I have handled a fair amount of t205's over the years, and from dozens of different sources.
My opinion, any list with McConnell or Tannehill on it shouldn't be designated SP, tough, or rare. Titus a little less but these are *easy*cards in the set. Plenty of Doc White to choose from too, I know because I looked for just the right "Kirb" for a long time and sifted through a bunch of "Doc" on the way.
I have had more extra Tannehill cards than any other player besides Olmstead.
I am not certain about the theory of which cards were switched with the minor leaguers. It does appear more complex than a 1:1 relationship (i.e- say Sweeney for Dunn), and I may try harder to join the research team on this topic. I spent too long in the "accumulation"phase , but now I might be ready to better sort some of the collection out.
When I first began collecting these, I can tell you there wasn't mass hording going on in the Northeast, where I bought my earliest T205's. Why would there be when most cards cost 10 bucks? As I gathered enough to generate a wantlist, I had several cards in my stack that were/are designated as SP but they didn't cost anything more unless they were in nicer condition...Sweeney, Vaughan, Kleinow, Wagner, Karger...nothing special in the early 90's.
Turner and Suggs never showed up, nor the left ear Chase. Those remained on my list just about the longest. (Cobb , Speaker and Young just took money they weren't hard to find)
I find myself intrigued with all of your research. I hadn't particularly cared about the backs over the years, but tried to keep a Cycle or Polar Bear over the other common ones I had. I just liked them better. Still, I focused on fronts so who knows how many Pied42's I passed over or traded along the way. I never saw a Drum though, I recall that specifically.
Anyway, keep up the debate, Its all good when we talk about the best set ever
