Eddie Plank

[Luke]

Originally Posted by Leon

I think his T206 card, which probably isn't the second rarest card in the set (Doyle?) but possibly the 2nd rarest regular type card, is valuable because of the demand for the card. I think some of that mystique spills over into other sets with his portrait pose.

Yeah, I agree. The demand and price tag for Plank makes perfect sense when you see the crazy prices for the Demmitt and O'Hara Polar Bears. They are no more rare than any other subject with a Polar Bear back and they go for huge prices because so many people want one to complete a set.

With Plank you have all of those elements plus it's a great looking portrait of an upper-tier Hall of Famer. The fact that he doesn't have a ton of other cards also contributes to the demand I think.

[nat]

Not to hijack this thread and make it about baseball, but I don't know about calling Plank an "upper tier" hall of famer. His ERA looks really good because he was playing in the deadball era, but once you adjust for that it's a little bit better than Tom Glavine's and a little bit worse than John Smoltz's. He's got a healthy lead over Smoltz in innings pitched, but on that measure he's about exactly equal to Glavine. So I don't know quite where you want to draw the upper/lower tier line, but Plank comes out as having somewhat more value in his career than Tom Glavine. Which is good and all, but it's not Pete Alexander territory.

[rats60]

Originally Posted by nat

Not to hijack this thread and make it about baseball, but I don't know about calling Plank an "upper tier" hall of famer. His ERA looks really good because he was playing in the deadball era, but once you adjust for that it's a little bit better than Tom Glavine's and a little bit worse than John Smoltz's. He's got a healthy lead over Smoltz in innings pitched, but on that measure he's about exactly equal to Glavine. So I don't know quite where you want to draw the upper/lower tier line, but Plank comes out as having somewhat more value in his career than Tom Glavine. Which is good and all, but it's not Pete Alexander territory.

I would say Plank is well above Glavine or Smoltz. Smoltz's ERA+ is going to be inflated by his years as a closer. Obviously he is no Alexander, who was the 9th player elected to the HOF. If that is where you draw your line, then you are saying that less than 10 pitchers are upper tier. To me Plank is going to be in the 2nd 10 and that is still upper tier. He is better than most hofers in the set and as a pitcher behind only the big 3.

[Leon]

My previous poor man's Plank.....

Originally Posted by LukeLyon

Yeah, I agree. The demand and price tag for Plank makes perfect sense when you see the crazy prices for the Demmitt and O'Hara Polar Bears. They are no more rare than any other subject with a Polar Bear back and they go for huge prices because so many people want one to complete a set.

With Plank you have all of those elements plus it's a great looking portrait of an upper-tier Hall of Famer. The fact that he doesn't have a ton of other cards also contributes to the demand I think.

[tedzan]

Originally Posted by Leon

My previous poor man's Plank.....

Hi Leon

Many of the E104's have reverse images from the original Horner photos used in the printing of the T206 cards. Your Plank is an example of this.






Another example is my E104-1 Bris Lord (whose image is actually that of Sherry Magee in reverse).





TED Z
.

[Bpm0014]

^^^ Cool info (as always) on the reverse image usage. Never knew that.

[bigfanNY]

Coming into the Hobby in the early 1970's there were the Big "3" the Wagner and Plank T206 and the 33 Goudey Lajoie. These 3 cards had established themselves as the hardest to obtain cards in two of the most popular and collectible sets of baseball cards ever issued. They even sold t-shirts with the BIG 3 label and those cards pictured. At that time a Wagner sold for about $1500, a Plank for $400 and a Lajoie for about $500. IF..and a BIG IF you could find one to buy. A few months after my Father and I started collecting a Wagner was advertised for $1500 in the Sunday New York Times. The First Plank I ever encountered was from a collector here in NJ who I was trading with and he was showing me some of his checklists and I noticed the Plank. I thought it was a mistake and asked him if he had the card. He did and pulled it out a poor to good version I told him that it was a valuable card he thanked me and we kept on trading for about another 25 years. The first lajoie I came across I actually tried to buy. It was at a NYC show and a complete set of 33 Goudeys was for sale for a Thousand Bucks including the Lajoie. I tracked down my Dad he agreed it was a good purchase and we could afford it but by the time we went back it had sold. We purchased a 1940 Playball set (My Dad's favorite set) insted. I have never attempted to complete the T206 set but understand going to great lengths to complete a set.

[Leon]

Your friend didn't know Plank (he owned) was valuable. That doesn't happen too often within the vintage hobby anymore...

Originally Posted by bigfanNY

Coming into the Hobby in the early 1970's there were the Big "3" the Wagner and Plank T206 and the 33 Goudey Lajoie. These 3 cards had established themselves as the hardest to obtain cards in two of the most popular and collectible sets of baseball cards ever issued. They even sold t-shirts with the BIG 3 label and those cards pictured. At that time a Wagner sold for about $1500, a Plank for $400 and a Lajoie for about $500. IF..and a BIG IF you could find one to buy. A few months after my Father and I started collecting a Wagner was advertised for $1500 in the Sunday New York Times. The First Plank I ever encountered was from a collector here in NJ who I was trading with and he was showing me some of his checklists and I noticed the Plank. I thought it was a mistake and asked him if he had the card. He did and pulled it out a poor to good version I told him that it was a valuable card he thanked me and we kept on trading for about another 25 years. The first lajoie I came across I actually tried to buy. It was at a NYC show and a complete set of 33 Goudeys was for sale for a Thousand Bucks including the Lajoie. I tracked down my Dad he agreed it was a good purchase and we could afford it but by the time we went back it had sold. We purchased a 1940 Playball set (My Dad's favorite set) insted. I have never attempted to complete the T206 set but understand going to great lengths to complete a set.