooler guy.

Overall, the trip was a blast.  Walking the floor and taking in the atmosphere was an experience I’ll never forget.  I added a nice stack of cards to the collection, and got to see some incredible cards I’ll only dream of owning.  However, the best parts of the trip were the new friends and connections that I made throughout the three days.  I’m already looking forward to next year’s National in Chicago.  I imagine it will be even more fun because I’ll be going into it with a bunch more friends than I had prior to this one.

Thoughts about the show as a whole:

This was my first National, so I can’t offer any comparisons to other years, but I was able to get a pretty good sense of what the market was like for the cards that I was looking to buy.  As you can imagine, that mainly means T206s, and the rare and mid-tier backs in particular.

I went into the show expecting to see a lot more mid-tier and rare backs than I actually saw.  In hindsight, it really isn’t too shocking that there weren’t more of them in the room.  Mid-tier backs, when priced fairly, will sell very quickly.  It probably wasn’t reasonable to expect the show to be some magical mecca of rare backs.  Most of these dealers probably sell online and/or in other venues, and unless their prices are crazy high, collectors will snap up the rare stuff.  What this tells me is that the market for mid-tier and rare backs is very strong.  There is more demand than supply for sure.  Collectors are still price sensitive up to a certain point, but if a tough back is priced somewhere in a reasonable range, it’s not going to last long.

From what I saw, the rare backs were priced at “museum prices”.  I only saw somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 rare backs* on the entire show floor, and I don’t think any of the sellers felt much pressure to sell them.  Not that I blame them.  If you sell a nice looking card with a rare back, good luck ever getting it back if you change your mind.

I saw quite a few reasonable prices on commons throughout the show.  One table had close to 100 PSA 5 graded commons all priced from $125 to $160.  Another thing that stood out to me was how many bargains I saw on raw, lower grade T206s.  If I had been trying to build a raw set from scratch, I bet I would have found 50-100 cards that I would have wanted to buy because they were good deals.

The only regret I have from the trip is that I didn’t find out there were any Wagners in the room until after I had come home from the show.  I’m pretty sure I saw pictures of at least three different ones online after I had already left Cleveland.  There are so many dealer tables to look at that you can really spend the entire time just looking for stuff to buy.  That’s more or less what I did.  Next year, I’m definitely going to make time to look at the Auction House booths.  I’ve still never seen a Wagner in person, and I guess I’ll have to wait until next year to rectify that.

All in all, it was an incredible trip, and I am already looking forward to next year in Chicago.

*When I talk about rare T206 backs, I am referring to Carolina Brights, Broad Leaf 350, Blank Back, Lenox, Red Hindu, Uzit, Drum, and Broad Leaf 460.

My 2019 National Trip Report: Day 2

In what was becoming a theme of the trip, we got a late start on Thursday.  We had a great breakfast at The Root in downtown Lakewood.  My latte was amazing, and the breakfast sandwich was excellent as well.  By the time I got to the IX Center, it was around 11:00 AM, but I really didn’t mind being a little late.  After trying to see every booth in the entire show the previous night, I had a new plan for Thursday.  I was planning to slow down, enjoy the show, and hopefully start to make some connections.

The new approach worked great.  I took my time wandering the aisles and tried to make sure I hadn’t missed anything the day before.  As it turned out, I had missed a lot.  I stopped by the Love of the Game booth to chat with Jeff Prizner, a fellow Seattleite, and to finally meet Al Crisafulli in person.  I had done a lot of business with Al over the last few years and it was great to meet him in person.  Hidden right behind the Love of the Game booth was Dan McKee and his awe inspiring showcases.  His booth was one of the highlights of the show in my opinion.  He had rare cards from pretty much every pre-war set imaginable.  I didn’t end up buying anything, but I considered a T206 Blank Back Mullaney, Lenox Camnitz, as well as a T205 Drum Mordecai Brown, and a 1916 Altoona Tribune back.  We had some good banter while I was looking through his offerings, which was a lot of fun.  After checking out Dan’s cards, I went over to the Sterling Auction booth to introduce myself to Lee Behrens.  Lee runs one of my favorite auction houses, and I wanted to make sure to meet him before the show was over.

