View Single Post
  #9  
Old 04-04-2013, 12:49 PM
Zach Wheat Zach Wheat is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Posts: 1,685
Default T201

I also collect this set. I completed it almost 2 years ago and had fun in the chase. It has a lot of rather odd characteristics. There are a number of stars that were triple printed, including Cobb - so it was not difficult to find most of the stars. This helped keep cost of most major stars at a reasonable level.

Note, the Dougherty/Lord card was printed with only a Factory 649 back - and this card is not altogether that difficult to pick up. Most cards (perhaps 70%) were printed with a Factory 649 back and the other 30% were printed with a Factory 30, 2nd District back. This might account for why this card (although not rare) is not found as often as other cards in the set.

The set is noteworthy not only for including stats on the back, but that it has at least 2 cards from every major league team. The set also has 11 cards from 2 minor leagues - with 5 cards with players from the American Association as well as 6 cards with players from the Eastern League. And overall player selection was also a little odd.

The set was printed some time after 1910, but included players like the speed merchant Jim Thoney (Boston) who didn't play in 1910 and retired in 1912. It also include M Simon - a utility player for Pittsburgh who had 18 AB's in 1909 as well as Lew McCarty (Newark) who didn't play in the Majors until 1913. Why were these players included in a 50 card set? Was it because there was a geographic bias in distributing the set? Or was it meant for wide distribution and intended to include up & coming players as well as established stars? One of the mysteries of the set....

Surprisingly, the miscut cards (ie showing edges or borders of 2 cards, or portions of 4 players) often sell at a premium. I only noticed this because I was collecting miscut edge combinations to try to determine which cards were double & triple printed.

Have fun collecting the set

ZWheat
Reply With Quote