Say you had a time machine...

[JollyElm]

Based on a mention in another thread, I started reading "Inside T206 - A Collector’s Guide to the Classic Baseball Card Set" by Scot A. Reader, and I love it!!!!

So...say you had a time machine and you could only go back to 1909 (and, of course, return on the current date). You'd research the exact clothing you would need in order to fit in and you would stock up on as much pre-1909 currency and coins as you could hold, etc., etc. Where in the country would you go and what exact date would you travel back to?

The reasoning is this. Geographically speaking, where was the Honus Wagner found? Was it released all over the country or only in some markets? I know ads featuring a picture of said card were run almost into the fall, but had the supplies of that card dried up much earlier in the year? When exactly did the T-206 cards start appearing in cigarette packs? The frenzy of young boys gobbling them all up could very well become a hindrance to a time traveler's efforts to stockpile them, so what timeframe would we be looking at? Early summer? Late spring?

I'm obviously concentrating solely on the Wagner card here, but if you were looking for Cobb and others, where and when would you set the time machine for??

[drcy]

If your intent to go to the past is to bring T206s to the present, that means in the present you will then have a plethora of T206 which means you will have no incentive to go back into the past to get T206s. Going into the past changes the future (the present) and the change in the future (the present) removes the reason and desire to go into the past.

Ah, the paradoxes of time travel. Your better bet is alchemy.

[Bostnfn]

Wouldn't you also need to stockpile the cards somewhere safe so that they would age the appropriate amount of time (albeit in perfect conditions)

It would be weird having a pristine card from 1909 in which the paper shows aging in terms of days vs a century. I would think you would also need to find a place to keep it safe for the 107 years. Like a safe deposit box and just travel to each year to pay the renewal fee at a bank you know continues to stand.

[ALR-bishop]

If you could not find a Wagner maybe you could bring back some shares or an investment in Coca Cola as a back up plan

[whitehse]

Instead of going back to 1909 I would think one would travel back to say....1934 and take out advertisements in all the local news papers offering to buy old sports cards. There would no doubt be a line around the block selling you cards because this practice was virtually unheard of back then and the cards you purchase would already be "aged". Since the cards would show signs f handling one could come back to the future and sell those cards at a substantial profit without raising suspicions.

Going back to 1934 would not necessarily net you a Wagner unless someone lumped it into the group they were selling you but you certainly would get thousands of T-206's and you could also write Goudey and tell them how pissed you are that you did not get a Lajoie in your 1933 set. Imagine what a pristine Nap would net you in this day and age?

[darwinbulldog]

Or you could just go back to 1960 and offer to take the warehouse full of '52 Topps high number cases that Berger and Gelman had to charter a barge to dispose of.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1...ped-into-ocean

[BicycleSpokes]

I would start chain smoking uzits and drums.

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[Mark17]

To prepare for the trip, gather a bunch of vintage money, identify the print shop where T206s were made, and then find a local cemetery that, as of today, has remained undisturbed since 1900. In fact, find a specific grave that looks undisturbed and unmaintained.

Go to the printing shop where they made T206s, give the printer an insane amount of money (maybe $50) to run off some Wagners, Planks, Doyles, and Magies for you, and, for fun, see if he can do one of the Wagners with a green background. If you really want to get clever, see if you can get a Mathewson white cap with the name mis-spelled.

If you have time, see if you can get some of the cards autographed, like Plank or Matty.

Add to that a bunch of commons, some printed ads for T206, find out the stories behind Wagner and Plank, and so on.

Seal them in a stone box with metal lining and bury them at night, a few feet below ground, but above the casket, of that grave you've identified.

Return to present day, dig up the box, and very slowly, very carefully, start leaking these treasures into the marketplace. Don't ever reveal the entire story because once you're certified insane, they might take your cards away from you...

[Batpig]

Or just go back to 1986 and buy up unopened Fleer basketball. Then you don't have to worry about aging, the supply, or your hoard drastically affecting the value of the market as a whole...or just wait for the powerball this weekend and go back a day.

[JustinD]

Originally Posted by Batpig

...or just wait for the powerball this weekend and go back a day.

Now that simplifies things.

[Rookiemonster]

I would go back to 1909 I guess New York look for a good baseball game . I would then find my way to the factory and ask a employ at the factory if or when wagners were printed.
Then jump to a day before or so of that date . Find a factory worker and tell him
to sneak me out as many as he can and I'll give him a months pay ! I would then protect them in a book or something. Then I would find a bank that I know still exist and buy a safety deposit box. Come back to currents with the existence
Of these card not being known to anyone and start to slowly sell them.

[nat]

Required to show: Time travel is impossible.

Proof: If it was possible, someone would have gone back to 1909 and snag a pile of Wagners already. But no one has. So time travel is impossible.

QED


UNLESS! Maybe that's where the Cobb/Cobb find is from!!

[JollyElm]

Um…did every single person just skip over the part where I said "you could only go back to 1909"???????????? Ha ha. Come on, people!