1910 – That T206 life

T206 Player Bio: Harry Krause

Luke December 21, 2016 December 21, 2016

T206 Krause portrait — Krause won the AL pitching title in 1909 with a 1.39 ERA

In 1909 the Philadelphia Athletics rotation was absolutely stacked. Co-aces Eddie Plank and Chief Bender were flanked by Cy Morgan, Jack Coombs and a 20 year-old rookie name Harry Krause. Plank went 19-10 with a 1.76 ERA and Bender was 18-8 with a 1.66 ERA. Morgan won 16 and lost 11 with a stellar 1.65 ERA. Coombs went 12-11 and his 2.32 ERA was just about league-average. Krause managed to outperform all of them. The left-hander went 18-8 and led the American League with a 1.39 ERA.

It comes as no surprise that the American Tobacco Company rushed to include him in the 350 series print run. In 1910, they released not one, but two cards depicting him. We know them as the portrait and pitching poses.

Prior to his incredible 1909 campaign, Krause has only started 2 games in Major League Baseball. Just as quickly as he achieved stardom, he lost it. The Athletics were World Series Champions in 1910 and 1911, but Krause did not play a huge part in either title. Due to arm trouble he started only 11 games in 1910 and his ERA rose to 2.88. In 1911, his last full year in the majors, he went 11-8 with a 3.04 ERA. In 1912, he struggled and was sent to the Minor League Toledo Mud Hens. After a couple months, he was purchased by the Cleveland Naps, where he appeared in 2 games, posting an ERA of 11.57.

He threw his last pitch in the majors in 1912, but went on to have an impressive career in the Pacific Coast League. In 1913, he won 17 games for Portland with an ERA of 2.28. In 1917 he joined the Oakland Oaks, with whom he would play for the next 12 seasons. His stat line from 1917 is hard to believe. He threw an astounding 428.2 innings, winning 28 games and dropping 26. Despite that ridiculous workload, he put up an impressive 2.35 ERA.

When he finally hung up the cleats at the age of 40, he owned a 249-220 record and 3.22 ERA in 16 PCL seasons. After his career ended, he was inducted into the Pacific Coast League Hall of Fame.

Thank you to baseball-reference.com for all the stats.

Beware of Expensive “Missing Red” T206 cards

Luke December 19, 2016 December 18, 2016

T206 Beck missing red — Legit and very cool Beck missing red ink

A few years back, T206s that were missing a certain color got very popular and expensive. For a combination of reasons (printing process, the inks used, the way our eye processes colors, etc.) red is the easiest color to notice the absence of. During this “Missing Red” fad, a lot of cards were sold for high prices.

Some T206 were legitimately printed without red ink, while others were printed normally, and altered in the years after their production. The legit “missing reds” are cool cards and certainly worth paying a premium for due to their rarity. The problem is that neither PSA nor SGC is holdering missing ink cards at this time. There are a lot of cards out there in holders noted as “Missing Ink”, but they were all graded a few years back. So, if you want to add a T206 with missing red ink to your collection, you have to do the research to determine if it is legit on your own. In addition to doing your own homework, I highly recommend asking the opinion of someone you trust. I’m always happy to answer any questions you may have.

T206 Oakes Missing Ink — Adhesive residue covering the entire back

So, why are many of these “missing red” cards suspect? Red ink on a T206 is very prone to fading under certain conditions. Sunlight has been shown to fade red ink completely, while not altering the other colors nearly as much. If you see a card that is advertised as “missing red ink” but has a pinhole at the top, that is a very good indicator that the card was tacked to a wall and the red faded due to sunlight exposure. Also, many cards that appear to be missing red ink will have adhesive residue on the backs, or paper loss indicating that the card was once adhered to a scrapbook or some other surface. I believe that certain adhesives used back in the T206 era would cause the red ink to fade. It’s based on looking at thousands of scans and seeing patterns, but it is just my opinion. It’s also possible that all the “faded red” cards that we see with back damage or adhesive residue were displayed in the sunlight for years. If that is the case, then the sun is responsible. I think that exposure to sunlight and to certain adhesives are both likely causes.

