Collectors Just Discovering T210

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Posted By: <b>FYS</b><p>Courtesy of Beckett:<br /><br /> <br /><br /><br />T210 Old Mill<br />By Andy Broome, Beckett Vintage Grading <img src="http://www.network54.com/Realm/tmp/1145737772.GIF"> <br /><br />The T206 set is a large set. More than 500 cards made up of mostly major league players. To add an additional local flavor to the massive set, there is a series of minor league players found in the T206 set. How about a T set made up of more than 600 cards and every card is a minor leaguer? You can already see why for decades the 1910 T210 set was not at the top of collector's lists. The impossibility of completing a set and the fact that the majority of the players are people your grandfather never even heard of playing for teams like Roanoke, Dallas, Chattanooga and Atlanta (that's the Crackers, not the Braves). <br /><br />Only recently have collectors "discovered" this amazing set and what it can offer. The cards are unnumbered and feature black and white photos surrounded by a red border. The backs feature an Old Mill ad that is almost identical to the Old Mill backs found in the T206 set. The only difference is the series is listed on the T210 card back. The set known as T210 red borders and T210 Old Mill is made up of 8 different series. Here is a quick breakdown of the series:<br /><br />Series 1 is the South Atlantic League <br />Series 2 is the Virginia League <br />Series 3 is the Texas League <br />Series 4 Virginia Valley League <br />Series 5 Carolina Association <br />Series 6 Blue Grass League <br />Series 7 Eastern Carolina League <br />Series 8 Southern Association <br />Series 3 can be found with an orange border color variation. The color change can only be found in the Texas League series. Series 8 is nearly identical to the T211 green border Red Sun set. The difference being that there are no Chattanooga players in the Red Sun set.<img src="http://www.network54.com/Realm/tmp/1145738025.JPG"> <br /><br />As said before, the set is made up of mostly forgotten minor league players. There are a few noteworthy cards found in the T210 set.<br /><br />Series 8, the Southern Association features the key card to the set. A Southern boy from a mill town who already played in Philadelphia in 1908, he played for the New Orleans Pelicans in 1910 and was the batting leader for the Southern Association. He later became famous in the 1919 World Series. While this isn't Shoeless Joe Jackson's rookie card, it may be his rarest card. Another baseball legend is found with Maysville in the series 6 Blue Grass League. Charles Stengel may better be remembered as "Casey". There are others sprinkled in this set. The 19th century star Lave Cross ended his major league career in 1907 but played in the minors for several years. While in his 40's, Cross played with Charlotte in 1910. His card is in the series 5. One card "missing" from the T210 set some hope is yet to be discovered. He played for the Giants and later tossed the pigskin for the Canton Bulldogs, he first played for Rocky Mount in 1909 and 1910. Called the greatest athlete of all time, Jim Thorpe was the original 2-sport superstar. <br /><br />The fun of this set is not only the unique photos but also the chance to get a card of a hometown team. How many tobacco card sets feature teams like Ft. Worth, Chattanooga, Danville, Dallas, Nashville and New Orleans?<br /><br />Finding T210's can be a challenge but grading them can be just as tough. The red borders seem to chip and flake away with little effort. High-grade examples are rare and when they surface can command high prices. BVG population reports show the highest graded card is a 4.5, which is a nice card for a T210.<br /><br />Card images shown above provided courtesy of www.oldcardboard.com<br /><br />

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Posted By: <b>Steve Dawson</b><p>Is there a place that checklists the set by player and team. I'm looking for any Texas Leaguers that played in San Antonio.<br /><br /><br />Steve<br />

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Posted By: <b>jay behrens</b><p>If you have Lew Lipset's book, you cull all that info from his checklist.<br /><br />As tot he topic, I wouldn't say collectors are just discovering. More like, the casual collector is just discovering it. Nothing like some big dollar transactions in a set to make the general collecting populace to sit up and take notice. As has been noted in the Mastro thread, the set already seems to be losing some steam, dollar-wise. This will bode well for those that are looking for just a few cards of favorite, teams or a particular series. I really doubt this article is going to bring many people into the t210 market, espceially when the see the prices involved.<br /><br />Jay<br><br>I like to sit outside, drink beer and yell at people. If I did this at home, I would be arrested. So, I go to baseball games and fit right in.

