Levels of scarcity among E254 HOFers

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Posted By: John S

Rhett mentioned in an earlier thread that there are multiple levels of rarity within the Colgan's E254 set. I have been working on this set over the last twelve years and there a few that I have never seen. On the other hand there are a number of players that seem to show up in every inventory list or when multiple cards are offered for sale. Using the 23 Colgan's that picture HOF subjects I have categorized them into five groups with 1 being the easiest and 5 being the most difficult. Please feel free to disagree and/or offer your opinion.

1) Wagner, Cobb, Clarke (Pittsburg), Joss

2) Tinkers, Evers, Chance, Jennings, Hooper (Bos. Am.), Baker, Collins

3) Clark (Pittsburgh), Young, Hooper (Nat. L), Kelley, Waddell (St. Louis), Speaker, Bresnahan

4) McGinnity, Waddell (Newark), Flick (Cleveland)

5) Flick (Toledo), Waddell (Minn.)

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Posted By: Anonymous

Rube Waddell played for Mike Cantillon at Minneapolis. The Minneapolis Millers were doing a bit of spring training, they were playing the Memphis club in an exhibition at Hickman, Kentucky in late March of 1912. The team had also appeared at Owensboro, Kentucky. The Ohio River was flooding, and Waddell helped stack sandbags, all through the night, in the cold waters, trying to save the town of Hickman, after the town's levee broke. The town's bells pealed about 2am, the players left the hotel, Rube stripped off his shirt and waded into the breach.

It is thought that Waddell developed respiratory problems during that ordeal. He retreated to San Antonio, Texas, at the direction of the team, in hopes that the dry climate would help. Waddell died of Tuberculosis in the spring of 1914.

I'd think that Colgan's could have ceased production of his cards with the Minn designation, and that might be why you have his Minn card among the more difficult.

Frank

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Posted By: Paul

Why does this thread have only one response? It's an interesting subject, and I think an even more interesting story about Waddell posted in response. I guess everyone wants to hide their knowledge in the hope of getting a good deal. I thought that was the exclusive province of Old Judge collectors.

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Posted By: Frank Wakefield

Paul, you have me laughing aloud...

Thanks for your comments. I too thought John's post was very interesting. And I thought there would have been more responses.

Joe McCarthy is in the Hall, and he's not listed above. I think my Hooper is the "NL" variety, and it isn't listed either. John, where do you think those 2 fit in?

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Posted By: John S

Hey Frank,

Hooper National is listed in the third tier. I don't feel qualified to categorize McCarthy as I have not been tracking him until recently (and I forgot to include him in the original post). In general the Toledo players seem to be a little more difficult than some of the other subjects. Hopefully some other collectors will offer their opinions.

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Posted By: Frank Wakefield

Thank you, John, I now see Hooper NL...

Being from Kentucky, I have always been slightly partial to the Colgans cards. The history of how the guy bought a rail car of chicle and then tried to figure out what he could do with it is fascinating. And I like the set because it has so many Louisville players. And with them, other American Association teams, and some Southern League teams. Nashville and Memphis are included. All cities fairly close to me.

And I think the reason John's post has so few responses might be because few Colgan's cards are graded, in comparison to other issues. If few are graded, then there would be few collectors of slabbed cards interested in this in the first place... just might be...

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Posted By: Patrick McMenemy

I only have 4 Colgans. I picked up 3 of the 4 at one of the Shriner's Auditorium Show outside of Boston. A local Connecticut dealer ws selling off his personal collection, so I grabbed Gibson, Meyers, and Street for $100.00.
I also have a decent looking Bresnahan that I picked up off of eBay from John Billingsly. I have seen a few of the Bresnahan show up on eBay over the last few years.



Patrick

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Posted By: Rhett Yeakley

John, I would pretty much agree with your groupings, however I don't think the McGinnity is any tougher than the Bresnahan (both relatively difficult though). I have been monitoring the McCarthy for the last several years as well, and was able to pick up a few. If I had to venture a guess on the McCarthy I would say it was pretty similar to the two aforementioned players (McGinnity & Bresnahan). The Flicks are tough, as well as the Waddell minor league cards. All of the Cubs infielders are roughly equal though I have personally seen more Chance than the others, but none of them are tough. It does appear that the Colgan's Gum Co. knew that Wagner and Cobb were the two big draws and printed more of them than everyone else, however I feel I have seen more Wags than Cobb's.

-Rhett
http://www.starsofthediamond.com/colgans.html

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Posted By: steve

Correct me if I am wrong, but the 3 types of Colgan's are the Regular, Tin Tops and Colored edge, yes?

I know the regular has Wagner and Cobb. The Tin Tops have Wagner and Cobb. But do the Colored's have Wagner and Cobb ?

With the Skydash stuff, I have seen the tin top of these two. But I have never seen the Colored's of these two.

I am waiting to see a Cy Young in nice shape.........still waiting.

steve

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Posted By: Rhett Yeakley

There is no E270 Red Border Wagner, however Cobb is in that set. Very distinctive Cobb card as it has his name and team on his chest as opposed to the sides of his head as is normally the case with Colgans (the guides mistakenly printed for years that the E254 Cobb could be found with name on chest but that was an error due to an obvious reference to the E270 Red Border Cobb)
-Rhett

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Posted By: Frank Wakefield

I dug out my Colgans HOFers... 4 TWOs and 2 THREEs acording to John's list. Harry Hooper certainly looks young, doesn't he?

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Posted By: Tom Boblitt

E270 Red Border Young


E254 Stars of Diamond Young


E270 Red Border Cobb

LOVE the Cobb card with the deep black background............

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Posted By: Ken W.

Don't know how tough it is, but one of my favs:

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Posted By: Scot

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Posted By: Rhett Yeakley

Tom, do you own the Cobb? Great card with the distinct layout change with team and name on chest. I have only seen two other players oin the Red Border set like this Hughes and Murch (I forget which team on the Murch--but I think you outbid me on the Murch several years ago on ebay.) Here is the Johnny Hughes, has anybody seen any other player with this unusual setup?
-Rhett

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Posted By: Tom Boblitt

I posted in my post. I owned the red border Cy Young but it was sent packing to a new home