(S)nodgrass

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Posted By: Ed

Is a pristine "Nodgrass" worth more than Fred Snodgrass made in a lifetime? (Present discounted value analysis, of course)?

Sorry for the inane question, but there is so much knowledge on this board that my curiousity is incessant.


(My earliest T206 memory is my late father, in the early 70's, pulling out his Snodgrass, laughing at the name, and telling me the muffed fly-ball story).

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Posted By: Anonymous

<"Is a pristine "Nodgrass" worth more than Fred Snodgrass made in a lifetime?">


I don't know but I would think twice, maybe three times before purchasing one...graded or not. Personally I would not buy one at all, the risk is too great.

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Posted By: T206Collector

You should listen to Fred Snodgrass' discussion of that 1912 WS game and Larry Ritter's prelude to his interview on the Glory of Their Times CD's/Book. It is heartbreaking -- the NY Times obit "Snodgrass Dead/Centerfielder Muffed Fly To Lose 1912 World Series" or something like that is such a shame. But such is the fabric of baseball history (from Merkle to Buckner). Sno might not have wanted to be remembered for that, but it is interesting how we are still talking about him today.

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Posted By: Dylan

I also shy away from these "variations." These cards that have, for example, a letter or an apostrophe missing just seem like it would be too easy to alter for someone to be comfortable spending a large premium. Even if I were certain it was legit, I think its ridiculous to spend obscene amounts of money on cards like this. A rare advertisement back, or a rare team designation(like the T206 Doyle) is one thing, but paying huge amounts of money for a card with a printing flaw?? These cards don't even warrent being called legitimate alterations. The amount people are willing to spend on Mitchell "toront" or "no B" Sweeney amaze me. Even funnier is the ridiculous money for the "Murr'y"(over $8,000 for an SGC50 at REA!) and "Shappe"(also sells for thousands) where a partial part of the letter is left. Shouldn't Murr'y and Shappe sell for less since their whole letter isn't missing, only some of it It's speculated that all of these cards came to be by the same means...a broken printing plate or via ink being blocked by some particles and subsequently being unable to fully print on the cardboard. That to me is a minor curiousity, a novelty, nothing more, anyone else feel this way?

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Posted By: peter ullman

i agree with you dylan...the whole mystique with printing errors and miscuts selling for ungodly premiums is an area of collecting I never will get involved in. I CAN see the allure...it's just not for me!

pete in mmn

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Posted By: T206Collector

...about those kinds of variations, but I could see spending a little more for an interesting printer variation -- say if two cards are visible on one, or if there is a ghost image, or even sometimes if color is missing, though I really do not collect such unintentional variations.

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Posted By: Steve Murray

has stated it all. "Be careful, be very, very careful".

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Posted By: Ed McCollum

Rare back types – Yes. The whole "Old Mill double overstrike" thing – No.

Wrong ink color; the bars don't match up to actually cover anything up.

Call it what it is – printer's scrap.

Unique? Yes. Scrap? Yes.

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Posted By: Kevin Saucier

<"These cards that have, for example, a letter or an apostrophe missing just seem like it would be too easy to alter for someone">


Yes, you would think. It's actually not so easy. It involves multiple advanced techniques and several steps to make it look even close perfect. Difficult to do but the results are good enough to warn fellow collectors to be overly cautious.

I wonder what the going rate is for a Michell "Toront" since there is only one...errrr....two known ?

Kevin Saucier

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Posted By: MVSNYC

i can speak to this subject...i owned the first PSA graded Nodgrass variation (VG 3). i bought it raw, and submitted it to PSA with a letter explaining the variation, knowing that they had not yet graded one, and it came back a 3. i sold it in a Leland's auction about 7 years ago for about $3500. a pristine example? i don't know that any exist in "pristine" shape, i don't know how much he made in his career, but my guess is that a higher grade example might fetch $20-30K...i assume he did make a little more than that in his career.

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Posted By: Dave

I have owned a Nodgrass since the late 70's and brought it as a common. It took a few gradings to verify that it is a correct card. Sent it over to PSA and also more recently to the T206 Museum. Card returned from PSA with a PSA #04712562 as a factory MIS-PRINT...also a Factory MIS CUT which wouldn't fit in a slab therefore couldn't be graded. T206 Certified it and its a even rarer Sweet Caporal back. Any thought on how many of these cards exist?