T206 – Page 5 – That T206 life

The T206 Eddie Collins With Bat Proof

Luke July 15, 2017 July 16, 2017

The Collins Proof above is probably my favorite T206. This unique card walked into a card show in New York in the 1970’s. It was brought to the show by a relative of someone who worked directly with proof production for the T206 and T3 sets. No one knows why this pose didn’t make it into T206 production. The Portrait is an iconic pose, but this With Bat pose would have been a great complement to it.

A copy of the 1994 REA catalog which featured the Collins Proof – The first time it had been offered publicly

The card speaks for itself, but the story of who has owned it over the years adds to its mystique. Rob Lifson, who went on to run Robert Edwards Auctions (REA) purchased it and sold it soon after to Bill Mastro at a different show. Mastro recognized that it was an unissued pose and jumped at the chance to buy it for $17. He told Lifson that it was unissued only after he had bought it. Realizing the significance of the card, Lifson decided to re-acquire it. He had to give Mastro $2,000 in trade, but he left the show with it. He then sold the proof to high profile collector Barry Halper for $2,500 when he got home.

In 1994, Halper consigned the Collins Proof to Lifson to sell in REA’s January Auction. The minimum bid was set at $50,000 and the lot received just one bid, selling for a post-juice $56,000. The new owner was none other than actor Charlie Sheen.

The two legendary baseball card collectors who have owned the Collins Proof

In 2000, Leland’s auctioned off the card, and it sold for $24,930. This time, it was purchased by Keith Olbermann, and it resides in his collection to this day. In 2011, Olbermann wrote the following in his MLB blog:

“I’d like to thank him (Charlie Sheen) belatedly for the T206 Collins Proof card, by the way.”

In the below issue of The Trader Speaks, the question of whether the Collins Proof was a more significant card that the T206 Honus Wagner was posed. Today most collectors would opt for the Wagner if given the choice, but there are a few who would prefer the Collins.

There’s no way to know for sure what the Collins Proof would sell for in today’s market, but it would not shock me at all if it sold for low-to-mid six figures.

I’d like to thank Keith Olbermann and t206resource.com and for the use his/their scanas well as info used from the article entitled “The Olbermann Proofs” and Rob Lifson for his summary of the history of the Collins Proof, which can be read on the Full Count Vintage Baseball Card Forum here.

The “Dark Ink” Connection Between The T206 Sweet Caporal Factory 649 Subset, 150-350 Old Mill Subset, and the Elite Eleven: Part Four

Luke July 8, 2017 July 9, 2017

It’s probably not possible for us to ever know with certainty how many different print runs made up the 350 portion of the 150-350 Series. I think it’s pretty clear there were at least three distinct stages, but beyond that it gets really tricky to say anything with certainty.

I was chatting with my friend Steve Birmingham about this topic recently. Anytime I have a question the printing processes used for T206 production, I ask Steve. He mentioned my observation about the Sweet Caporal 150 Factory 649 and Sovereign 350 connection that I wrote about in Part Two of this series. I noted that only 10 of the 34 subjects in the SC 150/649 Subset were printed with Sovereign 350 backs. This was a departure from Old Mill, Piedmont 350 and SC 350/25 & SC 350/30 print runs which used the majority of the 34 subjects that make up the SC 150/649 subset.

Ten subjects with overlap between SC 649 and Sov 350fg, and only three of those seen with dark ink. That very clearly speaks to different print runs with different sheet layouts each time.

I have to agree. Printing the Sovereign 350 sheets was clearly not as simple as just reusing the layout from an earlier 150 Series sheet. This knowledge may get us closer to understanding the printing process, but it probably creates more questions than it answers. The fact that they used just ten SC 150/649 subjects for the Sov350 print run may mean that it was relatively easy for the printers at ALC to swap poses in or out of a sheet. If this was a common practice, it would be nearly impossible for us to recreate or make sense of the sheet layout for the 350 portion of the 150-350 Series.

