T206 -- Relative Scarcity or What Autographs Can Tell You

[Archive]

Posted By: T206Collector

In my endless quest to acquire autographs on as many T206 cards as possible, it is no surprise that the most common autographs come from the players who lived the longest. For example, it seems like everyone who wants one has an autographed T206 card of Rube Marquard. This is not surprising, given that he lived longer than anyone else in T206 -- he is the only T206'er who lived to 1980 (6/1/1980).

Below is a list compiled some time ago on Net54 of the last 13 survivors:

1. Rube Marquard 6-1-1980
2. Paddy Livingston 9-19-1977
3. Al Shaw 12-30-1974
4. Fred Snodgrass 4-5-1974
5. Larry Doyle 3-1-1974
6. George McBride 7-2-1973
7. Dutch Jordan 12-23-1972
8. Fred Parent 11-2-1972
9. Davy Jones 3-30-1972
10. Donie Bush 3-28-1972
11. Zach Wheat 3-11-1972
12. Chief Meyers 7-25-1971
13. Harry Pattee 7-17-1971

Putting aside, for the moment, the obvious variable of difficulty in finding mailing addresses or just plain finding these guys in the 1970s and earlier, it is surprising to me that Meyers, Wheat, Jones, Parent, McBride, Doyle, Snograss, Livingston and Marquard have a number of examples of autographed T206 cards floating around the hobby and in established collections, but I have never even seen a signed T206 card of Shaw, Jordan, Bush or Pattee.

Now, we all know that the T206 Pattee is a relatively scarce card, but how else do we explain the total or near absence of signed Shaw, Jordan or Bush cards? As I am pretty sure their signatures are relatively easy to come by on 3 x 5 cards, can we deduce that T206 cards of Shaw, Jordan and Bush are somewhat more scarce than other commons? Perhaps as uncommon as the T206 Pattee?

When I spoke to Jeff Morey about this, he said he would send any card he had to the players he could find. He believed an absence of the player's signature on his card was probably more a function of the card's scarcity, than the player's availability.

Any thoughts on this from T206 collectors or vintage autograph collectors? I'd be interested in hearing about relative scarcities on Pattee, Shaw, Jordan or Bush signatures OR T206 cards.

-----
Visit http://www.t206collector.com for Net54 T206 archive, signed deadball card galleries, articles and more!