Charley O’Leary with dark blue Piedmont Factory 42 back
This is an article I’ve had in the works for quite a while. Almost a year ago, I began writing and researching, but then ran into a bit of a snag.
If you look at enough Piedmont Factory 42 backs, you’ll notice that the blue ink tends to be either very light or very dark. I’d read a few threads on the subject on net54, but beyond the observation that the ink level varied, I didn’t recall seeing any conclusions drawn. It’s a minor variation, and maybe not worth spending too much time on. But then again, at one point Sovereign 350 Green Apple backs were thought to be just a slight color variant of the Forest Green Subset.
So, a few months ago I decided to look into the Piedmont Factory 42 subset to see if I could find any patterns with regard to the dark ink v.s. light ink phenomenon. I asked a couple friends to help me research. Adam Goldenberg was nice enough to send me scans of his collection of Piedmont 42s, and Pat Romolo offered to dig through scans on Card Target for me. Going into the research phase, I was hoping there might be some sort of pattern we’d be able to discern. Specifically, I was wondering if certain players were printed with only one of the two back types.
The graphic below shows the difference between the light blue and dark blue backs.
The “research phase” was over almost before it started. I got an email from Pat saying that he had begun to look at scans and he didn’t think there was a pattern. I meant to take a look for myself, but never got around to it. Some time passed, and I completely forgot I had started working on this article. A few weeks back I found it while cleaning up the drafts on my site and decided I should finish it. After all, even if there is no pattern, that still answers some questions.
So, I delved into the scans that Adam had sent me and past sales on cardtarget.com. What I was looking for was simple. I wanted to find one pose that was printed with both a light blue and dark blue back. I did find that, but I found something else as well. I went into the project thinking that the backs were almost always either dark blue or light blue. However, after scrolling through dozens of these backs, I realized that the intensity of the blue actually varies quite a bit.
Below is the “smoking gun” of my research. One Reulbach with a dark blue back and one with a light blue back (and another that’s somewhere in the middle). This proves there is no easy pattern where one pose always has either a light blue or a dark blue back.
Reulbach PSA 5 with dark blue Piedmont Factory 42 back
After looking at a bunch of scans, I’m left with a couple thoughts. First, the darkness v.s. lightness of ink varies quite a bit more than I expected (and more than you’d think from reading the net54 threads). In my opinion, there are light blue Piedmont Factory 42 backs, dark blue backs, and every shade and variant of blue in between. Secondly, the fact that I never found any consensus online about the dark blue backs v.s. light blue backs makes a lot of sense. I’m sure other collectors have looked into this topic in the past, and just never posted anything about it, because they didn’t find any interesting patterns.
Reulbach PSA 5 (mk) with light blue Piedmont Factory 42 backRuelbach PSA 5 with a Piedmont Factory 42 back that is neither light blue nor dark blue, but rather somewhere in the middle
Despite the fact that I don’t have any exciting news to report, I figured this topic was still worth posting. I’m sure I won’t be the last person to notice the differences between the light blue and dark blue backs and wonder if there is a pattern. Hopefully, I can save some of those people some time.
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:
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.
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
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.
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.
It turns out this is possible, but only if you’re not too picky about how it looks. This particular front/back combo has only been graded twice by SGC (one 10 and one 50) and not at all by PSA. When I first spotted it on ebay, I was excited at the chance to add a Killian Tolstoi to my collection. It’s a card I’d been hoping to find for a little while. Obviously, the condition leaves something to be desired, but beggars can’t be choosers when it comes to rare 100-year-old baseball cards.
The listing didn’t mention the back, and I was hoping that the front scan would scare most people off and they wouldn’t even click on the listing. Based on the final hammer price of $4.52, it looks like this is exactly what happened. I probably would have won the auction even if it had been listed properly, but I was happy to save a little bit of money due to the back not being mentioned. It’s possible that I’m the only collector who would be excited to own a card this “well-loved”. However, I bet there are some other collectors out there who can see the beauty in it.
It’s fun to have some collecting targets that don’t cost an arm and a leg to acquire. I’d go broke pretty quick if I tried to chase down all of the highest graded examples of the scarce front/back combos I am looking for. Being flexible on condition makes it possible for a smaller budget collector to build an impressive collection over time. Granted, this Killian is below my typical condition preferences. But, the fact that it is so badly mangled kind of makes me like it more than if it was just your run of the mill “beater”.
Besides the fact that this is a scarce combo, I love it because Ed Killian was a great pitcher. His two best season were 1905 (23-14 record, 2.27 ERA) and 1907 (25-13 record and an ERA of 1.78). In 1909 he posted his career-best ERA (1.71) to go with a record of 11-9.
