Completed The Monster! 521 cards
 

After 13 long years, I have finally completed The Monster! A little backstory: I had purchased a Mullen portrait in about 1992 for $25 when I was a kid. We have the same last name. Fast forward to 2007 during the poker boom. I was playing poker in various underground games/clubs in and around Pittsburgh. One club had a computer. While fooling around on the computer I came across eBay and T206 cards. Man were those the days! So that night I told myself that every time I had a winning night playing poker I’d buy some T206s and try to complete the set (to go along with my Mullen portrait). An interesting fact is that the entire set (all 521 cards) was purchased with poker or gambling winnings (I’m also pretty decent at picking college football games as well :cool:). The set is also 100% raw in a binder. I’ve cracked roughly 80 slabs.

So were there times that I lost and had to sell some cards? Of course! Haha. But they were surprisingly few and far between. The 2 worst “beats”: I sold a PSA2 green Cobb on here in about 2015 for $900 and a pretty nice raw Lenox back in 2018 for about $600. Other than those 2, no real regrets. My fist card was the Mullen portrait and the last card was Johnson throwing. One last interesting tidbit; I was super reluctant to purchase the last card (Johnson portrait) that I needed. I’ve been holding back for about 3 months. What was I supposed to do once I completed it? Once you complete it, although it’s a great sense of accomplishment, it’s also semi-depressing at the same time. Like, what do I do now!? Anyway, thanks for reading this. Any questions that anyone has I’ll be more than happy to answer! Anybody want to purchase a T206 set? :D:D:D

Simply amazing~
 

ummmm.... yes! lol

I just found a set that sold in 2014 Heritage Auction for $29,000 and it had 75 graded cards! ugh

Thanks for sharing Brendan! Valid point about "full set remorse" but no one feels sorry! :)

Peace, Mike

Congratulations Brendan, that is a tremendous accomplishment, especially to stay at it for 29 years, starting as a kid! And then, to have a Green Cobb, have to sell it, and then be able to get one back.....Nice!

Steve

Very nice Brendan, congrats. There are an almost infinite number of cards to collect. Most of us agree, the journey is sometimes better than the finish.

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T206 set
 

Congratulations, Brendan! Take a bow! Trent King

Congrats, bet that is one sweet binder to go through.

Congrats on a Monster feat!

The journey is ALWAYS better than the finish. But that's one hell of an accomplishment. Huge congrats to you sir.

Congrats!!!

THAT, is an accomplishment. Congratulations!

What card was the final card?

last card...
 

" the last card was Johnson throwing "

Congrats Brendan.

That is truly a monster accomplishment.

2 things

1. Could you share pictures of some of your favorite or hardest to get cards?
2. What set is next on your list to start/finish

This is so exciting to read. Congratulations. I was so flush with money around the same time, but I spent it on women, **** and ****. Many, I wish I had put 10% into the collection!

Anyway, what a great story and it gives me hope sitting at 305 here.

When did you pick up the Magie?

We are not worthy. Which card was tougher to find, the Doyle Nat'l or the Wagner?

Neither am I. I don’t have either of those hahahaha.

Amazing accomplishment! Huge congrats.

Completion
 

Congratulations!

To quote Harry Chapin: "It's got to be the going not the gettin' there that's good."

Thanks for the kind words fellas! I couldn’t have done it without Net54. I would have to estimate that 400+ cards came from here. This is without question the greatest baseball card/memorabilia site in the world! Here is 521....

"what do I do now!?"

Well, post a picture. Every thread needs 521 cards.

Big Congratulations Brendan!!
 

Awesome job and even more awesome story!! You should post pictures of the whole set - perhaps a page a day?? Would love to hear more win/loss stories connected to the building of the set too.

Congratulations. Nothing like this set in a binder. I got within 59(I think. +/-2) with the method of team by team. At one point changed them to alphabetical but liked them in team sets best. How do you have them organized? Also, the Brooklyn subset was tougher than expected and it was Burch that slowed me down. Any surprise commons that you didn't expect to be a search? Lastly, how 'bout a pic of your binder.

I will happily post a “picture-a-day” of my binder. I would love to! As soon as the Walter Johnson comes in and is cracked open I will start posting. Am always eager to show off the raw binder!

Awesome stuff! This is what makes the hobby fun!

Wow, that’s amazing. I don’t want to be greedy but post a pic if possible.

It's always a nice feeling to complete a set. Congratulations on taming the monster.

Great story. Congrats on an amazing accomplishment.

As far as selling a raw set, my suggestion is to consign it to one of the larger auction houses where it won’t get lost in a see of other and newer stuff - Memory Lane, LOTG, or REA. They likely will pay to slab the more valuable cards and you will get the most eyes on it. If you want, PM me and I can put you in touch with a few of peeps.

