Luke – Page 8 – That T206 life

The “Rosetta Stone” of T206

Luke December 21, 2017 December 24, 2017

This week I’m excited to team up again with Jamie Blundell to tell the story of quite possibly the coolest T206 ever printed. Dubbed the “T206 Rosetta Stone” by net54’s resident T206 Freak, Johnny V., this card is truly one-of-a-kind. Whatever you choose to call it, it’s clearly the most impressive example of T206 Printer’s Scrap in existence. Its simple front gives no indication of the craziness awaiting you on the reverse.

The front features Southern Leaguer Dom Mullaney of Jacksonville. The back has so much going on that it’s almost impossible to pick up with the naked eye. Here is a full list of everything printed on the back of this card:

Brown Old Mill back (The rarest of all T206 backs)*
Upside Down Miscut Piedmont 350 back showing parts of 4 backs
El Principe de Gales back
Upside Down El Principe de Gales back
Upside Down ghost image of Cy Young (Portrait)
Yellow ink pass for Cy Young (Portrait)
Yellow ink pass for George Mullin (Throwing)

Below is a really cool graphic made by T206 collector Chris Browne. He isolated each individual component of the back for easier viewing.

This is one of my favorite T206s in the entire hobby. It’s crazy to think this card survived all these years, while none of the other cards from the same sheet did so. Someone must have salvaged the sheet this card was printed on, cut up the cards, and saved them. My guess is the main reason this particular card survived while others didn’t is the image of Cy Young on the back. I can imagine most of the other cards being discarded due to being both exceedingly strange and depicting a nondescript Southern Leaguer. The presence of Cy Young on this card no doubt elevated it to a higher status within the collection it resided in.

Multi-strike backs are rare enough, but the fact this one features a Brown Old Mill back and a Cy Young ghost (not to mention everything else) makes it an unbelievable, once-in-a-lifetime card. Since the T206 Wagner already staked claim to the term “Holy Grail”, I think “Rosetta Stone” is a fitting nickname for this incredible specimen.

Unlike many T206s whose provenance is a mystery, we can trace this card from its current owner all the way back to its original owner.

Timeline:

In 1970, this card was purchased by a nostalgia shop called Little Nemo’s in Queens, New York from the original owner’s family.
This card, along with around 180 other tobacco cards was purchased from Little Nemo’s by Tom McMorrow, the future owner of East Hampton Auctions on eBay.
In 2008, after owning the card for 38 years, East Hampton Auctions listed the card for auction on eBay. In an effort to promote the listing, he made the video below and posted it on YouTube, where it still resides. Mr. Mullaney (and friends) was won by the owner of the net54baseball.com forum, Leon Luckey, for a final bid of $9,750.

In addition to the video, Tom gave a little more information about the card’s history in the auction description, which was captured for posterity by the website, t206museum.com:

“This card was one of about 180 purchased in a shoebox from a nostalgia type store on Ascan Avenue in Queens, NY named Little Nemo’s back in the early 1970s. The store had just purchased them from original owner’s family. The collection was fairly typical for what a boy growing up in New York area would have collected back in 1911, weighted towards Hall of Famers (three Cobbs, at least five McGraw, several Matty, quite a few New York Giants in the group) all in Gd to Ex condition with a few lower grade, no reverse stock loss on any, and nothing out of the ordinary but for this one. It looked like a normal kid’s collection of baseball cards, much like the Topps cards I had collected in the 1960s. This card was probably obtained by that child back in 1911 the same way kids obtained their cards for generations, by trading, flipping, or straight out of the pack.”

-T206 Museum July 9, 2008

In August 2015, the Leon Luckey collection hit the auction block via Heritage. On August 13, 2015, with a final hammer price of $19,120, the “Rosetta Stone” found a new home in the collection of Jamie Blundell.

If you’ve been reading this site for awhile, you may remember the article I wrote with Jamie about his incredible T206 Ty Cobb Back Run. If you missed it, that article can be read by clicking on the link below:

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

It’s really surprising to me that the market wasn’t stronger for this card when it sold at auction. In my opinion, it’s much more desirable than any of the other Brown Old Mill Southern Leaguers. Don’t get me wrong, any Brown Old Mill is an amazing card, and isolating the Brown Old Mill back by itself is arguably more pleasing to the eye. I just feel the Rosetta Stone has a mystique unlike any other card, save perhaps the Eddie Collins With Bat Proof.

Brown Old Mill Southern Leaguers are incredibly rare. They are all hand-cut and were not distributed in cigarette packages. The prevailing theory is the printers used brown ink by mistake, and scrapped the sheets. The cards were then cut up and saved either by one of the printers themselves, or perhaps by kids from the neighborhood.

A few Brown Old Mill Southern Leaguers have sold publicly in the years since Jamie won the Rosetta Stone. I was surprised to see a couple of them sold for more than the Rosetta Stone:

Sid Smith SGC A sold for $24,000 in REA Spring 2015 auction

J.R. Helm SGC A sold for $14,400 in REA Spring 2016 auction

Dutch Revelle SGC A sold for $20,400 in REA Fall 2017 auction

I want to thank Jamie for sharing the story of this amazing card, and for providing me with much of the info presented above, which helped me put together the ownership timeline.

