What if "the Flying Dutchman" hadn't said "no"?
Many articles have been written about, and tv segments devoted to the T206 Honus Wagner. To people outside the hobby, it is the iconic image that represents baseball cards. Certainly having a high profile owner like Wayne Gretzky, and a near $3 million price tag for the best known example only enhanced the card's mystique.
But what if a century ago Honus Wagner hadn't said "no"? What if the Pirate great had allowed his likeness to be printed. The relative scarcity of his card does not exist. Honus Wagner is just another Hall of Famer in a very popular set.
What card, if any, becomes "the one"? The '52 Topps Mickey Mantle is certainly very popular, but while it is highly sought by collectors, and Mantle's popularity is undiminished more than four decades after his retirement, there are more examples of the Mantle in circulation.
How would the hobby as we know it today be different?
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Building these sets: T206, 1953 Bowman Color, 1975 Topps.
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