Quote:
Originally Posted by honus94566
No way to know for sure.
Wagner does appear in the T216 Tobacco issues out of New Orleans, but who knows if Wagner even had knowledge of this. Whether or not his stance on tobacco use is what pulled his T206 from production is still a subject of debate, and there is no definitive answer.
I am pretty sure the T216 is the only tobacco issue he appears in but could be wrong. Anybody?
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There seems to be no debate amongst the biographers of Wagner. It's not that he was religiously anti-tobacco, he just didn't want to promote smoking cigarettes to kids. There is an article in a 1912 Baseball Magazine (forgot the month) where he is quoted saying that. He also sent a check for $10 to the sportswriter who was asked to get his permission for inclusion. ($10 is the amount the writer was to receive from the Tobacco company for Wagner's ok to be in the set). The holding out for more money theory does not work in any case considering the amount of candy issues he was in, clearly if any payment at all was made, it was less than players would have received from the Tobacco companies.
A contemporary comparison would be a celebrity who drinks alcohol but would not promote it in a TV commercial.
Unlikely Wagner knew about the T216 until too late to do anything about it. That said, I believe those are as rare as the T206 if not more so.
As for best Wagner cards, depending on budget I'd go with-
M110
W600 (either pose)
Orange Border (either pose)
Novelty Cutlery PC
Mike Wheat's T3 Fantasy piece ($20 on Ebay)
(I do not know MW- Just like that card)