*Or the 2nd rarest if you consider the Ty Cobb back to be a T206

T206 Brown Hindu Power Rankings (Top Ten)

Luke December 15, 2017 December 17, 2017

Based on the feedback I’ve received from other Top Ten lists I’ve published, it seems like people enjoy them. So, I decided to put one together for my favorite back. Besides being one of the most aesthetically pleasing backs in the T206 set, Brown Hindu is notable for being the only back that is unique to the 150-350 Series*. There are 136 poses in the Brown Hindu Subset. Brown Hindu is the most valuable back for almost all of these 136 poses (with a handful of exceptions noted below)**.

I’ve attempted to list these these cards in terms of demand (current market value) from highest to lowest. I started with 17 poses and worked it down to ten. The other 7 are listed as honorable mentions below. As always, this is a subjective list and some readers may disagree with an exclusion or two. Overall, I think it’s about right though.

Without further ado:

1. Walter Johnson (Portrait)

2. Cy Young (Portrait)

3. Christy Mathewson (Portrait)

4. Christy Mathewson (White Cap)

5. Nap Lajoie (Portrait)

6. Joe Tinker (Portrait)

7. Mordecai Brown (Portrait)

8. Johnny Evers (Portrait)

9. Ed Walsh

10. Addie Joss (Portrait)

Honorable Mentions:

-Evers (Cubs on Shirt)
-Brown (Cubs on Shirt)
-Chance (Red Background Portrait)
-Lajoie (Throwing)
-McGraw (Portrait)
-Tinker (Hands on Knees)
-Waddell (Portrait)

*Sovereign 150 also technically falls into this category, but because Sovereign backs were printed throughout the set. Therefore, I feel Sovereign 150 has more in common with Old Mill and EPDG than Brown Hindu.

**The exceptions to this rule include the following “Elite Eleven” poses:

Dahlen Boston Piedmont 350
Ewing Piedmont 350
Ganley Piedmont 350
Jones, Tom Piedmont 350
Lindaman Piedmont 350
Schulte Piedmont 350
Shaw, Al Piedmont 350
Spencer Piedmont 350

Why was George Mullin (Throwing) Pulled From T206 Production Early?

Luke December 9, 2017 December 10, 2017

We know that George Mullin’s horizontal (or throwing) pose was pulled early in the Piedmont 350 print run and subsequently left off the print runs of Sovereign 350 and Old Mill entirely. What we don’t know is why. Mullin Throwing is a member of the “Elite 11” subset. The Poses in this subset share the same characteristics:

They were printed with El Principe de Gales backs. In my opinion it is likely that most, if not all of the Elite 11 poses were printed for the entire EPDG print run. That is debatable though, and some collectors feel these poses were pulled early from the EPDG print run.
They were all certainly pulled early from Piedmont 350 production
None of the 11 poses were printed with Sovereign 350, Sweet Caporal 350, or Old Mill backs

Many T206 back collectors have memorized the list below. Something I don’t think many people have considered is, “Why is Mullin included in this group?” All the other poses make sense, but Mullin sticks out like a sore thumb.

The “Elite 11”

Dahlen (Boston)
Ewing
Ganley
Jones, Tom
Karger
Lindaman
Lundgren Chicago
Mullin horizontal
Schaefer (Detroit)
Shaw, Al
Spencer

I’ll give a quick rundown of the reasons American Tobacco Company would have had for pulling each of the other 10 members of the “Elite 11” from Piedmont 350 production early. After that, we’ll take a look at why Mullin’s early exit from the Piedmont 350 print run is particularly curious.

Bill Dahlen
Released by the Boston Doves on October 23, 1909 and joined Brooklyn the following year. The artwork on his card was changed to reflect his new team and Dahlen (Brooklyn) took the place of Dahlen (Boston) for the remainder of the Piedmont 350 print run and SC 350 Sov350 and Old Mill print runs.

Bob Ewing
Traded from Cincinnati to the Philadelphia Phillies on January 20, 1910.

Bob Ganley
Selected off waivers by the Philadelphia Athletics on May 18, 1909.

Tom Jones
Traded to the Detroit Tigers on August 20, 1909.

Ed Karger
Purchased by St. Paul on June 9, 1909. He was then traded to the Boston Red Sox on July 26, 1909.

Vive Lineman
Played his final game in the Major Leagues in 1909.

Carl Lundgren
Played his final game in the Majors in 1909.

Germany Schaefer
Traded from Detroit to Washington on August 13, 1909.

Al Shaw
Played his last Major League game in 1909.

Tubby Spencer
Played just 28 games with the Boston Red Sox in 1909 and did not play in the Majors in 1910.

As you can see, there is a clear reason behind the early exit of each of the other 10 members of the “Elite 11” from the Piedmont 350 print run. But what about Mullin? He doesn’t share any characteristics with the 10 players above.

In 1909, he was at the top of his game. He appeared in 40 games, compiling a record of 29-8 to go with a 2.22 ERA. He led the American League in both Wins and Win Percentage. In the 1909 World Series, he appeared in four games, posting a record of 2-1 to go with a 2.25 ERA.

In 1910, he turned in another strong campaign, appearing in 38 games with a record of 21-12 and an ERA of 2.87.

Unlike the other 10 players, there is no obvious reason why ATC would have pulled Mullin’s (Throwing) pose from production. In fact, shortly after pulling this pose, they began printing his (Portrait) in the 350 Only Series and followed that with his (With Bat) pose soon after as part of the 350-460 Series.