I let that idea marinate for a little while, thinking to myself that this puzzle seemed not only immense, but daunting. I had to chuckle when I got Steve’s next email. It seemed we were feeling the same way:

Every time I get into this stuff I realize more and more that Heitman was incredibly right to call it “the Monster”. It looks simple enough, 524 cards with different backs, then you realize that some “common” backs on some cards are anything but common. Then you try to pin it down to sheet sizes, and print groups, and with outliers, and a handful of obvious changes during a run it becomes clear that even a few print groups aren’t really enough. And that it’s more like 12, maybe more.

I also wanted Steve’s opinion on what created the “Dark Ink” and “Washed Out” cards that I’ve discussed earlier in this series. Much like the questions I have about print layouts, there aren’t any easy answers.

Why they’re darker probably won’t be easily solvable. One possibility is that the adjustments to the art between 150 and 350 were intended to save on ink- trivial for one card, but over several thousand it adds up. I can see ATC asking for and getting a volume discount, and also ALC cutting a few corners to preserve profits. Of course, looking at Gilbert that makes no sense! The red in the sky is far more extensive, so they didn’t save much by messing with the art.

Of course, the opposite could be true in a couple ways. ALC could have requested that the cards look more vibrant, and darkening colors and adding a bit more of brighter ones would do that. But it might have cost extra, so they could have decided to tone it back down later.

I don’t really buy the worn plates concept for the more washed out ones. It’s possible, but they’re pretty common, and I doubt they’d run for that long on worn plates. It’s more likely another deliberate adjustment to the art. And a more likely cost cutting move. Plates only lasted so long, especially when using stones. So they would have needed regular replacement.

I imagine I will spend more time in the future trying to make sense of it all. Thanks as always for stopping by to read my articles. And thank you yet again to Steve for helping me understand the printing process used by ALC in the production of T206 cards.

The “Dark Ink” Connection Between The T206 Sweet Caporal Factory 649 Subset, 150-350 Old Mill Subset, and the Elite Eleven: Part Three

Luke July 7, 2017 July 2, 2017

I spent the first two parts of this series talking about the “Dark Ink” cards from the 350 portion of the 150-350 Series and what we can learn from them. Now, it’s time to move on to the “Washed Out” cards. These are cards that look a bit “fuzzy” and have muted colors. They exist with the following backs:

Old Mill

Piedmont 350

Sovereign 350

Sweet Caporal 350 Factory 25

Sweet Caporal 350 Factory 30

El Principe de Gales stands out as the only 150-350 Series back that was printed during the 350 portion of the print run to not appear above. EPDG backs were printed directly after the 150 Print Runs and before all other 350 Backs (Old Mill, P350, Sov350, SC 350/25 & SC 350/30). There are not any “Washed Out” images with 150 Series backs, and there are none with EPDG either. What this means is that the Washed Out images appeared later on in the 350 Print Runs.

The accepted theory on the “Washed Out” images of the 150-350 Series is that the printing stones became worn over time, which produced the images we see above. The colors are less sharp and the lines are less defined on the “Washed Out” images than the cards printed in 1909 at the beginning of the 150 Print Run.

This is where the Elite 11 come into play. The following 11 poses are known as the “Elite 11”:

Dahlen Boston
Ewing
Ganley
Jones, Tom
Karger
Lindaman
Lundgren Chicago
Mullin horizontal
Schaefer Detroit
Shaw St. Louis
Spencer

These 11 poses follow a similar pattern. They were all printed with EPDG backs and Piedmont 350 backs, before being pulled from production. They don’t exist with Old Mill, Sovereign 350 or Sweet Caporal 350 backs.

They don’t appear to have been pulled from EPDG production. I’ve read that theory in the past, but I don’t believe there is enough evidence to support such a conclusion. The only Elite 11 pose that is truly scarce with EPDG back is Bill Dahlen Boston. He may have been pulled from production before the EPDG print run concluded, but it could also just be a result of a normal distribution variance.

