Eddie Plank

[Snapolit1]

What's the fascination with Plank? I am sure you can ask the same question about 20 other guys. Icons in the hobby. Hardly household names or even known to serious baseball fans. Is it something to do with one card and how it looked and people decided it was just cool looking? And it it then bled over to other cards? I realize he is a HOFer, but that hardly explains why he is the second most valuable card of all time.

[ullmandds]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

What's the fascination with Plank? I am sure you can ask the same question about 20 other guys. Icons in the hobby. Hardly household names or even known to serious baseball fans. Is it something to do with one card and how it looked and people decided it was just cool looking? And it it then bled over to other cards? I realize he is a HOFer, but that hardly explains why he is the second most valuable card of all time.

Is he 2nd most valuable card of all time...or is the mick?

It's all about T206!

[steve B]

I'm sort of surprised to see this question here. Other sites it would be less of a surprise.


Basically, it's from one of the most popular sets ever. Part of that popularity is availability, someones first prewar card is often a T206. Another part of that popularity is the Honus Wagner card.

A bit of the rest is that the Plank T206 is far from common. Using the population reports however flawed gives at least a rough idea. Wagners - 46 from PSA/SGC combined. Plank - 101 combined. Magie - 177 combined.

The three things that make for a valuable card or any other collectible for that matter are - A great subject, just enough rarity to matter, and a good story. Plank is certainly rare enough, and for years the story was that the card was rare because the printing plate broke. (It might actually be that the story about the Wagner card is actually about Plank. ) He's hardly an unheard of player, he may not get the attention of a Cobb or Wagner, but he was a great player. Only a small handful of players will continue to have an overall public popularity at a high level for a century or more.

Now a better question is whether the rarity, popularity and value of the T206 has made the rest of Planks cards more valuable. I'd say that's probably true for some of those cards.

Steve B

[Snapolit1]

Thanks Steve for the condescension. I don't collect Tobacco cards, but knew full well where his card fell in the Burdick classification system. Are you telling me there are not rarer tobacco cards? Heritage just sent out a catalog 1000s of tobacco cards. Are you telling me his is the second rarest tobacco card of all time? Would be interesting (and untrue).
And when you got done denigrating my question, it was kind of you to rephrase the question I actually asked, and then congratulate yourself for doing so.

[packs]

I think it's all about the pose. The E95 sells pretty well too because it's the same image. I also think the image on the Cracker Jack helps it's value too, although it's not the same image. When I look at his Cracker Jack I can't help but think: there's a ballplayer. I've always wanted that card. It also helps that he was a part of the famous Mack teams.

[Sean]

It's probably not the 2nd most valuable any more. I would put it 5th.

1- T206 Wagner
2- Baltimore News Ruth
3- T206 Doyle Nat'l
4- T206 Cobb/ Cobb back
5- T206 Plank

In each of these cases the cards are both rare (ie-total number of cards) and scarce (number of cards relative to demand for the card).

Plank is a rare card from the most popular set ever. You are correct that there are many cards that are more rare than Plank, but there isn't the same demand for these cards.

[scooter729]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

Are you telling me there are not rarer tobacco cards? Heritage just sent out a catalog 1000s of tobacco cards. Are you telling me his is the second rarest tobacco card of all time? Would be interesting (and untrue).

There are most certainly many tobacco cards far rarer than Plank - many with populations in the single digits. But, they are in far less popular sets. It's the extreme popularity of the T206 set, coupled with the low pop of Plank, which make it so desirable. Plank's E104-1 card, for instance, is probably 10x rarer than the T206, but will sell for a small fraction, because the E104-1 set is far less popular and collected than T206.

If there are ~3,000 copies of other regular cards in the T206 set but only 100 - 150 Planks, that makes it 20x - 30x scarcer. Considering he is in the HOF and in such demand, the price tag is not surprising.

[steve B]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

Thanks Steve for the condescension. I don't collect Tobacco cards, but knew full well where his card fell in the Burdick classification system. Are you telling me there are not rarer tobacco cards? Heritage just sent out a catalog 1000s of tobacco cards. Are you telling me his is the second rarest tobacco card of all time? Would be interesting (and untrue).
And when you got done denigrating my question, it was kind of you to rephrase the question I actually asked, and then congratulate yourself for doing so.