Mullin’s (Portrait) features his name spelled as “Mullen”. One possible explanation for the early exit of his (Throwing) pose is ALC thought it had spelled his name wrong on the (Throwing) pose. This scenario makes some sense, as ALC spelled his name “Mullen” just months after pulling the (Throwing) pose from production prematurely. Not too long after that, they began producing his (With Bat) pose and again spelled his name “Mullin”, so I’m not sure we can say anything definitively about ALC’s thoughts with regard to the spelling of his name. In addition, there is precedent for ALC making a minor name change when dealing with a star player’s card (Sherry Magee’s “Magie” card). I would think George Mullin would have qualified as a star in the same way Magee did in 1910.

When I first got the idea to write this article, I hoped that Pat Romolo’s Piedmont 150 Plate Scratch research would shed some light on the topic. The Plate Scratch sheets that Pat recreated explain why the “150 Only” subjects were pulled from production early. I hoped I’d find something similar when I looked for Mullin (Throwing) on Pat’s Plate Scratch sheets. Unfortunately, the recreated sheet doesn’t offer any clues. Mullin (Throwing) is located in the top left corner of the sheet above. The image above is too small to show detail, so please click on the link below:

Piedmont 150 Plate Scratch “Sheet 3” featuring Mullin (Throwing)

The graphic below shows a small section of the sheet where Mullin is located. As you can see, Schaefer (Detroit) is located two to the left of Mullin. When I first saw Schaefer, I thought there might be a pattern. However, those hopes were quickly dashed by Mullin’s proximity to Donlin (Seated) and L. Tannehill, which were not pulled from production.

We may never know the exact reason for Mullin’s early exit, but like so many pieces of the T206 puzzle, it’s fun to try and piece it together.

Pulled From T206 Production Early: Mike “Doc” Powers

Luke December 7, 2017 December 3, 2017

In this series of articles, I’ll take a look at the poses that were pulled early from T206 production and the reasons behind their early exits. Most poses were pulled early either due to a trade, demotion to the Minors, or retirement. Sadly, the reason Powers was removed from further production is more tragic.

On Opening Day of the 1909 season (April 12th), Powers was injured when he crashed into a wall while chasing a foul pop up. In the 7th inning, he collapsed but recovered enough to stay in the game until it was finished. As soon as the game ended, Powers was taken to the hospital. The initial prognosis was optimistic.

The only thing that occurred to cast a shadow over the joy of the fans was the seizure of “Doc” Powers with acute gastritis in the seventh inning. The redoubtable catcher, however, refused to abandon his post behind the plate and though suffering intense agony, pluckily stuck to it until the end of the game. On the verge of collapse, he was taken to Northwest General Hospital where last night it was stated by the physicians attending him that he would probably be able to don a uniform again in a few days.
–Philadelphia Inquirer April 13, 1909

Unfortunately, things soon took a turn for the worse. It was discovered that Powers was suffering from a rare medical condition called intussusception. Intussusception is a disorder in which a part of the intestine slides telescopically into an adjacent part. It results in a blockage that can prevent food and fluids from passing through. Worse still, it cuts off the flow of blood to the blocked part of the intestine. In Powers’ case, over a foot of his intestine had become gangrenous due to lack of blood flow. Surgeons removed the gangrenous section and for about a week, it looked like he might fully recover. Unfortunately, a new blockage was soon discovered, leading to another -this time more intrusive- operation which was performed on April 20, 1909. For a few days, the outlook was again positive, but on April 25th it was decided that a third surgery was necessary. This surgery revealed that Powers was suffering from acute dilation of the heart. Though he was given blood transfusions and oxygen, there wasn’t anything the doctors could do to save him. On the morning of April 26, 1909 Mike Powers passed away.

The popular version of the story depicts Powers as the first Major League Ballplayer to die from injuries sustained during a game. There is even a story that Powers himself posited a bad cheese sandwich he had eaten before the game was to blame for his intestinal problems. Though being a doctor himself, I’m sure he understood what had in fact happened once he was in the hospital receiving treatment and undergoing surgery.

The “romantic” notion that he died as a result of an on-field injury dominates the stories written about him, even to this day. The truth is the injury merely brought his pre-existing condition to the attention of the doctors and surgeons at the hospital. Wikipedia still lists the cause of death as complications following the on-field injury.

In an attempt to clear up misconceptions and set the record straight about what really killed Mike Powers, the Philadelphia Inquirer published the following on April 28, 1909:

At the conclusion of the ball game on Monday, April 12, Powers was found to be suffering from interssusseption [sic]39 of the bowel, which can probably be better described in homely language as like the tuck put in a man’s shirt sleeve to shorten it when it is too long.

Interssusseption is a condition found most frequently in children and in individuals who have more or less gaseous intestinal distension, and can occur while peacefully lying in bed as readily as while strenuously exercising. The mortality is usually very high; it being regarded as a generally fatal condition.

The need for an operation on Powers was manifested by the fact that he had a mass in the right lower portion of his abdomen, giving excruciating pain, and the opening made into the abdomen over the site of the mass revealed the fact that the lower end of the small intestine had slipped into the colcum [sic] or upper end of the large intestine, rendering about fifteen inches of intestine devoid of blood supply by pressure, and consequent gangrene of this portion of the intestine.

