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The T206 Collection: The Players & Their Stories

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When you pick up a baseball card, do you wonder about the player whose picture is staring back at you? What was he like? What did he do after baseball? This curiosity is especially true with the famous T206 card set, now at its 100 year anniversary, and arguably the most fabled baseball card set in history.

The set was released between 1909 and 1911 and contains the most valuable trading card in the world, the legendary Honus Wagner. Beyond Wagner, the set also contains other Hall of Fame members including Walter Johnson, Ty Cobb, Christy Mathewson, Tris Speaker as well as more obscure players from--over 500 cards in all.

The T206 set is the subject of a stunningly beautiful and informative new book, called The T206 Collection, The Players and Their Stories. This book has taken the card series and put together thematic chapters tying like cards together. For instance, there are separate chapters on the Hall of Famers, those overlooked by Cooperstown, The Bad Boys of Baseball, The Minor Leaguers and the Uncommons. The book's contents are beautifully laid out and contain exhaustively-researched stories about the players in the set.

A story within the Uncommons chapter about Lena Blackburne examplifies the great stories within the book.

No baseball can go into a Major League game without being rubbed with Lena Blackburne mud. Lena, a player from the T206 set (see graded card to the right), was a unremarkable Major Leaguer and during the 1930s, was the third-base coach for the Philadelphia Athletics. At this time, baseballs came from the factory with a gloss. Pitchers couldn't grip them, so they applied shoe polish, tobacco juice, and dirt. Lena brought some mud from his home in Palmyra, N.J., and soon all of the American League was using it.

The mud farm is in south Jersey--that's all anyone will reveal. According to Bintliff, you more or less skim the sediment off the top of the riverbank with a shovel. The Army Corps of Engineers did a study and found a high content of feldspar, which is just fine enough to remove the gloss without scratching the leather at all. Apparently, Rawlings once tried to replicate the mud but couldn't do it.

Now the farm is being run by Jim Bintliff, the "Mud Man". You can find out more about the current mud farm at [...] and in the video at the bottom of this article.

This coffee table books is a beautiful homage to this great card series. In addition to Blackburne, the book has uncovered many of the players' stories and brought them back to life. I can't recommend this book more highly.


Books on Baseball Rating: Home Run (this book is a "must have" for any serious baseball fan or card collector)

One hundred years ago, the game of baseball was becoming deeply ingrained into our national psyche. Players like Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson and Honus Wagner were well on their way to Cooperstown, and baseball cards were being produced in mass quantity to fascinate fans from coast to coast about their heroes' exploits.

Arguably, the most intriguing set of baseball cards ever produced - the T206 collection - is now celebrating its 100th birthday, and to commemorate this historic milestone, Tom & Ellen Zappala have produced this wonderful perspective on the players, from A to Z. In addition to the remarkable visuals - the beautiful cards themselves - the authors have included the stories of the ballplayers captured on this piece of memorabillia; some we already knew, others are being revealed in compelling detail for the first time.

Probably the most fascinating story to unfold over the years with the T206 collection concerns legendary shortstop Honus Wagner. For whatever reason, Wagner didn't want his mug on that particular card (the most popular theory stems from his distaste for tobacco), so production was limited to a mere 100, of which only 10 are in excellent to mint condition. The card gained tremendous notoriaty in 1991 when Wayne Gretzky and LA Kings owner, Bruce McNall shelled out $451,000 for the gem. After that, the card skyrocketed in value, fetching a record $2.8 million in 2007 (just prior to the global economic meltdown). Proving that nothing is recession-proof, however, one was sold for a mere $1.62 million in 2008. What a bargain.

You don't have to be a fan of the game to appreciate its historical significance; but if you love baseball, the story of the T206 collection is a "must have". You'll spend hours perusing this wonderful piece of baseball folklore, but make sure you keep it in mint condition. This book is destined to become a classic for future generations to enjoy.

Two other highly recommended gems celebrating baseball's glorious past: Bert Sugar's Baseball Hall of Fame: A Living History of America's Greatest Game, which is almost as good as visiting Cooperstown in person, and Ed Achorn's Fifty-Nine in '84: Old Hoss Radbourn, Barehanded Baseball, and the Greatest Season a Pitcher Ever Had, which captures the antics of a 19th century pitcher by the name of Old Hoss.

Thank you for this book. Nothing like the history on the T206 and the players on them. Beautiful in appearance. Interesting and fun.

Very beautiful book, well written, very nice job on all the graphics. A pleasure to read and a great resource for anyone who collects T206 cards.

Baseball cards have been around for almost as long as the game itself. The collaborative project of Tom Zappala and Ellen Zappala, and with the assistance of Lou Blasi, "The T206 Collection: The Players & Their Stories" is an impressive 224-page compendium featuring beautifully reproduced images of the early baseball card T206 series featuring 393 players. Enhancing this outstanding collection of 500 baseball cards, each of which is flawlessly reproduced in full color, "The T206 Collection: The Players & Their Stories" includes succinct biographies of all the T206 players, as well as player anecdotes revealing the earliest days and evolution of baseball. Of special note is the informed and informative chapter on baseball card grading and valuations making "The T206 Collection: The Players & Their Stories" an especially valued and valuable addition to both academic, and community library collections -- and an absolute 'must' for all dedicated baseball card enthusiasts.