“Elite 11” Piedmont 350 Germany Schaefer

So, What do the Elite 11 Have to do With This?

We know they were printed briefly at the beginning of the Piedmont 350 print run, and then quickly pulled. I’ve made the observation over the last few years of collecting these cards that none of the Elite 11 Piedmont 350s have either “Dark Ink” or the “Washed Out” look. They all look just like their Piedmont 150 and EPDG counterparts.

What this means is there were multiple distinct print runs for Piedmont 350 backs. Initially, the fronts looked similar to Piedmont 150s, but by the end of Piedmont 350 production, some of the fronts looked “Washed Out”, and others were printed with “Dark Ink”.

I don’t know how many distinct print runs it took to create all of the Piedmont 350s, but I think it’s pretty clear that it was at least three. The early run produced the Elite 11 poses. They look the same as the Piedmont 150s of those players. The “Dark Ink” and “Washed Out” sheets came later. At this point, I don’t know if there is any way to tell which came first. I used Piedmont 350 backs to make the point about the Elite 11, but the same patterns hold true for most of the other backs we have been discussing.

150-350 Series Old Mills exhibit the three distinct print qualities that I noted in Part One of this series. That points toward at least three print runs. The same appears to be true of Sweet Caporal 350/25 and Sweet Caporal 350/30.

Where Sovereign 350 Stands Out

It appears to me that 150-350 Series Sovereign 350s have two distinct print qualities. There are some Sovereign 350 fronts that look just like 150 fronts, but most Sovereign 350s look at least a little washed out but with normal colors. My guess is the majority of Sovereign 350 backs were printed towards the end of the 350 portion of 150-350 Series production when the printing stones were worn down.

The “Dark Ink” Connection Between The T206 Sweet Caporal Factory 649 Subset, 150-350 Old Mill Subset, and the Elite Eleven: Part Two

Luke July 1, 2017 June 25, 2017

A normal looking Sovereign 150 Gilbert on the left, and a “dark ink” Old Mill on the left

In the first part of this series, I introduced the three distinct print qualities that can be found on poses from the 150-350 Series with Old Mill backs. The Gilbert above is a good example of a “dark ink” Old Mill. This “dark ink” phenomenon is not exclusive to Old Mills. It can be observed on the following 150-350 Series backs:

1. Old Mill

2. Piedmont 350

3. Sweet Caporal 350 factory 25

“Dark Ink” Manning Sweet Caporal 350 Factory 25. Sorry about the blurry scan. It was hard to find a scan with this back.

4. Sweet Caporal 350 Factory 30

You’ll notice that the following 150-350 series backs are not a part of the above list:

El Principe de Gales
Sovereign 350 Forest Green

EPDG was the first back printed in the 350 portion of the 150-350 Series. The fact that no EPDGs have been found with “dark ink” on the fronts is interesting, but not too surprising. 150-350 Series poses with EPDG backs look very similar to their 150 Series counterparts because they were printed soon after.

At this point, the jury is still out on whether there are any 150-350 Series Subjects out there with a “dark ink” front and a Sovereign 350 back. I expect that there are, but I haven’t been able to find any scans to prove it.

Where the Sweet Caporal 150 Factory 649 Subset Comes In:

The most hardcore T206 nerds among us may notice that the five poses pictured above all have something in common. They are among the 34 poses that comprise the Sweet Caporal 150 Factory 649 Subset. The common theme with the majority of these “dark ink” cards is that they are poses that can be found with SC 150/649 backs. So far, I have only found a few that feature players who are not a part of the Sweet Caporal 150 Factory 649 Subset. The Keeler Old Mill below is one example.

Two paragraphs ago I mentioned that I have yet to find a “Dark Ink” front with a 150-350 Series Sovereign 350 Forest Green back. The pattern would dictate that they do exist, but there is a reason why they would be tougher to find than a copy with Old Mill, Piedmont 350 or Sweet Caporal 350.