Efforts to reduce this interssusseption or, in plainer language, to restore the intestine to its normal condition, were unavailing, and the fifteen inches of intestine involved were cut out and the ends of the severed intestine were united, with the result that the obstruction was removed and the patient’s symptoms for a week were such as to lead all to believe in his ultimate recovery. At this time, however, symptoms of obstruction recurred and it was found necessary to perform a second operation. An artificial anus was then established in the abdominal walls at the seat of the original operation, when the obstruction completely disappeared and the patient improved and partook of nourishment satisfactorily until Sunday morning, the 25th instant, when suddenly he developed acute dilatation of the heart with collapse. During the day a considerable quantity of liquid was introduced into his circulation directly through openings in his veins; oxygen was administered continuously, but under neither did he respond and death resulted at 9:14 a.m. Monday.

Philadelphia Inquirer, April 28, 1909.

The funeral was held at St. Elizabeth’s Roman Catholic Church on April 29, 1909. Doc Powers was buried in Saint Louis Cemetery in Louisville, Kentucky shortly thereafter.

The Athletics and Major League Baseball in general were stunned and saddened by Powers’ passing. Connie Mack called Powers the “most popular man of the Athletics”. Mack soon asked American League President Ban Johnson for permission to stage a benefit for Powers’ family. Johnson agreed, and the Athletics began preparations for “Doc Powers Day”, which was held on June 30, 1910 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. Doc Powers Day consisted of a skills competition followed by an exhibition game between the Philadelphia Athletics and an All Star team made up of players from other MLB clubs. Tickets cost between 10 cents and a dollar. Tris Speaker, Hal Chase, Jimmy Austin, Harry Hooper, Jake Stahl, Hippo Vaughn, and Germany Schaefer played for the All Star team.

The event was a huge success. When all was said and done, Doc Powers Day had raised approximately $8,000 for his widow and family.

SABR produced an excellent biography of Powers which tells the real story in it’s entirety. They go into much more detail than I do here. I highly recommend checking it out:

Footnotes:

39. The disorder was spelled differently in 1909 (“Interssusseption”) than it is today (“Intussusception”). The original spelling as it appeared in the surgeon’s report is used in the quotation as extracted from the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Sources:

http://sabr.org/research/ballpark-opens-and-ballplayer-dies-converging-fates-shibe-park-and-doc-powers

https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Doc_Powers

“Fully 35,000 Fans See Athletics Beat Boston in First Game of Season,” Philadelphia Inquirer, April 13, 1909.

T206 Collector Spotlight: Colton English

Luke November 26, 2017 November 26, 2017 1 Comment

I’ve written a few articles about some of my favorite T206 collections, and in the process we learned a little about the collectors themselves. But, up until now I haven’t focused specifically on the collector. This occurred to me recently and I figured it would be fun to start getting to know a little more about some of my fellow T206 collectors. This is the first installment of a new series of articles called Collector Spotlight. I think this will be a fun way to learn about some of the people with whom we share the hobby. It will also be interesting to read about the different ways that people are approaching the Monster.

For this week’s article, I caught up with Colton English, a hobby buddy I have made many deals with over the last couple years.

Q: When did you start collecting baseball cards?

A: I’m 33 years old today, I have been collecting baseball cards for as long as I can remember. When I was a young boy, my parents would buy me a pack of cards every time we went to the store. I used to sort out and keep all the Hall of Famers. I would put those in binders, the rest would build up in shoe boxes.

Q: What were you collecting then?

A: Back then I just collected up as many cards of each Hall of Famer that I could. Most of the cards I had were from the late ’80’s and early ’90’s.

Q: How did you wind up collecting T206s?

A. In 2004 (junior year in college) I opened an eBay account after browsing through the baseball card listings. I was drawn to the old cards because prior to this I had only seen them and read about them in magazines (I subscribed to Beckett Baseball growing up). I will submit a photo of my first pre-war card. Burleigh Grimes Strip Card for $6 total, including shipping. When it arrived in the mail, I was hooked. I concentrated on putting together multiple strip card sets from the ’20’s, ’30’s, and ’40’s at first because they were more affordable and quite frankly the idea of the T206 set was a bit overwhelming. However, I started buying them up when I could find a good deal or a cheap lot. In 2009 I needed some money and decided to sell all the 1933 Goudeys and T206s that I had collected. Actually, I sold all but 12 T206 Hall of Famers. I hid those away and strictly concentrated on completing the multiple strip card sets that I had begun. In 2014 I got bored waiting for the final key cards to complete my other sets to come along. I had always cherished those 12 T206s that I kept, and decided to pull the trigger and go for the T206 set.

Q: What is your current T206 collecting focus?

A: In the short time collecting this set, the focus has changed a few times already. I enjoy researching these things and have found the T206 set to be the most amazing set that I’ve ever concentrated on due to the massive amount of data that is out there. I have always found the rare and/or scarce backs to be the most interesting. I look at these as the “inserts” of today’s baseball card world. The idea of finding a T206 with maybe only a few other of the same front/back combinations known to exist is really neat to me. To have one that is the only known example (front/back combo) is way neater to me than to have the nicest card known to exist (grading wise) of say any given Piedmont pose. Further, I can’t afford the super high grade cards, so I have always leaned toward the low grade cards with the rare backs. About a year into collecting the set, I decided I wanted to put together as many rare back cards as I could. The current focus is to collect all 524 T206s with as many rare backs as possible. I try and concentrate on Hindu, EPDG, American Beauty, Cycle, Old Mill, Sovereign and Tolstoi backs. Further, I have decided to try and acquire a “back run” within the 76 Hall of Famers that make up the T206 set. I am trying to collect at least one of every tobacco brand back that was printed with a Hall of Fame front.

