E90-1, The Kraken (AKA The E-Monster) - post your collection progress
 

I have always wanted to imitate/compete/improve upon Frank and his T206 Monster. I have been on and contributed to this board since it was created, and was on the old Full Count board before that, so I definitely have the hobby stamina required to maintain such a thread, just like Frank has proven to have. I have always loved the E90-1 set, and have collected it off and on for over 25 years. Of course since the E90-1 set has nowhere near the popularity of the T206 set, the views will pale in comparison to the Monster thread, but I think the E90-1 issue has enough of a following and is full of varying scarcities that are still being pinned down that I think it will at least keep a portion of Net54'ers interested.

I have established a point system, which is a little more enlarged and elaborate compared to the T206 Monster version (I mean, all Ty Cobb cards count as 1 point...ouch!). Admittedly, Frank's formula has widespread appeal and is simple, but why not try something else for this very different and much smaller set? Here is the point system I propose for the 121 E90-1 cards (the 120 complete set is now 121 cards because of the Miller w/sunset variation being recognized):


20 Joe Jackson

10 Tris Speaker
10 Honus Wagner (throwing)

7 Hugh Duffy
7 Mike Mitchell
7 Honus Wagner (batting)
7 Cy Young (Cleveland)

5 Fred Clarke (Pittsburgh)
5 Ty Cobb
5 Willie Keeler (red background)
5 Jake Stahl
5 Bill Sweeney (Boston)
5 Ed Walsh

4 Peaches Graham
4 Christy Mathewson
4 Eddie Plank
4 Cy Young (Boston)

3 Bob Bescher
3 Patsy Dougherty
3 George Gibson (back)
3 Harry Howell (wind up)
3 Ed Karger
3 Willie Keeler (throwing)
3 Addie Joss (throwing)
3 Nap Lajoie
3 Tommy Leach (throwing)
3 Hans Lobert
3 Larry McLean
3 Dots Miller (sunset)
3 Orval Overall
3 Dave Shean
3 George Stone (left hand showing)
3 Jerry Upp

1 each for the rest of the 88 cards

A complete set of 121 would thus be 250 points


I have given point values based mainly on popularity with a good dose of perceived scarcity thrown in, giving a nod to traditionally acknowledged scarcities and tossing in a few common players that have been revealed in the recent years as being tougher/more desirable. I decided to include the 13 commons worth 3 points each with the understanding that there are another dozen or so candidates that might be included, but didn't want this thing to get too cumbersome. Likewise various other Hall of Famers count as 1 point, but most of these are either fairly common or not as popular.

Let me know what you think about all this and what you think about my point system (as potential Kraken master I will listen to suggestions, but of course I get the final say like any good E-Monster would).

To start off, my E-Monster # is 164. I own all 88 of the 1 point cards, 15 of the 3 point cards (missing the Miller sunset), all 4 of the 4 point cards, and have the 5 point Cobb, Clarke Pittsburgh and Stahl cards.

Brian (and below are some of the beautiful 1 point 'sunset' cards to get your E90-1 juices flowing)

E-Monster list
 

This post is a list of E-Monster #'s of collector's E90-1 cards currently in their collection. I will update this list frequently when people post their #'s. 250 points indicates a complete set.

Brian


250 AddieJoss 8/27/18

249 t206fanatic 10/5/23

247 tedzan 11/22/17 (Past collection honorary mention)

223 familytoad 5/7/22

218 Cozemeleno 10/11/23

210 riggs336 11/22/23

206 edhans 12/26/19

196 big-six 1/24/21

184 brass_rat 11/27/22 (*!%^&)

182 judsonhamlin 1/4/22

164 brianp-beme 1/29/18

129 tedzan 7/24/20

129 TigerMike 7/10/23

127 qed2910 2/22/20

126 deadballfreak 11/10/20

117 cammb 5/22/20

105 Thromdog 7/14/19

94 Fistner10 10/13/23

93 Steve_D 11/27/17

61 puckpaul 9/19/22

54 tonyo 8/13/19

44 t213 11/25/22

37 trambo 10/5/23

35 mullinsm 12/14/17

26 CobbSpikedMe 11/22/20

22 jasonc 9/23/18

22 Yoda 10/12/23

21 ullmandds 5/17/22

19 vintagebaseballcardguy 5/21/19

16 VintageVinnie 1/7/19

10 C-mack 9/14/19

5 Tao_Moko 1/1/19

4 Leon 11/29/17

3 frankbmd 11/25/17 (never subject to change)

1 mattsey9 12/28/19

220

Start with my estimate
 

98

This number is my initial post, I think it’s correct.

As Cory (my e90-1 hero) knows, tomorrow’s mail should get me there. I’ll correct it as needed. Maybe I could hit the century mark just by a boost to Overall’s weighting. He’s tough.
I always thought Bill Sweeney would be hard to get , maybe weighted higher here. But overall (pun intended) , I’m very pleased to see this set embraced in similar Monster fashion...and by a Brian ;)

Hi Brian...thanks for sparking my E90-1 fancy. I agree with the Overall, I left him out previously because, although he has been noted as a tough card, it seemed like I had seen a lot of him available over the years. He is still not an easy one, and his perceived scarcity is up there, so I have added him to the 3 point list.

Doing a little more tinkering, I upgraded the Stahl, Sweeney (Boston) and Graham from a 3 point value to 4 points, as I feel these in the past they have been perceived as extra tough and their prices are strong. I also added 5 more points to Joe Jackson so now he is at 25, because, ugly or not, this is considered his rookie card and people go nuts for it even if it is not scarce.

The complete set now totals to 250 points. I have updated AddieJoss # to 225 (correct me if I am wrong...I assume Joe is the missing one) and adjusted my own score as well. Brian, when you recalculate your score let us know.

Brian

I don't disagree with Any of these except maybe Plank as I've found him to be plentiful and not too pricey. I would add Bemis as a toughie, Clement as a minor toughie, seigle as tough, O'Connor as a pretty tough card, and Howell wind-up as definitely tough.

Cards that should only be worth half a point as they seem to be everywhere: bresnahan, dooin, Krause, Fred Mitchell, stange, stone (no hands), summers, and Wallace.

You are probably correct on the additional scarcities... but I think I will have to hold the line somewhere. It is good that at least an advanced collector of the set like yourself has noted them as being tough.

And although I'm not going to do it, those cards you mention that should only be 1/2 point is spot on. If you want to own an inexpensive and easily obtainable Hall of Famer from the E90-1 set, Breshnahan and Wallace are just the ticket. And the Krause, Fred Mitchell, Stanage and Summers seem to pop up as often as holidays do in many foreign countries.

Brian

I list the tough cards more for knowledge out there for those putting the set together. It's a great set to work on.

Re: E90-1, The Kraken (AKA The E-Monster) - post your collection progress
 

183, but I've only been at it for 34 years. Excellent list overall, especially noting the red Keeler is tougher than the throwing version. Conventional wisdom states otherwise. I would argue for Seigle over Stone and agree on the availability of Plank. Great stuff, Brian.

SGC has weighted this set as part of their set composition. I believe their weighting to be very accurate.