The Old Mill, Piedmont 350 and Sweet Caporal 350 Subsets all contain the majority of poses that make up the Sweet Caporal 150 Factory 649 Subset. The Sovereign 350 Subset only contains 10 poses that are part of the SC 150/649 Subset. Therefore, it is a lot tougher to find examples with Sovereign 350 backs to examine. Here are the 10 poses that exist with both SC 150/649 and Sovereign 350 Forest Green:

Bresnahan Portrait
Davis, George
Goode
Griffith Portrait
Johnson Portrait
Killian Hands at Chest
Liebhardt
Manning Batting
O’Leary Portrait
Sheckard No Glove Showing

Of these 10, I have seen “Dark Ink” cards featuring only Killian, Liebhardt, and Manning. I expect that one or all of those three poses will be found with a Dark Ink Sovereign 350. If you have one or have a scan of one, please let me know.

In Part Three, I’ll explain what the Elite 11 and the “Washed Out” Old Mill, Piedmont 350, and Sweet Caporal 350s can teach us about the 350 portion of 150-350 Series Print Runs.

The “Dark Ink” Connection Between The T206 Sweet Caporal Factory 649 Subset, 150-350 Old Mill Subset, and the Elite Eleven: Part One

Luke June 18, 2017

When you’ve handled enough T206s, certain patterns start to take shape. It starts by noticing something small that seems a little odd on a certain card. Most of the time these slight variations between cards are due to the inexact nature of the printing processes and don’t point us toward a larger pattern. However, after you see the same oddities a few times with the same card, or a group of cards that can be linked together in some way, that’s when some interesting patterns can start to take shape.

Typically the articles that I write are completely researched before I publish them, but this group of articles will be a little different. With this subject matter, it’s hard to “prove” anything, so I am content to just throw the idea out there for now. One huge obstacle in trying to put together the pieces of this puzzle is that these 150-350 Series Old Mills are scarce. Connecting the dots necessarily requires putting faith in the conclusions drawn from examining a small set of examples. But, I figure I have handled more 150-350 Old Mills than just about anyone, so I feel qualified to throw out a new theory regarding them. I’ll be interested to see what other people think, and I will continue to delve into the topic in the future.

This series of articles is going to take a look at the three backs noted above, but it feels natural to start with Old Mill, even though they were printed last. I’ve studied T206s with Old Mill backs more extensively than any other back, and it was looking at Old Mills that lead me down this train of thought.

There are three distinct print qualities that I have observed on dozens of cards from the 150-350 Series Old Mill Subset:

1. Clean, crisp images that look more like 150 Series images than 350 Series

Sullivan Old Mill that is neither overly dark nor “washed out” in appearance

2. “Dark Ink” cards that are much darker and more heavily inked than other cards

Schlei Catching Old Mill with a noticeably darker appearance than a copy from the 150 Series

3. “Washed Out” images that lack the clarity of #1 and tend to be a bit lighter as well

Overall Portrait with Old Mill back and a “washed out” appearance

These three distinct “looks” of Old Mills from the 150-350 Series lead me to one obvious conclusion, and one that may not be so obvious. First, because these Old Mills can be classified into three distinct groupings, clearly that means each group was printed separately. What it doesn’t tell us is whether there is any pattern to be found. It’s very possible that different runs on the press were just inked to varying degrees, which created the different results that we can see above.

I think there were three or more different print runs for 150-350 Series Old Mills. I also think the different print runs were made up of a different set of players/poses on the sheets. There seem to be some players that were not printed on the “washed out” sheets, and likewise with the “dark ink” sheets. In Part Two, I’ll delve into the “dark ink” 150-350 Series Old Mills and we’ll see what patterns and theories we can infer from them.

A Look at the T206 Red Hindu Subset: Part Two

Luke June 11, 2017

In the first part of this two-part series (which can be read here), we looked at the Red Hindu checklist, as well as a little background on which print groups the poses come from. We also identified the 12 Red Hindu poses which are more common than the other 34 poses.