After doing a little socializing, I got back to wandering the aisles, looking for cards to buy.  On that front, Thursday went about as good as Wednesday had.  I found a tough Vic Willis Portrait with Old Mill back at a table that had a lot of T206s, but only a couple tougher backs.  It wasn’t a bargain by any means, but I wasn’t expecting to find too many bargains at this show.  I also circled back to a booth I had visited on Wednesday to buy a couple American Beauty backs.  This particular table was a highlight of the show for a few of the T206 back collectors I talked to.  They had around 50 freshly graded American Beauty backs.  The standouts among them were a couple Abbaticchio AB 460s, and a Heinie Wagner AB 460.  I ended up coming away with a Donie Bush PSA 2 that is perfectly centered and looks a lot nicer than a “2”.

A little bit later I found Richard Masson and Scott Brockelman’s booth.  In terms of non-Auction House eye candy, these guys took the cake.  Scott had an incredible SGC 50 Jeff Sweeney Broad Leaf 460 and a Lenox Walter Johnson SGC 40, among many other impressive cards.  Richard had a PSA 3 T206 Plank, and stacks of e107s.  While I was standing there trying not to drool on the showcase, I heard a couple people talking about a T214 Victory Cobb, which caught my attention.  I thought, I recognized one of the guys from a picture I had seen online years ago, and decided to take the chance and see if I was right.  I went over to him and said, “Hey, are you Jamie?”  It was Jamie Blundell!  Jamie and I have worked together on a couple articles about his collection for this site, and conversed over email many times over the years, but had never met in person.  I wasn’t even done feeling relieved that I hadn’t walked up to a random person and embarrassed myself when he said, “Do you want to see the Cobbs that you wrote about?”  Heck yeah, I did!  This was probably the highlight of the show for me.  It’s definitely not every day that you get to thumb through a Red Hindu Cobb, Drum Cobb, Broad Leaf 460 Cobb, and a Ty Cobb back!

If you haven’t read it already, now would be a good time to check out the article featuring Jamie’s Ty Cobb Red Background Portrait back run:

The Greatest T206 Back Run Ever Assembled: Ty Cobb Red Background Portrait

Jamie’s collection is incredible, and it was a ton of fun to look through it in person.  In addition to his Cobb back run, he also brought a few of his Printer’s Scraps.  I got to see his Lake/Pastorius front mis-cut, in addition to his Merritt with Sam Crawford ghost.  Last but not least, I got to look at one of my favorite T206s in existence, the “Rosetta Stone”.  There is so much going on with that card, that seeing it person really gives you an even greater appreciation for how cool it is.  I’ve also written an article about the “Rosetta Stone”, which can be read by clicking the link below:

The “Rosetta Stone” T206 Printer’s Scrap

Later that evening, I headed over to the hotel bar at Sheraton, where I met a bunch of collectors, some of whom I knew (or knew of) from net54 or elsewhere, and some others I didn’t know at all previously.  This was a blast, and definitely a highlight of the trip for me.  I didn’t stay too long, as I wanted to try and get up a decent hour the next morning, as that would be final day at the National this year.

My 2019 National Trip Report: Day 1

I attended my first National Sports Collector’s Convention last week in Cleveland, Ohio.  I had an amazing time.  I came away with some new friends, some great stories, and a nice stack of new cards.  I also learned a lot about how to approach the show, both in terms of enjoying the spectacle, as well as navigating the show floor as a buyer.    Although I am very pleased with how the show went overall, I will definitely do some things differently next year in Chicago.  I hope this trip report will be both entertaining, and helpful to those of you haven’t been to a National yet, but plan to go in the future.

We arrived in Cleveland late on Tuesday night and checked into our airBNB in Lakewood, Ohio.  We were still on Seattle time, so it took a little while to fall asleep, despite being worn out from the long day of travel.  We spent Wednesday morning and afternoon checking out the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and after a late lunch, headed over to the IX Center for the show.  The show was only open to the public from 4pm to 8pm on Wednesday.

