Quote:
Originally Posted by rats60
There's no subjectivity. The t206 is the most important. It was the first largely distributed baseball card set. It's followed by the 33 Goudey set, the first bubble gum cards. Then the 52 Topps set as Topps first major issue. Each owes its existence in part to those that came before it. Those 3 sets are the backbone of the hobby.
Ruth's first card is the Baltimore News. The M101-4 is just another card. It's not a rookie card. It wasn't nationally distributed. It wasn't sold in any package. You can't buy a pack of M101-4 cards. It wasn't a "normal" issue like t206 where you could buy a pack a cigarettes and get a Wagner or Cracker Jack/ E-cards that came with candy. The Wagner is extremely scarce within its set. The Ruth is a common card. Any post WW2 card with the same characteristics as the Ruth would be ignored by the hobby.
The Wagner never broke out. It has always been the card to have. The first catalog of baseball cards recognized it as the most valuable card and it has been so since. The problem with the M101-4 Ruth is that for most of its history it was irrelevant to the hobby. It was a common card in an obscure set. A some point, someone got the idea to hype this "fake rookie" as the Ruth card to have. All it took was two people buying into the hype to drive the price up and the hype snow balled. It is the definition of overhyped.
|
1. There is much subjectivity.
2. N172 was the first largely distributed baseball card set.
3. "Scrapps" are the first bubble gum baseball cards.
Anyone care to fact-check paragraphs 2 and 3?