[skelly423]

I hope you'll allow me a few minutes to share a project I have worked very hard to put together. I'm a big fan of the T206 set, but I know that I'll never put together the entire 520 card set. I wanted to find a way to showcase what I love about the set, without breaking the bank in the process. I thought the best way to showcase the cards would be to find one player from each of the 16 major league teams. I set a restriction of no Hall of Fame players to keep my budget reasonable.

I spent a lot of time trying to determine what appealed to me most about the set, and realized it's the bright, bold colors. My first thought was to get a portrait from each team; it was quickly dashed when I discovered there are no Red Sox portraits in the set. I figured I could shift to the 350 series action shots with solid backgrounds. That idea was similarly discarded when I learned there were no Pirates in that subset. In the end, I opted for a hybrid approach, eight portraits, eight 350 series solid back cards. In order to properly showcase the colors, I decided to try and assemble the eight portraits and eight 350s with different color backs.

Once I landed on the general goal, it was a matter of many hours combing through the set gallery to identify the various combinations of cards for each team. The Pirates have no 350 backs, and only two available portraits, a yellow Leach, and a red Abstein. Knowing there were many more red portraits than yellows, Tommy Leach became the first card added to my checklist.

The Philadelphia A's had one 350 card (a green Hartsell), and three portraits, all blue. Hartsell became the second card. Working through the teams there were some challenges - the Phillies, Naps, and White Sox had very few options. Fortunately, some teams had plenty of options to balance things out, there were no shortage of options for the Giants, Tigers, and Senators. The Brooklyn Superbas had some unique wine-red 350 cards, and the Reds have a sunflower yellow background that was similarly unique.

Eventually I landed on my 16 card checklist, and set to buying them. I prioritized color, and clear images. All the cards I found were free of creases, and visual distractions. I found a local framer who could mount the cards without adhesive (she used small clear plastic corners to create pockets for the cards), so as to make sure they will remain undamaged. The cards are installed behind UV protectant, non-reflective museum glass.

I finally picked up the finished product yesterday, and couldn't be more excited to share it.