For Part Two, I went through the SGC and PSA Population Reports and compiled all the data into a single table. Unfortunately, the results aren’t as easy to digest as I would have liked. The PSA Pop numbers are all very straight-forward, but the SGC results are sometimes ambiguous. When a player is featured on a 150 series card with a Brown Hindu back and also a 350-460 series or 460 series card with a Red Hindu back, it can be impossible to read the SGC Pop Report with certainty.

The table below shows all of the Hindu entries for Mordecai Brown. As you can see, the top listing is a generic “Hindu” listing which could really be any combination of his three poses that have Hindus backs (Portrait-Brown Hindu, Cubs on Shirt-Brown Hindu, & Chicago on Shirt-Red Hindu). Since we have no way of knowing which poses are actually out there with the generic label, I just recorded the range of possibilities in my combined Population Report table. We can see from the Brown Pop Report that 4 Red Hindus are listed. Then there are the 5 Hindus listed under the generic heading. It’s very unlikely that all 5 of those would be Red Hindus as they are rarer than the Brown Hindus. So, even though we can’t be sure, it is safe to assume that of the possible 5, probably only 0, 1 or maybe 2 are Red Hindus. So on the far right of my combine Pop Report Table, where it says “between 10 & 15” for the Mordecai Brown entry, it would be safe to assume that there are 10,11, or 12 graded Mordecai Brown Red Hindus out there, and likely not 14 or 15.

Without further ado, here is the combined Pop Report Table for Red Hindus. You’ll notice that Mathewson, McIntyre and Reulbach each have a combined Pop of zero. These are the 3 poses which should exist (or at least have been printed with) Red Hindu backs, but have not yet been confirmed per T206resource.com. Elberfeld and Rucker also have combined Pops of zero. These 2 poses must have been confirmed by T206resource in raw form at some point. You’ll also notice that I have highlighted the Exclusive 12 poses in Purple. Most of them would stick out anyway due to their high Pop Report numbers, but it makes it easier to identify them.

As evidence by the above table, there are some truly scarce Red Hindus. It seems very likely that Mathewson, McIntyre, and Reulbach were printed with Red Hindu backs, but all copies have been discarded and lost to history. On top of that Elberfeld and Rucker each have Pops of zero, and 5 other poses have Pops of exactly 1 each (Chase black cap, Doyle with bat, Murphy with bat, Street catching, and Willis throwing).

A Look at the T206 Red Hindu Subset: Part One

Luke June 1, 2017 June 4, 2017

Red Hindu is the 7th Scarcest T206 back, slightly more plentiful than Uzit, and slightly scarcer than Black Lenox. The Red Hindu subset is a small one, featuring only 43 known cards, although according to T206resource.com‘s checklist below, they believe that 3 additional cards should exist, which would bring the total to 46 cards.

The Red Hindu subset consists of players from three separate print groups:

The 350-460 series (also referred to as Print Group 3)
The 460 Only Series (also known as Print Group 4)
The “Super Prints” (aka Print Group 5)

Interestingly, all 34 poses that exist with Broad Leaf 460 backs also exist with Red Hindu backs (with the possible exception of Mathewson Dark Cap, McIntyre Brooklyn & Chicago, and Reulbach No Glove Showing – though all three were likely printed with Red Hindu backs). You’ll notice that the Red Hindu Subset lists 46 poses.

Red Hindu shares an interesting phenomenon with the American Beauty 460 subset. Most of the poses above are extremely scarce, but 12 of them are much more common. This pattern was first written about by Ted Zanidakis who dubbed it “The Exclusive 12” in a post on net54baseball.com.

These twelve poses are significantly more plentiful than the others on the list above:

Crandall with cap
Devore
Duffy
Ford
Gandil
Geyer
Hummel
McGraw glove at hip
Pfeffer
Sheckard glove showing
Tannehill on front
Wheat

Finding one of these twelve Red Hindus is fairly easy, but if you are looking for a Red Hindu that is not a member of the “Exclusive 12” it could take years for a copy to come to market. In Part Two, I’ll use the PSA and SGC Population Reports to show the disparity between Exclusive 12 populations and the rest of the Red Hindu subset.

