My national find--M116 Bates (Cincinnati)

[Michael Peich]

Mac--Sorry to be so late to the party, but as someone who used to collect M116s, you have made a sensational find. Congratulations!

Cheers,
Mike

[tbob]

Mac- congrats, couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

For those who are wondering about variation rarities, for many, many years McConnell and McQuillan were the only two different team variations and I paid a pretty penny for each to complete my set. Since then the Bates Cinn. has surfaced and I believe Brian Parker discovered an F. Smith Boston (as opposed to the common F. Smith Chicago). Both are extremely rare and I think The F. Smith is a one of a kind. Brian bought a lot of off-condition M116s and stumbled on it. There is also a Seymour variation as I recall which surfaced a few years ago and may also be a 1 of 1.
These are the 5 toughies. Much rarer than anything in the T206 set unless you count the handful of never released proofs Keith Olberman bought a while back.

[frohme]

FWIW, Old Cardboard has an M116 reference checklist that includes rarity. It looks to have been updated to include the F. Smith (Bos) which ranks an 8 on their rarity scale. Bates (Cinn) and Seymour (Balt) the other two of the 3 cards at that level.

Surprisingly, there are also 3 cards at a 9: Beck and Lobert (Phillies) and H. Lord (WhiteSox). Not sure how those rates are determined.

Regardless, great find, Mac!!

--
Mike

[Leon]

Thanks for posting the link Mike. It looks like the rarest cards are commons .

BTW, Mike, If I recall correctly you and I played in the same little league a few years ago, in the early 1970s in Clear Lake City, TX. I was sitting next to a new guy on our softball team a few weeks ago, here near Dallas, and it turned out to be Pat Ray, our centerfielder on the All Star team when we went to State in 1974. I couldn't believe it. He played center and I played right, back in the day.... Small world....

Originally Posted by frohme

FWIW, Old Cardboard has an M116 reference checklist that includes rarity. It looks to have been updated to include the F. Smith (Bos) which ranks an 8 on their rarity scale. Bates (Cinn) and Seymour (Balt) the other two of the 3 cards at that level.

Surprisingly, there are also 3 cards at a 9: Beck and Lobert (Phillies) and H. Lord (WhiteSox). Not sure how those rates are determined.

Regardless, great find, Mac!!

--
Mike