1911 – That T206 life

The Most Obscure Major Leaguer in the T206 Set

Luke July 19, 2017 July 23, 2017

In 1910, 31 year-old John Frill made his Major League debut with the New York Highlanders. He appeared in 10 games, starting 5 of them. He went 2-2 with an ERA of 4.47 over a total of 48 innings pitched. Nothing too interesting about any of that. Just a career Minor Leaguer getting a cup of coffee and eating some inning for the big league club. Only July 13th 1910, Frill was back in the Minors, his contract having been purchased by Eastern League club Jersey City. In 1911, he turned in a 16-17 record with a 3.78 ERA for the Jersey City club . That same year, American Tobacco Company made a curious decision when they included Frill in the 460-Only portion of the T206 set.

There is no shortage of obscure players in the T206 set, but Frill may be the most extreme example, at least among Major Leaguers. He was a bit of a late-bloomer in baseball terms. His first taste of professional ball came as a 27 year-old in the Connecticut State League, where he pitched parts of the 1906 Season with Bridgeport and Springfield starting 29 games and going 11-15. In 1907 he started 6 games for Newark of the Eastern League, before joining East Liverpool of the Pennsylvania-Ohio-Maryland League. He appeared in 30 games for East Liverpool, but no other stats were kept. In 1908, Frill re-joined Newark, where he turned in solid seasons in both 1908 and 1909. In 1908 he went 13-10 with a 2.39 Run Average (the ERA stat was not kept, presumably because errors were not recorded). In 1909 he was 16-13 with a 3.34 Run Average.

A mysterious figure, this little black and white thumbnail is the only picture I could find of John Frill

Including Frill in the set as a member of Newark in 1910 would have made a lot of sense. Including him as a member of the New York Highlanders in 1911 is a real head-scratcher however. My best guess as to why Frill was chosen for inclusion in the set is that he may have been a relatively well known player at the time as a result of his 1908 and 1909 campaigns in Newark. This still doesn’t make a lot of sense, as most fringy Major Leaguers in the set either had a long Major League career, or a short and notable one.

Whatever the reason, Frill’s T206 card is one of my favorite of the 460-Only Series. Though there are a number of cards with green grass and blue sky backgrounds, the colors on this one have always stood out to me.

In 1912, John Frill returned to big leagues for another cup of coffee. He appeared in 3 games with the St. Louis Browns before being selected off waivers by the Cincinnati Reds. He pitched in 3 games for the Reds, and then returned to the Minor Leagues for good. In 1915 he pitched for Albany and Syracuse of the New York State League before hanging up the spikes at 35 years of age. In 1918 he passed away far too young in Rhode Island at the age of 38.

John Frill’s T206 can be found with Uzit, Lenox, American Beauty 460 and Cycle 460 backs. The Uzit was recently discovered and is the only copy known as of this writing.

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.