Q: Why did you decide to collect the set in that way? Was there a specific card you acquired that piqued your interest?

A: No specific card, just always drawn to the history of the set and I think the different back brands are a really cool trait that further distinguishes this set as arguably the best set to acquire of all time.

Q: Would you say you’re more of a set collector, back collector, HOF collector, team collector, etc?

A: I’m only interested in Hall of Fame cards post 1950. However, pre-1950 I would say I’m a set collector. Within the T206 set, I am most definitely a back collector.

Q: What is your favorite card in your collection? (feel free to name more than one if you can’t decide)

A: W515-2 Babe Ruth (#3 & #48)

W515-2 Strip(s)

W513 Complete Strip of 20

As for the T206s, all 12 of the ones I kept when I sold the rest in 2009 are my favorite, specifically the

T206 Marquard Cycle 460 & 350, both poses and both solid cards.

Q: What is your “dream card” that would be the centerpiece of your collection?

A: The Wagner of course.

Q: Who is your favorite player from the T206 set?

A: Walter Johnson, but I envy Birdie Cree’s name.

Q: I see from the scans you sent me that you have a number of raw cards that used to be graded. Do you prefer raw cards to graded cards?

A: My opinion on this has changed over the years. I do prefer raw cards to graded cards for the ease and conformity of storage, and have busted many cards out over the years. However, I seldom break the cards today as it has become more difficult to get them out for one and I find the graded cards hold their value a little better for trading purposes. I have long debated if I will want to someday have the collection slabbed, but remain undecided to date. I appreciate that the major graders’ databases have become public, but must weigh cost vs. value gained for my lower-grade collection … another interesting debate.

Q: Wagner aside, are there any more attainable cards or backs that you hope to add to the collection in the next few years?

A: I currently have over 300 different T206’s on the way to my quest for 524…..(we’ll see). Of those, over 200 have either an EPDG, American Beauty, Cycle, or Tolstoi back. Of which most are considered poor condition. At the top of my current wish list would be any Hall of Famer with a super rare back (Drum, Lenox, Uzit, Carolina Brights, Red Hindu, Broadleaf). Of course, I can only afford and would only be interested in these cards in lower-grade condition at a reasonable cost. Also, I’m currently looking for the third Jennings EPDG pose to complete the player back run. I currently have for trade a lower grade 1948 Bowman complete set and a partial set of 28 different lower grade 1909 E92 Dockmans (all commons except for Lajoie).

Southern Comfort: ‘Minor’ Subset, Major Undertaking

Luke November 19, 2017 November 19, 2017

Today, I’m excited to present a guest article, written by my friend Rob Dewolf. Enjoy! – Luke

Written by Rob Dewolf

Sometimes the best journeys are the ones you plan the least.

Spur-of-the-moment road trips with a college roommate. A weekend getaway with your significant other that comes together in an hour on Saturday morning. A split-second decision that leads to a 1 a.m. trek to the Taco Bell drive-thru.

OK, so maybe a little planning can be a good thing. But one of my best T206 excursions was one I never saw happening.

Because of my age (54) and early interest in baseball cards that continued through high school, I’m among those who can say, “I started collecting T206s in the 1980s.”

But honestly, that “collecting” was defined by picking up a stray white border at a card show now and then or buying a Hall of Famer when I could afford it. So, yeah, technically I “bought” T206s more than thirty years ago, but I wasn’t really “collecting” them.

That changed in 2012, when I decided to cautiously pursue a T206 Polar Bear subset, which seemed like a good fit for a number of reasons. First, it’s only 250 cards. I figured from a mental standpoint, that number wasn’t overwhelming (520, I’m looking at you). Plus, having been born and raised in Ohio, I feel a connection to Polar Bear backs because Factory 6, 1st District, which is listed on the backs of the cards, was located in the Buckeye State. Add the fact that Polar Bears aren’t common like Sweet Caporal or Piedmont but are readily available, and I felt good about the undertaking.

After about a year or so of enjoying and nearly finishing that challenge, I decided to keep plugging away and collect an entire set of T206s, minus the Honus Wagner, Eddie Plank and Joe Doyle error. (A fortunate series of events down the road led to the acquisition of a Plank, but that’s another story – one that can be read by clicking this link: Lionel Carter’s T206 Eddie Plank)

My next step toward a set was to knock off the Southern Leaguers. Because nearly half my T206 set was going to have a Polar Bear back, I decided I wanted the SLers subset to have an “uncommon common” back, i.e. not Piedmonts. This left Old Mills and Hindus as my choices. The Hindus, because of their scarcity, seemed too daunting a challenge, not to mention that only 34 of the 48 Southern League subjects come with a Hindu back. The Old Mills, however, much like the Polar Bears I had been collecting, were uncommon yet attainable.

