Corroboration of reason for scarcity of T206 Wagner

[ramram]

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Nothing really new here but an interesting added tidbit to the Wagner T206 story. I was researching a scorebook that I have that is attributed to John Gruber, Pittsburgh's longtime team scorekeeper in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Gruber apparently played a part in the history of Wagner's tobacco card:

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette -

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From the book "The Pittsburgh Pirates" -

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FWIW, I also learned something about the provenance of these scorebooks (I had 3 at one time, 1895, 1908 & 1913-14 but only have the 1895 now):

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette talking about Gruber's great granddaughters -

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Rob M

[ullmandds]

seems pretty conclusive to me!

[T206Collector]

Very nice to see such solid references. Well done. And thanks!

[drcy]

People often say this wouldn't be the case because there are pictures of Wagner using tobacco. However, I had a grandmother who both smoked/defended her right to smoke, and would say she wished she never started/made sure her her grandkids never started. That you have a habit, doesn't mean you don't know or think it's a bad habit-- as evidenced by all the smokers trying to quit. Also, especially back in the day, people often don't want kids doing what may be okay for adults.

[GoCubsGo32]

I wonder how much that $10 check from Wagner to Gruber would be today...and I wonder if it's still around?

PS. Thanks for sharing this great article!

[ramram]

I wonder how much that $10 check from Wagner to Gruber would be today...and I wonder if it's still around?

Just what I was thinking. That note and check would be pretty cool, and not just because of the autograph.

[trdcrdkid]

Here is the article by Tim Wiles cited in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article:

http://baseballhall.org/discover/honus-is-on-you

Wiles gets some details wrong -- dating the American Card Catalog to 1937, citing the $50 valuation for T206 Wagner when that was only in the 1953 and 1960 editions of the Catalog. I assume he got the Gruber-Wagner story from the book The Pittsburgh Pirates, which was written by sportwriter Fred Lieb and published in 1948. Lieb had been a sportswriter since 1911 and presumably knew Gruber, plus Honus Wagner was still alive at the time, so I'm inclined to believe the story even in the absence of any more contemporary source. Also, the story is broadly consistent with the story that Honus Wagner told John D. Wagner in 1941, as I just posted in Leon's thread on the T206 Wagner: http://net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=241057

[CW]

I guess it could also be assumed that Wagner's inclusion in other tobacco issues like the regional T216 cards were done without his permission or approval.

[KMayUSA6060]

I wonder how much that $10 check from Wagner to Gruber would be today...and I wonder if it's still around?

PS. Thanks for sharing this great article!

I hope it's not in some sort of Panini or Topps "cut auto" product.


Excellent read. Thanks for sharing!

[Jantz]

Interesting articles.

Thanks for posting it Rob!