First off it is totally inaccurate to say nobody was elected until 1939 as Cy Young was elected in 1937. The above posters hit the nail on the head that most of the writers and pople contemporary with the players of the 1860-90's had passed away by 1936 and the players of 1900-1930 were the ones they could best evaluate to be enshrined. People seem to belittle the pre-1900's while I think it is folly to do so. Look (for example) at Cy Youngs stats he was arguably better as a 35-40 year old in the 1900's than he was as a younger pitcher facing so-called "inferior" players while actually in his prime. Kinda flies in the face of what many have said.
The price & availability of pre-1900 stuff is the most deciding factor as to why they seem to be collected less. Again, the t206 set (because of how common and cheap they are) allow even the most financally strapped collector to obtain them--how many T206's are on ebay at any given moment compared to N172's?
-Rhett
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