Now, It's A Party

In the last couple of weeks I was fortunate enough to add seven new T206 cards to my collection.  Five came from on transaction on Net54, one from a Facebook group and the final one I picked up at a card show Saturday.  It was disappointing that there were only five or so T206s available at the entire show, but I was thrilled to walk away with what I did.

These first five are all raw beaters, but for the price, I was thrilled to grow my collection a bit.  I picked them up for about the lowest price you can find them for anymore.  They aren't the prettiest, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder and it's better to have a beater than none at all (as long as you don't overpay).

1909-11 The American Tobacco Company T206 White Border #NNO Peaches Graham 

Per the book "THE T206 COLLECTION The Players & Their Stories," Peaches Graham played all infield positions, the outfield and even pitched one time during his seven major league seasons.  His most productive season was 1910, collecting 82 hits and batting .282.  His son Jack later played in the majors from 1946 to 1949.

Even though the card isn't in great shape, it's a tougher common.  Per T206 Insider, this front is the 108th scarcest (of 524).  The pinhole and paper loss aren't ideal, but the card has very good color and looks great in the binder.

1909-11 The American Tobacco Company T206 White Border #NNO Harry Hinchman 

Not having a large quantity of pre-war cards, I was surprised when I realized that Harry Hinchman only has three cards from his playing days, and I have two of them.  He's also pictured on a T201 card with Charles Hickman.  I picked that card up because Hickman attended West Virginia University.

Hinchman played just 15 games in the majors, according to The T206 Collection.  He batted .216 in 51 at-bats for the 1907 Cleveland Naps.  He played 19 seasons in the minors, batting .260, and managed for years in the minors.

T206 Insider lists the Hinchman card as 416th in scarcity.  Since it's pretty common, and this one is in about as poor shape as a card can be, I'm sure that at some point I'll upgrade this one without even trying.

1909-11 The American Tobacco Company T206 White Border #NNO Dick Hoblitzell 

Researching to write this post, this card became one of my favorite T206 cards.  The first sentence of his profile in The T206 Collection is "Dick "Hobby" Hoblitzell was only 19 years old when the Reds purchased him late in the 1908 season from the Clarksburg Bees of the Western Pennsylvania League."

I grew up in Morgantown, WV and there's a town named Clarkburg about 45 minutes south.  It's still really close to Pennsylvania.  A quick interwebz search confirmed my theory, he did play just 45 miles down the road.  Sure, I don't know who he is, but I enjoy the T206 cards for the history as much as anything.  I found it fascinating.  Perhaps I'm just easily amused.

Per the book, he hit .308 as a rookie in 1909, good for third in the National League.  He was sold to teh Red Sox in July 1914 and hit .319 for them that season during a pennant race.  He later played in the 1915 and 1916 World Series.  He left the team to serve in the Army Dental Corps during WWI.

He later became a minor league player/manager before retiring to run the family farm.  He then later hosted a radio sports show, was a newspaper sports columnist, a youth baseball umpire and was active in local politics.

According to T206 Insider this is a tougher common, with a scarcity rank of 140.  There's some paper loss on the front, but I got more of this card than some of the others in the lot!

1909-11 The American Tobacco Company T206 White Border #NNO John Hummel 

"Silent John" Hummel played for the Brooklyn teams for more than a decade, starting at age 22.  He was versatile in the field, playing all non-pitching positions except third base and catcher.  After a stint with the Yankees, he was a player/manager in the minors for five teams.  He retired at 43, hitting a career .298 in the minors and .254 in the majors.  (All of that info per "The T206 Collection)

This is one of the more common cards in the set, having a scarcity ranking of 455.  Odds are I will upgrade this card somewhere down the road. 

1909-11 The American Tobacco Company T206 White Border #NNO Ed Killian (portrait)

Per The T206 Collection, Ed Killian played just eight seasons.  It appears he made the most of them, though.  He won 20 games twice and his 2.38 ERA is 24th all-time.  He gave up fewer home runs than anyone in history (thought I don't know the qualifiers on it) and once went 1001 (yes I typed that correctly) innings between home runs allowed. 

I now have both Ed Killian fronts and this one is in better shape, if you can believe that.  I picked up the throwing version for $5 a little over a year ago. This portrait version is much more common, per T206 Insider, with a scarcity ranking of just 452. 

I'll show the final two cards in a few days.  The numbers below reflect my total collection, though.

My monster number now stands at 28 (of 524).  On T206Insider, my set is now at 12.1, good for 48th.  The condition of the cards I have certainly keeps me down.  It's all in fun, though.  You can find a gallery of what I have on my Collector Focus page.

If you'd like to learn more about the T206 set, there are plenty of resources.  A very popular one is Scot Reader's "Inside T206."  Others I like are Net 54 and T206 Insider (links above to both), as well as the blog on That T206 Life.