Not intended as condescension.

I suppose - without knowing how long you've collected so I could be way off -it's a bit of the difference between generations. More older collectors are generalists, while people who began more recently tend to specialize. Nothing wrong with either approach, it just means there will be moments where those differences become awkward.

Yes, there are a lot of Tobacco cards that are more rare. There are probably at least a couple sets where there are fewer cards total than Planks.

But rarity isn't everything. There are lots of things that add up to value. I think we're in the same boat as far as having stuff that's more rare than the big ticket items, but won't sell for anywhere near as much. That's unfortunately true for me in all my hobbies. I mean really, that silly upside down airplane stamp! There's almost 100 of them left and yet the stamps I have that were also sold in quantities of say 100 or less won't even bring 1000, let alone a few hundred thousand. Of course, the expensive one is from a very widely collected field, and mine are a lot more obscure, and the errors are a lot less showy.

Steve B

[Snapolit1]

Apparently for years on this board people have argued and debated the very question I asked. And some of them believed theories that others believe they debunked. Others didn't find the question quite as simplistic or uninformed as you did.

[EvilKing00]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

What's the fascination with Plank? I am sure you can ask the same question about 20 other guys. Icons in the hobby. Hardly household names or even known to serious baseball fans. Is it something to do with one card and how it looked and people decided it was just cool looking? And it it then bled over to other cards? I realize he is a HOFer, but that hardly explains why he is the second most valuable card of all time.

I thought the balt ruth was #2

[Yoda]

I wonder if perhaps one of the reasons for Plank's enduring popularity is the fact that he played for one of the era's premier teams, Connie Mack's Philadelphia A's. He was backed up by the million dollar infield and so on. If collectors back then were tucking away Eddie Collins and Home Run Baker cards then the paucity of Plank cards might have led it to become a chase card and increase its value even then. Who knows

[glynparson]

It is the third rarest card in what is arguably the most popular, certainly the most popular prewar, set of all-time. You can only really compare plank to Wagner , Doyle, magie, and the polar bear demmitt and Ohara. With the Wagner and Doyle being scarcer. The fact that there are rarer prewar cards is irrelevant, look at all the Wagner's far rarer than the t206. It is a function of both supply and demand. The fact that Plank is a HOf lends some value but the bulk is due to its scarcity in such a hugely popular set. I don't find most other Plank issues to have a premium over comparable hall of famers.

[BBB]

Originally Posted by glynparson

It is the third rarest card in what is arguably the most popular, certainly the most popular prewar, set of all-time. You can only really compare plank to Wagner , Doyle, magie, and the polar bear demmitt and Ohara. With the Wagner and Doyle being scarcer. The fact that there are rarer prewar cards is irrelevant, look at all the Wagner's far rarer than the t206. It is a function of both supply and demand. The fact that Plank is a HOf lends some value but the bulk is due to its scarcity in such a hugely popular set. I don't find most other Plank issues to have a premium over comparable hall of famers.

I agree , but would argue that plank does have a premium over comparable HOFers....which just means we disagree on what tier of players he is comparable to.

Like Wagner , the star power makes this card more alluring. That probably has a not insignificant impact on price (though I of course agree that most of price is due to scarcity / set popularity ).

Guess all I'm saying is I think there's a lot of people that might be more interested in owning something rare/special if it also has added benefit of HOF status....so demand goes up a bit from that.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Yoda]

The E95 Plank is or always has been an expensive card with nice copies selling for over a grand. Perhaps it is the poor man's T306 Plank---- same pose but a beautiful green background instead of blue. It will always probably be the 3rd most expensive card in the set after Cobb and Wagner.

[Bobsbats]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

What's the fascination with Plank? I am sure you can ask the same question about 20 other guys. Icons in the hobby. Hardly household names or even known to serious baseball fans. Is it something to do with one card and how it looked and people decided it was just cool looking? And it it then bled over to other cards? I realize he is a HOFer, but that hardly explains why he is the second most valuable card of all time.