Congrats! I think the t205 is a natural complement for the next project.

Wow! that is great!

Awesome. Wish I was that good at gambling, LOL.

You should put the whole set on black a couple times, see if you can add the Wagner to the pot. Go big or go home. :D

Congratulations Brian!!

I love seeing Net54 members take down the monster!!

Just out of curiosity, what was your largest purchase of T206s at one time? I can't imagine purchasing each card individually, but that would be amazing if you did that. Another question--did you come across any fakes in your 13 years? I guess if you were buying mostly from Net54 folks, you mostly steer clear of fakes.

Congrats Brendan, and I agree with the above...check out the thread Tobacco Doubleheaders that spotlights the players with portraits in both sets. I find it interesting that the T206 portrait cards usually employed idealized (almost airbrushed) styling to depict the faces, while the T205 cards of the same player usually seem to emphasize more character (baggy eyes, wrinkles and overall gritty look) in the player's faces.

Brian

Really great thread, guys…the OP, the responses!

Keep the kind words coming fellas! As far as fakes, no. I never came across one nor did I purchase any. Once you know...you know. However I will say that my first couple batches of cards, I purchased quite a few “trimmed” ones from one particular store on eBay. I believe he is a member here who doesn’t post too too often. As a novice I thought they were beautiful raw cards. As I became more adroit, I realized that about half were trimmed. I’m still particularly bummed that I paid $110 for a raw Kruger that was described as NM/MT in 2007. Only to realize later that it was trimmed. Other than that, I believe I got way more “deals” than I was “burned”.

So awesome! Congratulations on the end of your journey! Now start another one!

Bill

Congratulations, Brendon. Persistence and focus... impressive.

In the late 1980s I bought my first few white border cards, among them was a $65 Johnson throwing, with a tiny pin hole in the top border. And I actually liked it that way.

Early eBay days had me unknowingly buying 3 or 4 trimmed T206s. Actually, that was a good thing, I studied the cards, trimmed and not trimmed, and developed an eye for spotting the damn things instead of buying them. Most everyone on the board can do that, but there was a time for each of us when we couldn't.

What about W514s next? You'd have a Ruth card in there, and not only Joe Jackson but 6 more of the 8 men out. It's not a tiny set (like E102's) and it's not Monsterously large... there's Cobb, Mathewson, Johnson, McGraw, Stengel, Hornsby, Alexander... and I like Southworth and Shotton being in there.

Again, congratulations, and thank you for sharing the experience.

I'm highly jealous............

......

...... that you can legally play online poker for real money. I live in the state of Washington which explicitly made it illegal*.

I'm also jealous of the set. Congrats! :)

* - Kind of a positive development in a way. I was playing for real money on Poker Stars and Washington made it illegal, so I cashed out all my money. Roughly a month later was Black Friday when the feds swooped and locked up everyone's assets. I'd gotten all my dough out so it worked out fine. I don't have any interest in trying to play over a VPN or otherwise skirt the legalities. Bums me out as it was a decent source of income for me.

Tabe. I never said I was successful online hahahaha. I tried my hand at PokerStars. Not much success. I had one nice cash for about 6k but that was about it. I believe that overall I was a loser. It’s almost impossibly hard to win online. I really dont trust it with bots and problem solvers etc. Give me live poker in a poker room or underground game any day!

I hate to tell you this, Brendan, but George Mullin is actually spelled with an i, not and e. Your whole collection was built on a false premise! Seriously, though, that's a great accomplishment, congratulations!

So, most people consider the set complete at 520 but you said you have 521… which one of the tough final four do you have?

Haha. I realize that. But my family as well spelled it interchangeably. And the card that got me started was the MULLEN portrait. But yes haha. Definitely aware.

I have 521. I have a DOYLE that has the slightest bit of NY NAT’L present. That’s the closest I’ll ever get. So I’m counting mine as 521 :)

VERY great accomplishment. Congrats!! On to T207.

Congrats Brendon. Funny how the bad beats get remembered more easily than the big wins. Looking forward to seeing some pics 👍. Curious to know, what count pages did you go with, 9, 15, 20 ???

Congrats.

Quite an accomplishment

That’s a great story Brendan! Congrats! That is quite the accomplishment.

Thanks for sharing. At least you put your poker winnings to good use, unlike the the rest of us who have it back the next week haha. I used to play poker at the Borgata some 12-15 years ago.


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Poker and betting have been pretty good to me. And I’ve been lucky enough to invest in T206s that have steadily increased. I use the 15 count pages for my binder. Cant wait to post pics once the Johnson arrives and the set is “complete”.