T206 Huggins and Scott collage — Auctioned off in 2012, this awesome collage shows the effect that sunlight can have on a T206

The above collage was auctioned off by Huggins and Scott in 2012. Besides being an incredibly cool piece, it’s also very useful in that it shows us the effects of sunlight on T206 and other cards from the period. Take a look at the above Pickering, Grimshaw, and Lennox. Those three (and plenty of others) make it pretty clear that red ink can fade from the front of a T206.

There has been a lot of confusion over the years about these cards. Trustworthy sellers have sold faded cards as missing red and trustworthy grading companies have mistakenly slabbed faded and altered cards as “missing red”. Nobody’s perfect, and everyone makes mistakes. The grading companies have stopped slabbing these cards as “missing ink” and I don’t think we will see those same Auction Houses offer them for sale in the future.

T206 Griffith faded red — Paper loss, adhesive residue and fading

It’s important to use common sense when looking at cards that are touted as “missing ink”. These cards were printed over 100 years ago. A lot of things can happen to a piece of cardboard in 100 years. Occam’s razor applies here. If a card appears to be missing red ink, but it also looks a little faded, and maybe has some back damage, those are big red flags.

The main thing to keep in mind is that if the card is in really poor condition, the missing red ink is very likely to be due to an alteration, whether that be sunlight or chemical damage from an adhesive. If the price is low, go ahead and grab the card. They are cool oddities. But, before you spend hundreds of dollars on a card that supposedly is missing ink, do your homework and ask an experienced friend for help.

T206 missing red Harry Niles — Paper loss on the back caused by being glued to a scrapbook or display piece

The Incredible St. Louis T206 Drum Find of 2009

Luke December 10, 2016

In 2009, Legendary Auctions brought to auction an absolutely stunning group of 41 T206 Drum backs (and an additional 8 T205 Drums). This massive find was dubbed “The St. Louis Find” after the city the cards were found in*. This was by far the largest assemblage of Drum backs ever found. The cards are in amazing shape. They have stunning colors, and only a couple have creasing. Each card has corner wear that is remarkably consistent throughout the group, suggesting they were enjoyed a lot over the years but treated with care. They were auctioned off in April and June of 2009 and fetched prices between $2,040 and $7,200.

As you can see, they are a breath-taking group. I wanted to save the scans all in one place for posterity. Here is the entire list in alphabetical order:

Arellanes PSA 3
Atz PSA 2
Bescher portrait PSA 3.5
Charles PSA 3
Doolan batting PSA 3
Egan PSA 3
Elberfeld fielding PSA 3
Fletcher PSA 2
Gasper PSA 2
Graham, Peaches PSA 3

Hoblitzell PSA 2
Hofman PSA 3
Howell portrait PSA 3
Jordan batting PSA 2
Knabe PSA 3
Knight portrait PSA 3
Kroh PSA 3
Lake no ball PSA 3
LaPorte PSA 3
Lennox PSA 3

Manning pitching PSA 3
Marshall PSA 3
Milan PSA 3
Mitchell, Mike PSA 3
Mullen portrait PSA 2.5
Oakes PSA 3
Perring PSA 3
Pfeister PSA 2.5
Phelps PSA 2
Quinn PSA 3

Rhoades hands at chest PSA 1
Schmidt portrait PSA 3
Smith, Heinie PSA 3
Steinfeldt with bat PSA 2.5
Titus PSA 2.5
Wagner, Heinie bat on right shoulder PSA 2
Wilhelm with bat PSA 3
Willett PSA 2.5
Willetts PSA 2
Willis with bat PSA 3
Wiltse pitching PSA 2

* St. Louis has continued to be a hotbed for Drum finds in the intervening years. Four more were found there earlier in 2016 (Hayden, LaPorte, Schreck, & Starr).

I want to thank cardtarget.com for saving these scans so they could be enjoyed 7 years later. cardtarget.com tracks completed sales in an easy-to-use and well-organized interface. I highly recommend checking them out if you haven’t yet.