Steve,

As a novice and not a T206 collector per say, I think Plank's go for a premium because you don't see a ton of them, and I don't mean the T206. There don't seem to be that many issues that you see all over. I consider Plank like a Burkett, Rusie, Galvin etc. Great HOF'ers, in between Mayo cut plugs, and T206. Tough finding issues that are affordable, thus creating real solid demand. Again, just my .02

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

What's the fascination with Plank? I am sure you can ask the same question about 20 other guys. Icons in the hobby. Hardly household names or even known to serious baseball fans. Is it something to do with one card and how it looked and people decided it was just cool looking? And it it then bled over to other cards? I realize he is a HOFer, but that hardly explains why he is the second most valuable card of all time.

I think his T206 card, which probably isn't the second rarest card in the set (Doyle?) but possibly the 2nd rarest regular type card, is valuable because of the demand for the card. I think some of that mystique spills over into other sets with his portrait pose.

[Luke]

Originally Posted by Leon

I think his T206 card, which probably isn't the second rarest card in the set (Doyle?) but possibly the 2nd rarest regular type card, is valuable because of the demand for the card. I think some of that mystique spills over into other sets with his portrait pose.

Yeah, I agree. The demand and price tag for Plank makes perfect sense when you see the crazy prices for the Demmitt and O'Hara Polar Bears. They are no more rare than any other subject with a Polar Bear back and they go for huge prices because so many people want one to complete a set.

With Plank you have all of those elements plus it's a great looking portrait of an upper-tier Hall of Famer. The fact that he doesn't have a ton of other cards also contributes to the demand I think.

[nat]

Not to hijack this thread and make it about baseball, but I don't know about calling Plank an "upper tier" hall of famer. His ERA looks really good because he was playing in the deadball era, but once you adjust for that it's a little bit better than Tom Glavine's and a little bit worse than John Smoltz's. He's got a healthy lead over Smoltz in innings pitched, but on that measure he's about exactly equal to Glavine. So I don't know quite where you want to draw the upper/lower tier line, but Plank comes out as having somewhat more value in his career than Tom Glavine. Which is good and all, but it's not Pete Alexander territory.

[rats60]

Originally Posted by nat

Not to hijack this thread and make it about baseball, but I don't know about calling Plank an "upper tier" hall of famer. His ERA looks really good because he was playing in the deadball era, but once you adjust for that it's a little bit better than Tom Glavine's and a little bit worse than John Smoltz's. He's got a healthy lead over Smoltz in innings pitched, but on that measure he's about exactly equal to Glavine. So I don't know quite where you want to draw the upper/lower tier line, but Plank comes out as having somewhat more value in his career than Tom Glavine. Which is good and all, but it's not Pete Alexander territory.

I would say Plank is well above Glavine or Smoltz. Smoltz's ERA+ is going to be inflated by his years as a closer. Obviously he is no Alexander, who was the 9th player elected to the HOF. If that is where you draw your line, then you are saying that less than 10 pitchers are upper tier. To me Plank is going to be in the 2nd 10 and that is still upper tier. He is better than most hofers in the set and as a pitcher behind only the big 3.

[Leon]

My previous poor man's Plank.....

Originally Posted by LukeLyon

Yeah, I agree. The demand and price tag for Plank makes perfect sense when you see the crazy prices for the Demmitt and O'Hara Polar Bears. They are no more rare than any other subject with a Polar Bear back and they go for huge prices because so many people want one to complete a set.

With Plank you have all of those elements plus it's a great looking portrait of an upper-tier Hall of Famer. The fact that he doesn't have a ton of other cards also contributes to the demand I think.

[tedzan]

Originally Posted by Leon

My previous poor man's Plank.....

Hi Leon

Many of the E104's have reverse images from the original Horner photos used in the printing of the T206 cards. Your Plank is an example of this.






Another example is my E104-1 Bris Lord (whose image is actually that of Sherry Magee in reverse).





TED Z
.

[Bpm0014]

^^^ Cool info (as always) on the reverse image usage. Never knew that.