W551 Ruth - Status in the Hobby

[mrreality68]

I am not a big fan of the W551 either but they are Ruth cards, many people do collect them and the prices are going up(so good if you are a collector with long term investment thoughts), and the prices are still reasonable compared to other Ruth cards.

I like the big head Ruth and was fortunate to get one. Rare and took time to find one and the prices definitely has gone up dramatically. So with time the W551 will go up also.

Go for it and enjoy the card just wait for the card that has the eye appeal that you want within your budget

[brianp-beme]

For collectors, the W514 set has always been the king of the drawn strip card sets, for many reasons, including the 120 card size of the set, the many HOF players pictured, the inclusion of the Black Sox players including Joe Jackson, and the decent artwork. I have always thought the W551 set was a neglected afterthought because it is only a 10 card (baseball subjects) set, but in my eyes the artwork is comparable to the W514 issue.

As far as W551 Ruth, I think folks dislike the side portrait view, and might even think it does not look like the Babe. I found a side view photo of the Babe on the web, dated from the early 1920's, the same basic time frame as the W551 set, for everyone to compare, and I would say that the W551 artists did a pretty good job with his depiction.

And both serious and non-serious collectors alike should consider strip cards as an essential part of a healthy, balanced diet of vintage cards.

Brian

[ullmandds]

Years ago...when ruth strips were $100...I didn't value them enough to add to my PC. When they staerted gettting expensive...I started appreciating them more. All strips are not created equal though. I have close to ten strips of ruth...I shy away from ones that dont look like ruth...w514 being the exception due to its curiousness!!!!

im not even sure this is considered a strip???

[ullmandds]

S’more

[oldjudge]

I like a few of the photographic strip cards, but most others are on cheap paper and to my way of thinking, horrible looking. I would never want any of these.

[FrankWakefield]

I used to think just like what Jay just posted. The paper reminded me of that thick construction paper that I used in primary school. I'd be trying to draw, trying to color, trying to cut out pieces of paper lefthanded with those ridiculous cheap metal scissors... And many of the strip cards looked like that: something I'd have drawn, colored, and jaggedly cut.

I've found being a hater is easy. One of my daughters, wiser than I was at her age, as we looked at something that someone else was proud of and as I criticized it a bit, she said, "Dad, don't blah somebody else's bling." It took a few seconds of reflection for that to sink in. I still criticize, but I think it is less often and less harshly.

So, back to hating. I really like a Sports Americana book, I think it's a 5th edition, green cover, Baseball Card Alphabetical Checklist. There are newer editions that have a bunch of 21st century players... The green edition I like best. With it, I can look up a player who will be listed alphabetically, and then there's a bunch of letters and numbers, eg E102. That means the player is in the E102 set. The book has a few mistakes, but it's mainly well done. If I read about a player and he interests me, then I'll be wanting a card of him from his playing days, and if I don't have one, I start searching for that green book. What I'm I hating? I hate that there's not a vintage set that had all 8 of the Eight Men Out - Blacksox. (I get annoyed at how there wasn't a significant card issue that shows Jack Rothrock as a Cardinal, he wasn't up very long, and realistically didn't deserve to be in the 1933 or 1934 Goudy sets, nor the Diamond Stars... so I'm making do with Rothrock on a matchbook cover, and on a 4in1 Exhibit card.)

The closest we can get to all 8 of the Blacksox is SEVEN, in the W514 strip cards. The cutting is a mess. If you want graded cards then strip cards don't grade well. The Paper has a slightly low ph, they'll degrade with time, they're fragile. And strip card haters, don't leave out that Wagner isn't in the set. But golly gee, the set has a fantastic assortment of HOFers. How many sets have both Mathewson and Stengel, or Babe Ruth and Southworth??? Or how about non HOFer Burt Shotton and Ty Cobb?? A very few. W514 is a snapshot of 20th century baseball immediately after the 1915 Cracker Jacks and M101-5s... and before the flood of candy cards of the early to mid 1920s. Joe Jackson, Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Rogers Hornsby, Pete Alexander, Christy Mathewson, Nap Lajoie... Wow!

I don't know if my thoughts have matured or manured, but I have learned to not hate the W514s, and have even gotten to like them. They are the green eggs and ham of the immediately post WW1 baseball cards. I'm glad people still hate them, makes them less expensive than they could be.

[FrankWakefield]

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1696648687