T206 (1909-11 Tobacco)

Honus Wagner cards are usually pretty valuable. This one's a T206 reprint. If you want to buy an original, you can pick one up at a Sotheby's or Christie's auction for about seven hundred thousand and change.

Issued by the American Tobacco Company from 1909 to 1911, the T206 set is the most popular set of baseball cards from the tobacco era. According to Sports Collectors Digest, the set includes 389 major league cards and 134 minor league cards. The backs of the cards carry one of seventeen different Tobacco brand names. Considering all known variations, a complete set would be more than 8000 cards. Several of the scarcest cards carry hefty price tags. But even without the celebrated Honus Wagner, you could spend a lot of time and money trying to put the set together in so-called "mint condition". Mid-grade cards (very good - excellent) are far more affordable. Hall of Famers fetch a premium, but common cards can be found for less than twenty dollars apiece.


Beals Becker, Boston Nat'l

Bill Dahlen, Boston Nat'l

Buck Herzog, Boston Nat'l

Otto Knabe, Philadelphia Nat'l

Ed Lennox, Brooklyn

Moose McCormick, NY Nat'l

Larry McLean, Cincinnati

Fred Snodgrass, NY Nat'l

Harry Steinfeldt, Chicago Nat'l

E-145-1 / E-145-2 (1914 / 1915 Cracker Jack)

In 1914 Cracker Jack decided to put baseball cards inside their boxes of caramel corn. The cards proved popular, so the following year the company expanded on the idea, enlarging the set from 144 cards to 176, and allowing customers to send away for additional cards. The 1915 set was printed in larger quantity on a thicker stock, and since the 1915 mail-aways were not packed inside the caramel corn, they are more easily found today without the product stains typical of the 1914 cards. To help you distinguish between the two sets, the type on the back of the cards refers either to a set of 144 or 176, depending on the year issued. Also, the 1915 backs read upside down relative to the front. Early gum and candy cards are usually designated with the letter E and a number. (For those keeping score, the 1914 Cracker Jack set is designated E-145-1, the 1915 set E-145-2.)