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C.A.: 1909 T206 Al Burch (fielding)

(Greetings! I am three days away from vacation. I have no plans, no goals, no objectives for the coming week. Just how I like it. This is Cardboard Appreciation, the 208th in a series):


Yes, I know. That's not 1909. You're very observant.

But first things first --

MY 1975 TOPPS MINI SET IS PAGED!!!!!!!!

Bells!

Lights!

Whistles!

Now that you are deaf and blind, I'll move on to the Cardboard Appreciation portion of the post.


This is the last item from the wonderful package that I received from reader Dave a couple of weeks back. It is the second T206 card that I have received in the last month after having none before that. If I didn't know any better I'd think that someone is trying to coerce me into collecting the team set.

I haven't quite lost that many of my brain cells. I've stopped keeping track of all of the variations and parallels in modern cards, so the last thing I need to do is tackle the king of all variation sets, the 1909 T206's.

But such synchronicity did make me look up how many Brooklyn SUPERBAS are included in this set. I counted 20, not including the variations of at least six of the Brooklyn players.

I have no idea how difficult they are to obtain. I've been reading lately that even the most beat up versions of the most popular tobacco sets are going for inflated prices. I don't want to get involved in that. But I may do some research on exactly how much cash something like this will take ... for that time when I don't have any more want lists and I'm just looking for something to do.

The Al Burch card is one of those that include a pose variation. The one I received is the fielding version.


That's the batting variation. It goes for a lot more money than the fielding variation. I'm assuming it's because it's rarer, although it should be because Burch has smoke coming out of his ears.

Burch was probably the best offensive player on the team in 1909. He appeared in 152 games, which was way more than his teammates. And he stole 38 bases. He also batted .271 on a team that hit .229 overall.

Whoops, I almost forgot to show the back:


That's an important detail in the T206 set. Lots of back variations, too.

So now I have both a pitcher and a batter from the 1909 Brooklyn team.

That will tide me over for quite awhile I think.

It's just a good thing I'm not going to The National in a few weeks. I could've done something crazy.

Comments

Nick said…
T206s are ALWAYS cool. Great way to cap off an awesome package there.
AdamE said…
What I do with these type of sets for my team sets is set a Paypal search notification. Every time one is listed I get an message. I then look at it and if the price starts out low I watch it. I see lots and lots of them go by but when they end up in the $20-$25 range I grab them**. I have made pretty good strides Red Sox Tobacco cards this way (I don't do back variations though) The best way to justify it is to ask which is better way to spend $20-$25: 100+ year old cardboard or whatever blaster "board" they have at your Wal-Mart/Target?

**note to all - If you are a Red Sox collector this is a horrible idea, don't do it stick with blasters.
jacobmrley said…
Those minis look right at home.
Zippy Zappy said…
T206's, proof that variations have been with us for a while.