Mike Mitchell E90-1 rarity

[puckpaul]

I was wondering what our E90-1 experts think about the rarity of the Mitchell card and why it was considered an historic rarity but thus far in the era of “pop reports” has proven to be more like one of about 30 “more rare” cards in this tough set? Or has it been graded earlier and more often than other rarities? That said, there are only about 15-25 of these tougher E90-1s graded in the PSA pop reports. (Didnt check SGC yet), so it is still a very tough find.

I bought mine raw many years ago as an early pickup in the set, and it has not done as well with the test of time as others in that set (at least as far as I can tell and given the explosion in other card prices in the “hobby”).

Yes, I have read and participated in the Kraken thread, just wanted to isolate the Mitchell card, given i looked back at some old auctions and saw it described in one as a classic rarity in the E cards akin to the Honus T206. Or maybe that is a perfect comparison, given there are greater rarities than the Honus?!

[sb1]

I think the simple answer was that pre-internet it was a tough card to find. Once the entire world went online, cards that were once deemed rare, were found to not be so rare, still tough, but obtainable. The E90-1 Mitchell being one of them. Obviously the E90-1 Speaker which was considered tough but no where near the Mitchell has proven to be much tougher to find, just as an example within the set.

[pkaufman]

Having worked on the set for over 20 years, I would say that the Mitchell Cincy card is not any rarer than any of the other famous short prints. The short prints themselves, when found, are often at level 1 or 2 of preservation, so they are all condition rarites.

[brianp-beme]

I determined to give Mitchell a '7' Kraken value (with input from other collectors) partly due to its historical 'scarcest E90-1 card' mantle it wore over the years, which still, while diminished, lingers to this day, as seen by its still elevated pricing.

Without its past perceived scarcity, I would think this would likely rate as a 4 or 5 value Kraken card, and possibly as low as a 3.

Brian

[FrankWakefield]

I think sb1 is about right...

Mr. Lipset said it was the toughest card of the E90-1's, and at the time his Encyclopedia came out it was pre internet. I believed him, and that was the general perception. I chased the cards and had about 60 of them when I finally happened upon a Mitchell that I was able to buy. I paid a bit less than I expected to get it, it was in a slab. Eventually, I sold some of the cards that were deemed among the tougher cards, including Mitchell. It sold well enough, but not like it was the rarest of the E90-1s.

Still, it's not an easy card.

[spec]

Years ago, Ted Zanidakis did some ground-breaking research on E90-1s that suggested the set was issued in series of, I believe, 30 cards. Since no evidence of the Mike Mitchell card being withdrawn has surfaced, it's natural to suspect Mitchell is no scarcer than the other cards in that series. I paid a high price for my e90-1 Mike Mitchell more than 30 years ago since it was tough to find and I'm happy to have it today even though it might not be the rarity I thought it was at the time.

[big-six]

Beautiful card!

[t206fanatic]

The PSA set registry rates the card only behind Joe Jax, which as other posters have said has to be a legacy rating.

[Baseball Rarities]

The 1979 edition of The Sports Collectors Bible priced E90-1 commons at $4 to $6 and only listed 5 cards on their own - Mitchell ($85-$125), Speaker ($50-$60), Graham ($10-$15), Sweeney ($20-$30) and Walsh ($20-$30).

The 1980 edition of Dr. Jim Beckett's Baseball Card Price Guide makes note in its E90-1 section that these same five cards are the most difficult in the set and assigns them similar prices as above. It actually lists prices for all 120 cards in the set. Of particular interest, the Jackson card is listed at $20 in "MINT" condition.

I assume that both publications relied heavily on Rich Egan's opinion at the time. He was the E-card guru back in the day and kept detailed notes on all of the sets.

The Early Gum and and Candy edition of Lew Lipset's Encyclopedia of Baseball Cards came out in 1984 and went through all of the "E" sets in detail. Again, the most expensive cards in the set were Mitchell ($400), Speaker ($125), Graham ($200), Sweeney ($250) and Walsh ($125) along with Duffy ($150) and Clarke Pitts. ($125). Jackson was listed at $75. It is amazing the amount of information that Lipset's Encyclopedia had at the time, long before the internet.