The timing of this decision was nearly perfect. Not long after looking for a starter lot of Old Mill Southern Leaguers, a near-complete group in mid-range condition came up for auction. I was able to buy it, and after filling in the holes and picking up the last few Polar Bears I was missing, my T206 project was at 298 cards.

Fast-forward to about a year later. My set was “complete” at 520 cards (the Plank deal hadn’t happened yet), but I wasn’t ready to quit on T206s. After considering a few different possible projects (another set, this one in lower grade; Cleveland players with tougher backs; an all-portrait set), I settled on expanding my southern-league horizon. Wouldn’t it be cool, I thought, to have all of the Southern Leaguers with all of the three different backs? A total of 130 cards, 48 each with Piedmont and Old Mill backs, 34 with Hindus.

The Piedmonts weren’t too tough, even when waiting for strong mid-range examples (Side note: This is one of the truly nice things about collecting T206s. There are so many of them out there, you have your choice of what condition you want, and unless you’re collecting PSA 8s, you rarely feel you’ve hit a wall).

So, while picking up Piedmonts at a steady pace, I started on the Hindus, buying one here and one there and not being as particular on condition as I was with the Piedmonts and Old Mills. In addition to there not being as many Hindu SLers as there are ones with the other two backs, it’s a challenge finding all of them in strong, mid-range condition. Sure, you can pick up a type card in a 3, 4 or 5 holder without much trouble. But when you’ve got 20 or so Hindu SLers crossed off your want list, finding that final dozen in nice shape is a fun hunt.

I was fortunate during my entire T206 journey, and in particular the southern-league side trip, to have Jim Rivera helping me. Jim is a friend — not just a “hobby friend” (whatever that means), but a true friend who has forgotten more about T206s than many collectors know. Jim has a particular fondness for the Southern Leaguers, and at one point his collection of not only T206 SLers but also those in the T210 Old Mill and T211 Red Sun sets was something to marvel at.

After working a deal to buy seven of Jim’s extra Hindu SLers, coupled with the handful I already had bought, I had a good start toward completing the SL trifecta. Months followed of buying one here and there and upgrading when I could.

More than once I bought lots of 10-20 cards in auctions only to get the two or three Piedmont or Hindu SLers I didn’t have. Another big plus to collecting T206s: Because they are so popular, they’re about as liquid as cardboard can get, meaning if you buy a large lot of T206s because you need only a few, finding buyers for your extras is relatively easy. (Assuming you didn’t overpay in the first place.)

My march to completion, while not conducted at a breakneck speed, was at a comfortable pace. Southern Leaguers are always are popping up on eBay and in auctions, and rarely do you feel any of them are “must-haves” that cause you to overpay (unless you’re impatient, which – as you’re about to learn- I can be).

Finally, the Piedmonts were finished and I was one Hindu away from being able to say “Mission accomplished!” (Wait, does anyone really say that anymore?) Regardless, my white whale took the form of Dutch Jordan, one of the more popular Southern Leaguers, which I figured would lead me to paying a bit more than the normal rate, but this card was not one that I counted on being tough to buy.

Now, admittedly, the ease of closing the books on a set or subset, unless the card you’re seeking is truly rare, really is dictated by timing. A Hindu Jordan really shouldn’t be any tougher to find than a Scoops Carey or George Paige. Often, it’s just a matter of being fortunate to have one come up for sale at the time you’re looking to buy. And I realized this when weeks turned to months and no Hindu Jordans hit eBay or the auction houses.

In fact, in a bit of irony, a blank-backed T206 Jordan became available in a Robert Edward Auction while I was searching for a Hindu. I bought the blank back, which is maybe a thousand times rarer than a Hindu SLer, thinking that perhaps down the road it might be part of a trade for a Jordan if I was unable to buy one.

As more time passed, that gaping hole caused by Jordan’s absence became more and more annoying to me, particularly because I had been in contact with a T206 collector who had multiples of a Hindu Jordan but didn’t want to sell one. Finally, it got to the point where I emailed him to see whether he had interest in trading for my blank-backed Jordan, thinking it would bring the Hindu Jordan and another T206 or two in return.

I’ll spare the blow-by-blow account of the negotiation, other than to say the pursuit of cardboard pictures of dead baseball players can cause an otherwise fairly smart person to do not-so-smart things. Such was the case when I agreed to trade the blank-backed Jordan straight up for the Hindu. This, after the owner of the Hindu said he reluctantly would do the deal.

Even though I knew I was trading a card I had paid $2,000-plus for at auction for a card that would sell for $600 on a good day, I made the deal. Was it dumb? Monetarily, of course. But I assumed that the satisfaction of completing a pretty challenging subset would help numb the fact that I was committing a financial blunder.

And for a while it did. But eventually, whenever I looked at the Hindu Jordan, I felt a different kind of annoyance. And it had nothing to do with money. I’m kind of old-school, so I can remember when card collectors made trades based not solely on money but on what one party had available and the other party needed. I knew that on the surface, that’s kind of what happened with me and the Jordans, but deep down, I knew I had acted foolishly, simply because I was impatient. I’m certainly not crying foul, because I agreed to the deal. I was to blame for any annoyance I felt. But I also knew there was a way to rectify the situation.

Eventually, as I knew one would, a Hindu Jordan came up for sale. In fact, it happened not more than a few months after the trade. I was in worse condition than the one I traded for, but I didn’t mind a bit. Bought it without hesitation.