An Interesting Discovery: McCormick Sovereign 350 with Strange Background Shading

Luke May 31, 2017 May 28, 2017

I recently found this McCormick Sovereign 350 with a strange orange/red background. The odd background shading stuck out to me immediately. At first glance, it looks like to me the red ink was brushed or wiped in some way while wet. The problem with that theory is if the ink were disturbed while wet, it would have spread across the white borders, which it obviously didn’t.

I reached out to a couple friends who I thought may have seen something similar over the years. My friend Steve Birmingham replied with some very interesting insight on how the streaking effect was created:

It’s another interesting one, your thought that it was wiped while wet is really close, and you’re right that that should have caused red being spread into the borders.

What that’s from is the pressman wiping the inking rollers while operating. A bit sloppy, and not all that safe but it’s done. If the result didn’t look too bad it probably would have been allowed to slide through. Especially late on a Friday 🙂

Sometimes the ink will be too heavy, or will start to dry on the inking roller leaving bits of dried ink that can cause a bunch of flaws. Usually over-inking just gets adjusted away. Drying ink is a bigger problem, and can come from under-inking.

The exact roller washed in this case would be the final inking roller that transferred the ink to the stone. The ink is in a bin of sorts, and a series of rollers spreads it evenly onto the final roller. Washing the earlier ones wouldn’t usually show up on the final product except as a bit of under-inking; wiping the last roller would get transferred to the plate as a streaky impression like this card has.

We don’t see more of them because that wiping isn’t a regular thing, usually only being at shift/days end, or during a changeover to a different ink or job. Having the ink get too dry to spread is really unusual, I think I only saw it happen once in a bit over 2 years. It has to be a very dry day with a really light ink pass (Either from not having enough flow or if a light coating is required).

The solution to massive over-inking or drying ink is basically the same. The ink flow gets adjusted, and if the problem doesn’t seem to sort itself out the inking rollers need to be washed. Basically wiped down with a rag soaked in solvent. As you can imagine that leaves some really uneven ink until the rollers even it out and things get back to normal.

It’s also done at the end of the day to wash off the rollers for sitting overnight. Pretty much the entire press gets washed. The inking system cleared out and cleaned, plate and blanket cleaned. That way it’s clean and ready for the next day, or next shift or next job or color.

This card would technically be one of those tweener scraps. It shouldn’t have been released. On the other hand it’s a neat insight into the process and practices used at ALC at that time.

A big thank you to Steve for being kind enough to share his expertise with us!

Why Aren’t T206 with Two Different Names on Top and Bottom More Popular with Collectors?

Luke May 24, 2017 May 25, 2017

As you know if you’ve been reading my stuff for awhile, I love to delve into the minutiae and oddities of the T206 set. T206 collectors love print goofs and errors, but for some reason, cards with two different names on top and bottom (let’s call them “two namers” from here on out for the sake of brevity) have been given the cold shoulder by collectors.

In my opinion, these cards are incredibly cool. They offer insight into how the cards were laid out on the sheets when they were printed. To date, no complete uncut T206 sheets have ever been found. As a result, it’s been left up to T206 researchers to try and figure out how those sheets may have looked.

One thing we know is that cards with the same name on top and bottom (we’ll call these “double namers” are much, much more common than two namers. What this tells us is that the sheets were printed with multiple copies of the same card stacked vertically. To be totally honest, I can’t remember what the general consensus is on how many of the same card were stacked vertically.

It has been awhile since I have seen anyone debate it. As is often the case, this article may lead me to research that topic and write an article on that subject. It is important enough to be worthy of it’s own article in my opinion. I seem to remember people talking about there possibly being nine of the same pose printed in a row vertically. This makes sense when you look at the ratio of DOUBLE NAMER : TWO NAMERS. I’ve also read the theory that some cards which seem to be short-printed may have just been printed in quantities smaller than nine. To me this theory has always made a lot of sense. I would think that ATC and the printers would want to have more copies of the popular players than the lesser known players.

