T-206 CIGARETTE BASEBALL CARDS Booklet By Richard S. Egan Jan '66

[Jerry G]

This thread is actually in response to a closed thread titled The making of - "Handbook To US Early Candy and Gum Cards" - Egan, 1969. In a letter to one of his contemporaries (Buck Barker, I believe) Mr. Egan made referrence to the T-206 booklet. Some speculated that he was speaking of the 1980 Heitman book, The Monster. Since Mr. Egan published this booklet in early 1966, it's probably what he was referring to.

I bought my copy from the Card Collectors Company in that same time period with my lawn mowing money. The complete tome is nine pages plus cover. He uses a fascinating coding system to categorize the backs (page 2) and player poses (page 3). The cards are numbered alphabetically by team and league. American League teams are first followed by National then the minor leagues. To the right of the player's name it shows the code of the possible backs and poses. The last page is a summary. The closing paragraph strongly suggests that the set may not be complete at 523 cards. He concludes, "...since the checklist was first printed in 1938 there have been no major additions."