I put most of my set together through auctions in The Trader Speaks and shows back in the day and paid a big premium for Mitchell at the time.

[puckpaul]

It still seems a bit odd to me, old e 90-1 set collectors couldn’t have found it easy to find those other similarly tough cards. Or maybe more Mitchell’s have been graded due to the history. We’ll see more over time. Seems similar to the T207s, where there are many, many tough cards and not just the Lewis.

Sure wish the Joe Jax card wasn’t so ugly, i might have bought that one instead!

[edhans]

Originally Posted by spec

Years ago, Ted Zanidakis did some ground-breaking research on E90-1s that suggested the set was issued in series of, I believe, 30 cards. Since no evidence of the Mike Mitchell card being withdrawn has surfaced, it's natural to suspect Mitchell is no scarcer than the other cards in that series. I paid a high price for my e90-1 Mike Mitchell more than 30 years ago since it was tough to find and I'm happy to have it today even though it might not be the rarity I thought it was at the time.

I've corresponded with Ted about E90-1 for decades. I've told him that there's no way E90-1 can be thought of as four 30 card series. There were surely more than four "printings", with replacements, short prints and double prints. Not sure if he believes me or not; but there are way too many levels of scarcity for this to be accurate. I do agree that Mitchell is not quite as scarce as was believed 30 or so years ago, but it's still damn tough. It isn't close to comparable to the thirtieth most difficult subject, over even the twentieth or tenth most difficult. Or for that matter even the fifth. It is tougher then Sweeney, Graham, Walsh, etc. The only subjects that may be roughly equivalent, in my view, are Speaker, Stahl, Duffy and Dougherty.

[Yoda]

Lew once told me he thought the Speaker was as rare as the Mitchell.

[puckpaul]

And the Speaker is one of the best looking cards in the set and one of my favorite cards period. Luckily i did buy one a while ago. So many great looking cards in the set.

Would love to take a crack at completing the set, but the Jackson…i dont know if that will happen now.

[Leon]

Of some interest to this thread....I don'[t think I have read all of the notes

Handbook To US Early Candy and Gum Cards" - Egan, 1969

https://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=144460

Originally Posted by Baseball Rarities

The 1979 edition of The Sports Collectors Bible priced E90-1 commons at $4 to $6 and only listed 5 cards on their own - Mitchell ($85-$125), Speaker ($50-$60), Graham ($10-$15), Sweeney ($20-$30) and Walsh ($20-$30).

The 1980 edition of Dr. Jim Beckett's Baseball Card Price Guide makes note in its E90-1 section that these same five cards are the most difficult in the set and assigns them similar prices as above. It actually lists prices for all 120 cards in the set. Of particular interest, the Jackson card is listed at $20 in "MINT" condition.

I assume that both publications relied heavily on Rich Egan's opinion at the time. He was the E-card guru back in the day and kept detailed notes on all of the sets.

The Early Gum and and Candy edition of Lew Lipset's Encyclopedia of Baseball Cards came out in 1984 and went through all of the "E" sets in detail. Again, the most expensive cards in the set were Mitchell ($400), Speaker ($125), Graham ($200), Sweeney ($250) and Walsh ($125) along with Duffy ($150) and Clarke Pitts. ($125). Jackson was listed at $75. It is amazing the amount of information that Lipset's Encyclopedia had at the time, long before the internet.

I put most of my set together through auctions in The Trader Speaks and shows back in the day and paid a big premium for Mitchell at the time.

[Vintagecatcher]

I was very fortunate to pick up this E90-1 Peaches Graham a few years back.
Luckily it was poorly listed, and sold for a great price, which I was more than happy to pay.

Patrick

[brianp-beme]

Patrick, great looking Graham...one of my favorite cards in the set.

Brian

[puckpaul]

well, the Mitchell got some love in the Love of the Game Auction, going for $3600 in a 1 holder.....I was happy to see that.

[judsonhamlin]

That went for more than I thought it would, by at least $500-700.