This Doyle Sovereign 150 was my best T206 pickup on Wednesday

My main motivation for wanting to attend the National was social.  I wanted to meet some online friends in person, do some networking, and make some new friends.  That being said, I was also really excited to be there as a collector.  On the first day, my plan was to try and see as many booths as possible.  The idea was I wanted to do my best to find the tough T206 backs (and other tougher issues on my want-list) before everybody else saw them.  In hindsight, this wasn’t really the best idea.  I did end up canvassing the show floor from one end to the other (hitting the last booth a few minutes before 8pm), but I won’t approach future Nationals in the same way for a few reasons.  For one thing, though I thought I was visiting every booth, I realized over the next two days that I had actually missed quite a few tables (and possibly even entire aisles).  Secondly, I wish I had slowed down and taken in the spectacle a little more.  Because I was just looking to buy cards, I whizzed right on past the Auction House booths, which have the best eye candy on the entire show floor.  More than anything, I regret it because I burned myself out a bit, and I got the false impression that I had seen everything, when I really hadn’t.

Not a T206, but picking up this high grade 1916 Globe Stores back was a highlight from Wednesday

All that being said, I still had a blast the first day.  It was pretty overwhelming to be somewhere in the middle of show floor,  just surrounded by seemingly endless tables in every direction.  In a typical local card show, it’s pretty cool to a couple of tables with pre-war.  It was pretty incredible to get to browse through hundreds of such tables at the National.

Overall my first day was not super eventful.  Of the three days that I attended, I actually bought the fewest cards on Day 1, despite seeing the most tables.  Going into the show, the thought of doing a trip report hadn’t crossed my mind.  I wish it had, as I would have taken a bunch more pictures.  As I was making my way through the aisles, at about the halfway point, I look up and realize there’s a Ferris Wheel in the center of the IX Center!

After the show closed, and they herded us out the exits, I did my only bit of socializing that day.  I had made a trade with a friend a couple weeks prior to the National, and we decided that rather than mailing the cards to each other, we’d just meet up at the show and make the swap.  It was great meeting him in person, and the card I traded for was my favorite pickup from the show.  Opinions are pretty well split on whether this card is a T206 or not, but in my humble opinion, it should be considered one.

After meeting up to trade, my wife and I had an amazing dinner at a Mexican place called Momacho.  Highly recommended if you are ever in the area.  After that excellent meal, it was back to the airBNB to get some shut-eye before getting back at it on Thursday morning.

If you consider a Coupon Type 1 a T206, then this was the best T206 pickup of the day

Jimmy Williams: The Most Overlooked Player in the 150-350 Series?

Despite being an excellent ballplayer, Jimmy Williams is one of the most overlooked players in the 150-350 Series by T206 collectors.  Not too long ago, I was talking with my friend Scott Gross, and shared a scan of a new Jimmy Williams card I had added to my collection.  Scott mentioned that he considered Williams’ T206 card to be one of the most ignored/forgotten cards in the set.  I had to agree.  Once he mentioned it, I realized that I was guilty of it myself.  It’s obviously debatable whether he is in fact the most overlooked player in the 150-350 Series, or just one of the most.  But when you take into consideration how good he was, it makes our collective oversight of him all the more egregious.

Let’s take a look at why Williams has been so overlooked by collectors.  For one thing, the pose used for his card is not particularly exciting.  I happen to find the artwork and colors extremely appealing, but the same can be said for just about any other card in the 150-350 Series.  Aesthetically, Williams’ card just doesn’t stand out.

Another contributing factor is that Williams was not printed with some of the more desirable 150-350 Series backs.  Williams was printed with the following 8 backs:

  • Old Mill
  • Piedmont 150
  • Piedmont 350
  • Sovereign 150
  • Sweet Caporal 150 Factory 25
  • Sweet Caporal 150 Factory 30
  • Sweet Caporal 350 Factory 25
  • Sweet Caporal 350 Factory 30

He was not printed with these 4 backs:

  • Brown Hindu
  • El Principe de Gales
  • Sovereign 350
  • Sweet Caporal 150 Factory 649

Most 150-350 Series poses* were printed with 9 or more of the possible 12 backs.  A few poses, such as Bresnahan (Portrait),  Griffith (Portrait), and Johnson (Portrait) were printed with all 12 backs.  In fact, Williams’ 8 backs is the lowest of any 150-350 Series pose that was printed for the entire production run*.