Killian’s T206 Portrait was released in 1910, which was his final season in Major League Baseball. In 8 seasons with the Detroit Tigers, he went 103-78 with an ERA of 2.38.
I’m pleased to bring you another fun guest article from my friend Scott Gross. Thanks Scott! Enjoy!
If you’re lucky enough to get a Baseball card, you would like to think the producers would get your name spelled correctly. Well, with T206s, that was not always the case. Of the 524 cards in the set, there are 24 misspelled names. Maybe that isn’t so bad considering that T206s were one of the first, and certainly biggest issues of the day. Also, these were cheap advertising, so getting them into circulation could easily have been more important than 100% correctness. Have to cut them some slack.
The list below was taken from the grand website t206resource.com (as well as Print Group information). I did exclude three names off their list. Two McGraws and LaPorte. In my opinion the gaps between McGraw and Mc Graw, and LaPorte and La Porte are not significant misspellings.
Of course, the most famous misspelling is that of Magie. This mistake was corrected very early on in Print Group 1(to the correct Magee). So early that the Magie card is much rarer, and sought after by many T206 collectors. My first thought when thinking about this article was Magie/Magee was done just because he was the only Print Group 1 card. Figuring that the producers wanted everything done right in this initial printing. This is not correct. In fact, there are eight other misspellings in Group 1.
Now, arguably most of these are not household names. Good, decent players, but maybe not good enough to double check them in production. The one that jumps out at me the most is Brown/Browne. He was about the same level of player as Magee. Both were everyday outfielders for non-pennant winning teams, and had similar stats between 1904-09 (Browne, NY National, 275 BA; Magee, Philadelphia National, 291 BA). So why was Magie corrected and not Brown ? Who knows !!!
Another oddity is the trio of Goode, Livingstone, and Violat. Where the correct names are, in general, more popular spellings. Almost had to go out of their way to be wrong. However, with most others, the different ways of spelling are probably close to even. I wish I had an old phone book (remember those ??!!) to verify that.
The ones I find the most interesting are those who have multiple cards, and yet have both correct and incorrect spellings:
Doolin is misspelled on his Portrait from the 150-350 Series. However, was corrected in his later Bat and Fielding cards. Same with Magee Fielding, and Meyers Portrait. Being misspelled initially, and then corrected.
Then, there are my favorites. The ones where the player’s name was originally correct, yet later poses were changed to incorrect !!!!!
Nicholls hands on knees is correct in his first printing, then incorrect (Nichols), on the subsequent batting pose. The same for the initially correct Willett batting, which was followed by the incorrectly spelled Willetts (throwing). Just couldn’t leave well enough alone. The most bizarre, is Mullen/Mullin. Who goes from correct (Mullin throwing) in Print Group 1, to incorrect (Mullen portrait) in Group 2, then back to correct (Mullin with bat) in Group 3.
Finally, let us not for get good old Harry Lentz, who’s correct name is Sentz. At least the others are recognizable …………….. “Sorry, buddy, we misspelled your name!!!!!”
First of all, thank you for stopping by and taking a moment to look around. This first post is going to be a brief overview of who I am and what I hope to accomplish with this blog.
My name is Luke, and I love baseball. I’m an avid T206 collector and researcher. For the past few years, I have spent around a dozen hours a week buying, selling, and researching the set. Over time, my interest has grown, and I’ve set out to learn as much as I can.
I anticipate that the vast majority of my posts will cover one of two overarching themes. First, the set itself. This will include things like the printing process used to create the cards, back advertisements, players depicted on the cards, timeline of production, print groups, individual player scarcity, back scarcity, and other such topics. Second, the collecting of the set. These type of posts will cover things like how to get started, different ways of collecting the set, making hobby friends, reacting to market trends, trading, new acquisitions, etc. I may occasionally stray into other topics such as current events in the hobby or other deadball era baseball card sets, but I will only do this when I have a compelling reason.
I decided to start a blog for a couple reasons. First, I have learned a lot over the last 7 years that I have been collecting T206s. I wanted a place to document and organize all of my thoughts and the new things I learn along the way. Also, I really enjoy talking with and interacting with other collectors. I think a blog is a great way to share knowledge and start a conversation. Working on a personal collection of anything is inherently a solitary endeavor. I have found that sharing it with others is what really gives meaning to a collector’s journey. I plan to post twice week and be active on social media and email. I hope you’ll stop by and be a regular visitor.