I no longer wanted the “first” Hindu Jordan, so I mailed it back to its previous owner, not expecting anything in return. I received an email about a week later, saying he appreciated the gesture “more than you know” and that he’d return the blank-backed Jordan. That was more than two years ago. I guess somewhere in the USPS system is a lost blank-backed Dutch Jordan searching for a home. I hope he’s well.

Looking back, my T206 projects were a lot of fun. I really enjoy the Southern League master set and still casually watch for a few upgrades. Plus, the experience left me with my own set of “Jordan rules”: Don’t get too emotional when it comes to baseball cards, and stay patient.

Written by Rob Dewolf

Some Southern Leaguer oddities that Rob added to his Master Set

Pat Romolo’s T206 Piedmont 150 Plate Scratch Project (Part 2/2)

Luke March 10, 2018 November 12, 2017

On February 6th 2016, Pat posted a thread on net54 titled “I Believe This Could Be A Complete Horizontal Layout For This T206 Sheet”. In it, he goes into great detail about how he re-created a Piedmont 150 sheet by connecting the Plate Scratches on the backs of the cards.

In Part One of this article, I posted a Cliffs Notes version of Pat’s net54 thread. You can read Part One by clicking the link below:

Pat Romolo’s T206 Piedmont 150 Plate Scratch Project (Part 1/2)

Piedmont 150 Bull Durham with dark plate scratch on the back

For Part Two, I wanted to dive in a little deeper. Pat was kind enough to work with me by providing scans and answering all the questions I had. Our conversation is below:

Q: How long have you been collecting T206?

A: I purchased my first T206s at the 2003 National in Atlantic City. I don’t remember exactly how many, but it was around ten raw Fair-to-VG commons that included a couple of Sovereigns and a Jennings (One Hand) in a PSA 5 holder.

Q: Before beginning to collect the P150 Plate Scratches, how did you collect the set?

A: I never really had a strategy, but early on I did have a phase when I was collecting non-Piedmonts and Sweet Caporals (like many T206 collectors, I wish I had stayed with that longer).

Q: How did you first become interested in the plate scratches?

A: When Steve Birmingham started the thread on Net54 about the plate scratches, he was looking for scans. So I checked my collection and found that I had one. I started tracking ebay and past sales looking for scans to send Steve. Each one I found motivated me to search for more, hoping he would be able to come up with a sheet layout from them.

Q: Do you remember the first card you owned that had a plate scratch?

A: It was a Shipke scratch that I had in my collection and, coincidentally it matched up next to one of the Cobb scans that Steve had.

Q: What gave you the idea to try and re-create an entire sheet of Piedmont 150s using the plate scratches?

A: Once again, all the credit goes to Steve. Steve and I were emailing back and forth. I was sending him scans of the scratches I found and he was working on trying to piece a sheet together. At the time it seemed like he was gaining the most traction around the Cobb, but in a couple of our emails he stated he didn’t have much free time to work on it. I don’t think anyone was sure if there was more than one sheet involved, but I decided to try and see what I could come up with from a Seymour I had with a double scratch on it.

The circled pink mark offers more evidence that Seymour and Cicotte were neighbors on this Piedmont 150 sheet

Q: Can you share any breakthroughs that you have had while working on it?

A: There have been several, but I would say three of the main ones are:

The first time I found an unconfirmed scratch using a template I made off the Seymour scratch.
Finding a Seymour with a print mark on the front that connected to a mark on the front of a Cicotte (Seymour and Cicotte have several different scratches on the back that link them together).
Filling the last missing slot on what I call the “A-B sheet”.

Q: Have you had any missing pieces to the puzzle that have taken you a very long time to find?

A: There are still a few that I think should exist and probably a lot more I don’t know about. I think the A-B Sheet is complete minus a second subject that matches O’Leary, but I can’t say for sure. It took me four years to find a Gibson that filled the Gibson/Bresnahan slot in the A-B Sheet. A month or two later, I found the Bresnahan. Also, Steve had sent me a scan of a Powell scratch that I could never find another scan of until one was listed on ebay about a month ago. Coincidentally, another one popped up a couple weeks later. So it took me almost five years to find one, and then two showed up within weeks of each other.

Q: Do you try to own a copy of each scratch, or are you generally happy to just save scans?

A: In the very beginning I was just saving scans, but I purchased a couple of the cheaper ones when I saw them on ebay. I found when I had them in hand I could glean more information from them. I have a few that had a second scratch on them that I didn’t notice until I had them. I have also picked up a few that only had front scans in the listing but I knew they were plate scratches because of a flaw on the front. I have at least one copy of the majority of them, but I do lack most of the expensive ones. There are four different Cobb (Bat on) scratches, two Cobb (Green Portrait), three Johnson (Portrait), three Mathewson (White Cap) and one Mathewson (Portrait). I do have one of the Cobb (Bat On), but the rest are too expensive for me.

Q: Is there anything I didn’t think to ask that you have learned from your work on this project?

A: On a side note, the mystery surrounding the Plank continues over to the Plate Scratches. There are only a few (all hand-cut) Piedmont 150 Planks, but two of them have the same Plate Scratch. The Plate Scratch on the Plank goes almost straight across. All of the other Plate Scratches are on a few different angles, so the Plank doesn’t match up with any of them.