As you can see with these scans, the degree to which the second name shows varies widely. The few copies that look like the Beaumont at the top of this article tend sell for strong prices, while the examples with only part of the second name showing do not fetch nearly the same premium. In many cases, collectors won’t pay any premium at all for one of these cards. This baffles me honestly.

I understand why collectors prefer examples with the full name on top, but I think even the ones with just a sliver of a second name are cool. Just personal preference, but I’d much rather have a two namer with just a bit of the second name than a card with a mis-aligned back, even though the “back mis-cuts” sell for a much larger premium.

Spade / Cicotte & Lindaman / Bresnahan portrait

There are collectors who will pay a few thousand dollars for a T206 Murr’y, simply because a bit of the brown ink for the name was not applied, but two namers get no love. To me, the two namers are a much more interesting anomaly. This Chance with Fiene on top recently sold at auction for the minimum bid of $200. In this condition, I’d imagine the card would be worth right about $200 without the second name.

I know of only a few guys who have been collecting two namers over the years. I expect that some day these cards will get more respect, and when they do, people will realize just how few of them are out there. And, the guys who have been hoarding them will be rewarded. Time will tell of course. As we know, rarity doesn’t equal value. In my humble opinion, it’s hard to understand why these cards aren’t in higher demand.

Collecting Star Players Who Are Priced As “Commons”

Luke May 21, 2017 2 Comments

George Mullin is one of the best pitchers in Detroit Tiger history

My last post about my new Ed Killian Tolstoi made me think about an aspect of my collecting approach that I don’t hear talked about much. Whenever possible, I prefer to add T206s that feature star players over players who had a short MLB career, or were career Minor Leaguers. This isn’t a hard-and-fast rule, just a preference. I have a number of Minor Leaguers and Major Leaguers with nondescript careers in my collection that I love as well.

Heinie Zimmerman was a prolific hitter who won the National League Triple Crown in 1912

I’m not sure how many other T206 collectors share this collecting philosophy with me. I know many people collect the entire set without much regard to how good each player was (or wasn’t). And of course you have your Hall of Fame collectors. It makes sense that collecting star players who are not Hall of Famers would be a less common approach. Finding out which players were stars of the day takes some work, whether it be scouring Baseball Reference, or reading books about the Deadball Era.

George McQuillan was one of the best pitchers in baseball in 1908 but he never reached his potential due to off-the-field struggles

It took me a little while to arrive at this approach. When I first started collection T206, I was in love with the artwork and colors and I just wanted one of each front for my set. I knew about almost all of the Hall of Famers from reading about them as a kid, but I didn’t know anything about the players who were not enshrined.

Sherry Magee was an absolute beast offensively, leading the NL in RBI four times

I collected the set without knowing much about the players for about three years before deciding I wanted to know everything I could learn about not only the T206 set, but baseball from 1909-1911 specifically, and the Deadball Era in general. Baseball-reference.com was a great resource, and the one I used mostly. I also have really enjoyed a couple of books that were released by SABR: Deadball Stars of the American League, and Deadball Stars of the National League.

Ed Reulbach is one of the greatest pitchers in Chicago Cubs history – He went 182-106 with a 2.28 ERA for his career

Nowadays, I get almost as much enjoyment from finding a card of an “almost Hall of Famer” as I do a Hall of Famer. I love that I can get a star like Doc White, Sherry Magee, George Mullin, or Larry Doyle at the same price of a fringe player like Herbie Moran. To me, that feels like a huge spot of inefficiency in the market.

From 1906-1909, Orval Overall went 70-32 with an ERA under 2.00 for the Chicago Cubs

Obviously, supply and demand dictates the market price for the cards we collect. I hope that I can continue to find cards of my favorite players at “common” prices. I’m curious if any other collectors use a similar approach when looking to add new cards to their collections.