[Archive]

Posted By: Scot Reader

With the passing of a few short generations many of the greatest players of their respective eras are relegated to the dustbin of history. For the most part, the only greats who escape this undeserved fate are those fortunate enough to make it to Cooperstown--which like it or not has become the primary arbiter of baseball greatness. So alas we pay 3X common value for Bobby Wallace but are able to steal the great Turkey Mike for about the same price as Charlie Rhodes (Sorry, Charlie).

If one wants to know who were the most popular players during the T206 era, a good starting point I think is the six superprints. These six subjects depict Chance, Chase (twice), Cobb, Evers and Matty. Somebody at American Tobacco apparently decided that it would make good dollars and cents to supply extra copies of these five players to the smoking public. Another important point, as Ted has already mentioned, is to consider how many different subjects the various players were afforded, three in the case of Turkey Mike (not bad, and the same number as Nap Lajoie whose greatness cannot be disputed).