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Posted By: brian parker

Bob is correct--all the people I have encountered that are interested in Obaks truly seem to be helpful and friendly collectors. Besides the fact that they are a minor league issue, I think that part of the reason why there are relatively few graded Obaks out there is that this sense of community amongst Obak and PCL collectors is fairly strong, and those who decide to collect these issues are usually dedicated and experienced hobbyist who are more interested in the cards than what money the cards might make them in the future. Sometimes it feels like what it must have been like collecting vintage cards in the Seventies--when the dealer was not much different than the collector (I have to go by hearsay--it was a little before my time). I truly believe Mark MaCrae has helped foster this collecting spirit amongst the people who buy from him. Although he is a dealer and will always make a nice profit from his cards, he is a collector at heart and you come away from talking with him as if you have just had a discussion with another collector (albeit an extremely knowledgeable one).

By the way, one of those helpful collectors that Bob forgot to mention was himself.

The VCBC has had some great articles on the Obak sets. Mark wrote a very nice overview of the three sets in Volume 3, including the most accurate checklist including variations and the 1910 150 series cards. Jeff Obermeyer (another helpful collector) wrote an interesting article in Volume 12 about the players in the sets, and especially those who had major league careers, and included listing of those players as well as a list of players who had cards in other major league issues. Volume 22 has another Obermeyer article with lists concerning availability of the slogans on the backs of the 1910 issue per each player, and in Volume 26 he updates this listing after having received additional information from fellow collectors. There is also a website www.vintagecarboard.net that includes Obak reference information (and I believe some of Jeff's lists).

If I were to start to collect the Obaks now, with the idea of completing a set, I would probably attack the 1910 issue, as it is the most available and doesn't have the big name players Weaver(1911) or Gandil(1909). Just don't expect to end up with a master set including the 150 series cards or the variations. The 1911's are a little more difficult, but for me they have the added bonus of an usually laughable biographical write-up on the back (let's just say they are very clever with the use of the word 'clever', and quite often players are lauded for their abilities in tagging runners). I would suggest just getting an example or two of the 1909's--to me the fronts are not as colorful and quite honestly they are tough to come by.

Good luck--and thanks for inspiring me to finally write that Great American Novel

Brian