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Posted By: <b>Bob</b><p>The shame is that with all the attention now being paid the T210s, those of us who had a nice start on the set, find ourselves sitting on them and probably selling them when the time is right because the cost of making a major dent in the set is prohibitive.

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Posted By: <b>John S</b><p> I agree with Bob. It is selfish to not want new vintage collectors to get involved with this area of the hobby, but for those of us that have been collecting since T206's cost a buck or two the "new guys" have increased demand and caused prices to skyrocket. I have been selling pieces that I thought would remain in my collection for ever. Unless I hit the lottery, I will have to continue to sell so that can continue to purchase. I have been forced to prioritize my collection. <br /> Just a side note, not too long ago (2002) I bought some T210 Series 4 Charleston players from a dealer at a show in Cleveland for $5 a piece. This was a vintage dealer, not just some sap who did not know what he had. While I considered this to be a good price at the time for VG-EX cards, I would not have paid $10.

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Posted By: <b>martindl</b><p>Even with the increasing number of large lots that have appeared over the last couple of years, I still don't see very many singles popping up. I've been hunting for my last 3 Columbus players to complete the team set, but they're not to be found. <br /><br />I was hoping that the new found fame of T210's would free up some hoard of the cabinets <img src="/images/happy.gif" height=14 width=14> but they're few and far between and aren't coming out of the woodwork either. The Wingo in Mastro was very nice. Congratulations to its owner, who is not me, unfortunately.<br /><br />Steve, post your email address or send me an email and i'll send you the checklist

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Posted By: <b>Steve Dawson</b><p>Thank you Jay and Martindl. I guess I'm blind; I have Lew Lipset's book and have looked at it many times, but didn't remember T210 being listed.<br /><br />Carry On.....<br /><br />Steve<br />

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Posted By: <b>Frank Wakefield</b><p>Well, I've given up on all of the cards, except for Series 6.<br /><br />And like you guys have stated above, you've started to sell the others off. I'm going to put one of my better ones in the BST...<br /><br />Frank.

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Posted By: <b>Bill Stone</b><p>I am also collecting only Series 6 and frankly once I complete my Frankfort team ( Beard and Bohannon needed) I will probably stop that --there are just too many other nice cards out there at much more affordable prices.

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Posted By: <b>James Feagin</b><p>Can someone educate me on t210 dimensions. Are they similar in size to t206? I have one that looks VERY short to me.<br /><br />James

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Posted By: <b>Bob</b><p>Just curious- why only Series 5 or only Series 6? Is it because your hometown team is in that series?

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Posted By: <b>Bill Stone</b><p>I got interested in the Series 6 cards when I discoverd the Frankfort team( my former hometown) I was researching the history of the team after I discovered an old newspaper story about the 1910 Frankfort Lawmakers and saw the T210 Hoffman card which depicted him in a Frankfort jersey --just started collecting after that --and since the other teams in the Bluegrass League were frequently mentioned in the newspaper stories of the time it made it even more interesting to collect the Frankfort opponents as well. I will still come across interesting stories from the papers 1908-1912 and can go back and look at the cards and see the faces of the players plus there is a very active historical society in Frankfort and I am able to consult with them and have on occassion been able to help someone doing family research on a ballplayer.The cards just add a wonderful visual element to the research.

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Posted By: <b>Dave</b><p>I'm not 100% certain, and I don't have any books with me, but I think the T210 size is identical to T206, nominally 1.4375 (1 and 7/16) by 2.625 (2 and 5/8) inches.<br /><br />I made a composit of two cards, a T206 that is exactly the nominal height (+/- 0.001 inch) and the T210 was chosen at random from the few I have.<br /><br />You probably can't tell from the resolution of this scan, but the top margins have been set the same, and the T210 is slightly taller than this card, but not by much. It's about 1/4 the height of the letters at the bottom of the T206, so I'll guess about 0.020 taller for the T210. <br /><br />This is just a single sample, but I'd bet they are nominally the same.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.network54.com/Realm/tmp/1146000597.JPG"> <br /><br />