T206 variations

[Archive]

Posted By: Ted Zanidakis

Barry
Boy, you are going back to 1981 about the 1949 Bowmans. But,
more significant was my resolving the mystery of the 12 vari-
ations in that set; which up until then had everyone confused.
After some extensive research, Ralph Triplette and I, identified
these 12 cards as being printed on the last Hi# sheet comprising
36 cards which included the Paige, Snider, and Doby Rookies.
De-bunking the existence of the Pesky controversy was just an
incidental by-product.

1981, what a year for ERROR & VARIATION collectors in this hobby.
Unfortunately, we were deprived in 1981 of the most significant "find"
in this category, namely the first Joe Doyle "error/variation" card.
Now tell me, if you (or anyone else) discovered such a unique card
wouldn't you shout it through out the land ? You bet you would.
You would be ecstatic. Yet, Fritsch chose not to share his find with
the rest of us. Perhaps, he wanted a 2nd source. And, indeed he
got that in 1987; however, I find this behavior sort of cryptic.

You see, my problem is, after going thru approx. 4000 - T206 cards
and studying them very closely, I am amazed how the designers of
these cards were very accurate in updating player trades during
their production (1909-11). Excellent examples of this are Browne,
Dahlen, Demmitt, Elberfeld, Kleinow, O'Hara, etc.
And, the point I'm driving at here is I really cannot believe they
made the mistake of adding "NAT'L" to a known American League
player.
If anything was to be modified with the initial Joe Doyle card
they would have reflected the fact that he was traded to Cinc.
in 1910. Again, considering that there are 523 cards in this set
and the fact that they was issued over several series, it is virtually
error-free in its accuracy. This tells me a lot of diligence went
into producing these cards; so, I find it very difficult to accept
this "strange" Joe Doyle card. It just doesn't fit the pattern.