Washington T206 Mini-Set Comparison to High-Grade Competitor

[GeoPoto]

Card 3: William E. "Wid" Conroy. Utility player for the Washington Senators in 1909-1911. 1,257 hits, 22 home runs, and 262 stolen bases in 11 MLB seasons. Debuted with the Milwaukee Brewers in 1901. He had at least 384 plate appearances in each of his 11 MLB seasons. He was the first-string SS on the NL champion Pittsburgh Pirates in 1902. He moved to 3B in 1903 with the New York Highlanders, twice leading AL third basemen in total chances per game. He was an opening day starter for the Highlanders for the first five years of the team's existence. In 1907 he swiped 41 bases second only to Ty Cobb. He finished his career with Washington and in one of his last games set an AL record with 13 total chances at 3B.

Wid Conroy Fielding Piedmont 150: Conroy Fielding is one of two Conroy T206 cards. Conroy Fielding appears to be slightly less common (PSA-430). The other Conroy card is Conroy with Bat (PSA-462). PSA has graded five Conroy Fielding T206 cards PSA 8 (none higher). Conroy Fielding is in Print Group 1.

Heritage/Rounders Entry: Graded 8, this card shows extremely well with good image quality; the corners, edges, and surface are all sharp. It is very well centered, straying only very slightly right. (For my taste, it is also slightly low, which crowds the name and team designation only slightly.) The back is clean with only moderate fading. The borders are fair all the way around giving rise to very good centering.

My Entry: This card is graded 3.5 by PSA. The image is clear, but the surface (particularly the borders) shows evidence of dirt and age. The edges show evidence of handling and the corners are moderately rounded. The centering is low, but not terrible overall. The back is okay with moderate fading and its surface also shows signs of grime and age. The appeal of this card lies in its borders, which are ample, particularly top and bottom. The bottom border is highly acceptable while the top border is very wide.

Comparison: The H/R card is an extremely nice card with no blemishes and sharp edges and corners. My card has substantial subtle surface imperfections. The H/R card shows better centering than my card, which is over-endowed at the top border. Both backs are okay, but the H/R back is cleaner and presents better than mine does.

My conclusion: I like my card but have to concede the H/R card is better to look at and I believe there is considerable room to replace my card with a better one. The H/R card has cleaner surfaces, sharper edges and corners, and is almost perfectly centered. My card is centered low with an abundant top border. But abundant borders is a good thing because it supports confidence that the card has not been altered. My card clearly has more border than the H/R card does. As I see it, the two cards have comparable left and bottom borders, but my card has a slightly larger right border and a much larger top border.

The bottom line: If we ignore resale value, I would not trade my card for the H/R card. I like my card better, and while I look forward to finding a better version of my card, I don't think the H/R card is the one I want. I would constantly worry that the near-perfect centering of the H/R card was achieved by alteration. Not worth the doubt.

Additional Wid Conroy Fun Fact: In 1902 he became Pittsburgh's starting shortstop, replacing Honus Wagner, who moved to the outfield.