To the best of my knowledge, there are only three other poses in the 150-350 Series that were printed with just 8 different backs**.  Wid Conroy (Fielding) and Ed Hahn were printed with the exact same 8 backs that Williams was printed with.  Jiggs Donahue was also printed with 8 different backs, but with a slightly different mix.  Rather than an Old Mill back, Donahue was printed with a Sovereign 350 back.

On the field, Williams was a stud.  Three of his first four seasons were nothing short of incredible, and the other seven seasons were very solid.  In 1899, as a 22 year-old rookie for Pittsburgh, he had his best season.  In 153 games, he had 220 hits, a .354 Batting Average, and a .946 OPS.  He led the league in Triples with 27, and placed 3rd in the National League in WAR for Position Players with a 6.9 mark.

Limited to just 106 games in his second Major League season due to an ankle injury, Williams had a disappointing season.  He hit just .264 with an OPS of .712.

In 1901, he was back to full strength and put together another tremendous season.  This was his first season with the Baltimore Orioles.  He played in 130 games and had 159 hits.  21 of those hits were triples, which led the American League.  He hit .317 with a .883 OPS, which ranked 5th in the American League.

In 1902, he put up a remarkably similar season to his 1901 output.  For the third time, Williams led his league in triples, again hitting 21 of them.  In 125 games, he hit .313 to go with an OPS of .861, which was good for 6th in the A.L.

After those first four seasons, Williams came down to earth.  He played seven more years in the bigs, but never again hit .300.  He did however, continue to produce at a very high level.  Throughout his short 11-year career, he was extremely consistent.  If you ignore his second season (1900), in which he played only 106 games, and his final season (1909) when he played just 110 games,  that leaves nine seasons in which he played more or less full-time.  In seven of those nine seasons, he finished in the Top Ten in RBI for his league.  That’s pretty incredible!

In addition to being a very productive hitter, Williams provided value at a premium defensive position.  Williams spent his first three seasons at third base and shortstop.  In sharp contrast to his offensive statistics, he began his career as a subpar defensive player.  He made 67 errors as a rookie in 1899 and followed it up with 54 in just 104 games in 1900.  In 1901, his first season as a full-time second baseman, he committed another 52 errors, this time in 130 games.  He settled in a second baseman and his defense steadily improved.  From 1903 to 1909, his fielding percentage was never below .951.

As a testament to his improvement, in 1903, Williams was 4th in Defensive War in the A.L. with a mark of 1.7.  In 1904, he followed it up with a 1.2 dWar, which was good for 10th in the American League.  All in all, he had a fantastic career, albeit a short one.

One of my favorite things about collecting the T206 set is you can buy a card of an extremely good player like Jimmy Williams for the same price as a card of an obscure player who only played a few seasons in the minors.  If you’re the type of collector who likes to look for tough backs, you’ll want to find either an Old Mill, which is the toughest, or a Sovereign 150, which is also pretty hard-to-find.  If you don’t care too much about backs, a Piedmont or Sweet Caporal should be pretty easy to find.  Whatever you decide, you can’t go wrong.  I think an argument could be made that Jimmy Williams is the most underrated player in the entire set.

* Poses that were pulled from production early, or put into production late will be printed with less than 8 backs.  Examples of these poses are:  All of the 150 Only Subjects, All of the Elite 11 Subjects, as well as Crawford (Throwing) and Jennings (Portrait)

**I am pretty sure this group of 4 players is the full list, but it’s possible that I’m missing a player or two.  As far as I know, there aren’t any reliable checklists to look this up, so I had to go off the top of my head and check my memory against the individual back checklists on t206resource.com.  If I forgot any pose, please let me know in the comments section.