Where to start on T206 collection?

[egbeachley]

Go slowly so you don't overextend your budget and never use the buy-it-now feature on Ebay or you will drastically overpay. Also, take your time and buy cards you like. There is no need to rush since this is one of the easiest sets to complete. Even the tough cards (Wagner, Plank, Doyle) are available at least once a year. This strategy assumes you aren't collecting by backs.

[the 'stache]

Selecting the Superbas to begin your assault on the Monster is an inspired choice, polakoff. Chapeau.

You'd asked for some checklists and spreadsheets. Here's where you want to go:

Brooklyn Superbas team checklist

That will give you every card within the team set, including the various poses that exist for players with multiple cards. If you want all the different checklists and spreadsheets, you want to go here:

Full T206 checklist & spreadsheet list set

In the lower right part of that page you will see spreadsheets that will help you find all the back combinations available.

One quick note about the first list I gave you. If a player has multiple cards, like Tim Jordan, who has a portrait card as well as a card of him batting, both will be included so long as the player spent the entire season with Brooklyn. In the case of Bill Dahlen, you will only see one of his portrait cards. Dahlen has another portrait card, the second depicting him as a member of the Boston Doves.

One strategy that you are likely already aware of (but I don't want to make any assumptions as less experienced collectors might also read this) is buying the most expensive cards first. The only Hall of Famer on the Brooklyn team as of right now is Zack Wheat. If you're looking to get all the Superba players, a Hall of Famer is most likely to go up in price, where the commons go up more slowly. So, you might buy the Wheat now, and then go back to buying the commons, or chase back runs, etc. If you hold off on the Wheat, you might end up paying more for it than you would have buying it right away.

One other player to keep in mind is the aforementioned Bill Dahlen. I think there's a very good chance that he's a member of the Hall of Fame starting in 2015. Here's an article which does a really nice job of explaining why:

John Tuberty's Baseball Blog-Bill Dahlen: Pre-Integration Era Veterans Committee Hall of Fame Candidate

The 16 member Pre-Integration Era Veterans Committee votes again in 2015. Each member can vote for up to four of the players nominated. For a player to be elected then to Cooperstown, they need to get 75% of the ballot, at least twelve votes. Last time, Dahlen got ten. I would be surprised if he doesn't get in this next time. If you look at the Sabermetric comparison of Dahlen to the other Hall of Fame shortstops of his era (Bobby Wallace, Honus Wagner, Hughie Jennings, and George Davis), he compares quite favorably. Dahlen's WAR of 70.9 is comparable to Bobby Wallace's 71.6, George Davis' 79.8, and Hughie Jennings' 39.7. The Flying Dutchman, again, is a different story altogether. Wagner had a WAR of 126.1. Only Bobby Wallace bests Bill Dahlen's dWAR score of 28.5, and that's only by 0.02.

Comparing Dahlen, too, to the other shortstops via standard metrics (hits, home runs, runs batted in, etc), again, he compares quite favorably. Obviously, Honus Wagner was by far the best shortstop in the first 100 years of baseball, but Dahlen was a pretty special offensive force. He walked over 1,000 times (1,064). Not even Wagner did that (963). Dahlen hit 84 home runs (second to only Wagner among his shortstop peers), and stole 548 bases. Dahlen tallied 2,461 hits, scored 1,590 runs, drove in 1,234 runs.

If you consider that Dahlen is likely going to be elected to the Hall of Fame, his cards will see a spike in demand, and the cost to buy strong copies will go up, too. What I'm doing with my collection is working on the more expensive cards that I really like first. The commons will go up some, too, but Hall of Fame cards, and the really popular non Hall of Famers (like Hal Chase) will always outperform the common cards.



My one Brooklyn Superba T206 card

One last thing to consider are the kinds of cards within the team. Invariably, several of the players within the Brooklyn team set will have action poses, as well as portraits. I happen to prefer portraits in most cases. You could think about buying just portrait cards of the Superbas.

Or, you could work on back runs of Superba portrait cards. The possibilities are limitless.


Good luck with your new collection!

[polakoff]

Thanks so much to everyone!

[Sean]

Everyone's advice is so good that I have little to add. My only added thought is that if you get a chance at something rare that you need, take it. Most of the players and backs will be pretty easy, so go for the tough one's whenever they show up.
Good luck and have fun. Brooklyn is the most attractive team set, and only one HOF (Wheat) and one toughie (Dahlen).

[BleedinBlue]

Everybody has given some great advice. I started with Brooklyn as well and then expanded my focus as I completed interim goals. I'm now at 508 and will keep picking off the next dozen as budget permits.

Before you seriously start on this effort I strongly suggest you come up with a realistic price estimate for what it will cost to accomplish the goal and make sure it is a financially realistic goal. The costs of the scarce backs can be staggering and the thought of buying several uzits, drums, Lenox, and red Hindus is just not realistic for most people, let alone a broadleaf 460 or two. Keep in mind that the prices for these backs has risen exponentially in the past few years. Once you have estimated total cost, if you have the means to give it a try, more power to you. Perhaps a team set with one example of each back would be a good stretch goal.

There are a million different ways to approach it. Find an approach that works within your budget so that you don't fall victim to the monster.

[The Nasty Nati]

It's nice to see a collector my same age. I actually rather recently finished a T206 Reds team set. I bought about half my cards raw and I had them graded by SGC and then the other half I crossed over from PSA (as you can see I still have a few I still need to send to SGC). SGC in my opinion is definitely the way to go with T206. The white borders in the black casing of the SGC holders really make the cards look great. My suggestion to you is if you buy raw cards make sure to ask the seller whether the card has any creases. Creases are hard to see in most pictures and those "flaws" can bring a lower grade. Then again if a particular grade doesn’t matter then creases shouldn’t be a concern.

Good luck with the Brooklyn set. It's definitely has some great looking cards. I'm thinking about tackling that set too as I live in Brooklyn. Like others have said I’d definitely start with Dahlen. His card rarely comes up and when it does it goes for big money. He’s priced at more or less as a mid-tier T206 Hall of Famer even though he’s just a “minor” star.

Best of luck,
Ben

[polakoff]

Great looking team set! I lost my first one on ebay last night but I'm trying to be disciplined and not over-spend. I don't care too much about grades at this point (can always upgrade later) but that's also why I don't really want to buy raw, because then I'm sinking more money into the grading aspect.