I do have a theory about why this might be. Awhile back someone mentioned that the scratches could have been caused by a nail or something on a shelf they were stored on. I have seen pictures of the stones on shelves and also on pallets.

If a worker taking one of the stones off the shelf or pallet slid it back and turned it to grab one of the corners, it would create a straight scratch for a couple of inches and an angled scratch across the rest of the stones. If Plank was on the end of a sheet, that would cause the straight scratch that’s seen on the two examples.

Pat Romolo’s T206 Piedmont 150 Plate Scratch Project (Part 1/2)

Luke November 5, 2017 November 5, 2017

On February 6th, 2016, Pat Romolo posted a thread on net54 titled “I Believe This Could Be A Complete Horizontal Layout For This T206 Sheet”. In it, he goes into great detail on how he put together a complete Piedmont 150 sheet, using Plate Scratches on the backs of the cards. I asked Pat to explain his Piedmont 150 Plate Scratch project, and this is what he said,

At some point, damage occurred to a few of the stones used for the Piedmont 150 back plates. The damage might have been caused by something between the stones or something on a shelf or pallet that they were stored on. It’s also possible that it could have been caused by cracks in the limestone, but I’m leaning more towards the scratches.

This two part series is meant to be a companion piece to Pat’s net54 thread. Think of them as a Cliffs Notes of sorts. I’ve done my best to summarize the most significant discoveries Pat has made, but I strongly urge you to follow this link and read the net54 thread in its entirety:

I Believe This Could Be A Complete Horizontal Layout For This T206 Sheet

In Part One, we’ll take a look at some of the most important posts from the thread:

Post #2

Pat unveils the complete sheet, which he has re-created. This particular sheet is composed of 17 different poses from left to right and each pose is repeated 12 times vertically (the image at the top of this article).

Post #13

Erick Summers responds to an earlier question by pointing out that to date, no Piedmont 150 backed “two-namer” card has been found with a plate scratch. The sheet that Pat re-created has the same subjects repeated vertically. We know that some sheets had more than one player in a vertical column because a number of “two-namer” cards like the Hinchman-Stovall below have been found. The fact that no “two-namers” have been found with a plate scratch means the sheet layouts were changed over time. Before Pat put this sheet together, I think most T206 collectors (at least the ones who are really into the minutiae) believed that most sheets were 17 poses wide and featured at least 2 subjects repeated vertically.*

T206 Hinchman/Stovall Piedmont 150 “two namer”

Post #34

In response to a comment made by a member who was having trouble understanding the significance of the project, Pat posted an additional bit of supporting evidence. Seymour (Batting) and Cicotte appear next to each other on the re-created sheet because the Plate Scratches on the back show that they were neighbors. Pat posted front scans of each pose sharing a pink mark on the front that confirms they were right next to each other.

Post #45

Pat posts a scan of a mis-cut Sheckard (No Glove Showing) with Goode showing on the right side with a Sweet Caporal 150 Factory 30 back. One of the missing spots in Pat’s template was next to Goode. Pat had looked for a Sheckard with Plate Scratch for awhile with no luck until finding one that fit the template the day he made this post.

Post #47

Pat posts:

I was pretty sure before but now I’m positive this sheet mirrors a SC150/649
sheet and I think this is one of two 649 sheets that were printed.

This is a huge discovery. I had wondered in the past how the 34 poses in the Sweet Caporal 150 Factory 649 subset were chosen. The players chosen never made much sense to me. Pat has proven they were selected pretty much at random. The printers just used two sheets that they had handy.

Post #50

Pat posts a summary of what he has learned up to that point.

This 3 card section shows the scratches up close

*The 460 Only series is an exception to this loose rule of thumb. To date, we haven’t found any “two-namers” from the 460 Only Series, leading us to believe that vertical rows most likely featured only one pose.

One-Year Anniversary Giveaway Winners

Luke October 31, 2017

I just did the drawing for the giveaway. The video can be seen on my instagram page ( That T206 Life ). I want to give a big thank you to everyone who participated in the giveaway and everyone who visits my site. I greatly appreciate it!

The Winners:

1st Prize: Bill Brown

2nd Prize: Kyle May

3rd Prize: Bigdaddy (net54 user name)

T206 Carolina Brights Power Rankings: The Top Ten Poses

Luke October 30, 2017 October 29, 2017

I received some good feedback the last time I posted a Power Rankings article, and I figure it’s about time for another one. Last week, I wrote a little introduction to the Carolina Brights subset, and as a fun companion piece, here are the top ten poses available with Carolina Brights backs.

It was a little tough to decide how to rank these cards. My main objective was to rank them according to level of stardom of the players, but I also wanted to take into consideration that some of these poses are available with less backs than others. For example, I ended up ranking Speaker above Mathewson because Speaker, a 350 Only Subject, was printed with fewer rare backs (only Carolina Brights, Broad Leaf 350, and Drum) than Mathewson Dark Cap (a Super Print).

The one thing I couldn’t figure out how to incorporate was individual scarcity. For example, Chase Blue Portrait with a Carolina Brights back is very scarce. If a nice one came to auction right now, it would likely sell for more than many of the players above Chase on this list. But because I couldn’t figure out a good way to quantify that, I have just stuck with a mix of stardom and desirability. I’m sure many of you would rank these slightly differently, but I feel like it’s a pretty good list. Let me know what you think in the comments section!