1906 Fan Craze Baseball (Better Investment Than T206 Cards?)
One of the most unknown and underrated pre-war baseball card sets, we think the 1909 Fan Craze cards deserve another look from collectors.
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Before the days of TV’s and iPads and iPhones, US consumers were forced to keep themselves occupied without screens (can you imagine!?).
In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s board games were quite popular in the states.
Between 1904 and 1906 a company named Fan Craze out of Cincinnati, Ohio offered its own spin on the table game movement.
The less popular 1904 Fan Craze game featured a set of cards without player images. Each card included a baseball play (such as ‘Bunt’ or ‘Homerun’) and players would take turns selecting a card to advance their batter on a playing board (shown below).
(side note, PSA has erroneously labeled the 1906 Fan Craze AL set as 1904 Fan Craze and still does to this day even though both the AL and the NL sets were released in 1906).
1904 Fan Craze Table Game (courtesy Goldin Auctions)
In 1906, Fan Craze released a similar game set, yet instead the cards now had baseball player names and images. According to PSA, the sets were sold for 48 cents at Sears.
The Fan Craze table games were issued with two different sets, one for the American League (51 cards, catalogued as WG2 by Jefferson Burdick) and one of the National League (54 cards, WG3).
Similar to the 1904 Fan Craze set, the 1906 Fan Craze player cards feature a ‘Play’ on top of the player image. As shown on this ‘Hans’ Wagner card, the play is listed as a ‘3-base hit’, in other words a ‘triple’.
1906 Fan Craze Honus Wagner
The cards have stock similar to modern day playing cards and the round corners have helped preserve the overall condition over the years.
1906 Fan Craze Board and Instructions, courtesy Mile High Auctions.
In addition, new discoveries of unused Fan Craze sets have led to some highly graded Fan Craze cards with the third party graders (PSA, SGC).
Note that American League players have blue backs whereas the National Leaguers have red backs.
1909 Fan Craze AL Blue Back
1906 Fan Craze NL Red Back
Player images from the set leverage the work of Carl Horner, a Boston photographer who’s work is legendary in many pre-war baseball card sets.
Horner’s early photographs were also used for the infamous T206 White Borders set, including the ‘holy grail’ 1909 T206 Honus Wagner card. You’ll notice that most of the Fan Craze portrait subjects are the same images used in the T206 set.
1906 WG3 Fan Craze N.L. Vic Willis Hall of Fame Rookie (RC) - PSA 8 NM-MT
 | $699.99 Buy It on eBay for only: $699.99 Buy It Now on eBay |
1906 FAN CRAZE #53 AL BALL SGC 8 *DS13805
 | $139.00 Buy It on eBay for only: $139.00 Buy It Now on eBay |
1906 Fan Craze A.L. Wm. Holmes - PSA 7
 | $179.95 Buy It on eBay for only: $179.95 Buy It Now on eBay |
1906 FAN CRAZE N.L. ROY THOMAS NNO NRMT WG2 PSA 7 BASEBALL PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES
 | $300.00 Buy It on eBay for only: $300.00 Buy It Now on eBay |
1906 Fan Craze Art Series National League WG3 Billy Bergen PSA 8.5
 | $213.34 Buy It on eBay for only: $213.34 Buy It Now on eBay |
The WG2 American League set features 15 Hall Of Famers, while the WG3 National League set includes 10 Hall Of Fame players.
The Fan Craze cards typically haven’t been all that popular with vintage collectors. Mostly due to the fact that they are considered game cards and not part of a major release.
However, in recent years, astute collectors have begun to appreciate the cards. And notably the cards were released in 1906, well before the White Borders set in 1909 and prior to many of the other popular carmel issues of the era.
So, in reality, what’s not to love?
How Rare Are The 1906 Fan Craze Cards?
PSA has graded near 1300 copies of 1906 AL Fan Craze Cards and over 1500 copies of the Fan Craze NL set. SGC has graded about 900 copies between the two sets.
So on average, between PSA and SGC, an average of 35 cards per player have been graded in the 105 card set.
Thus, the cards are not necessarily scarce, but certainly tougher finds than the popular tobacco issues of the early 1900’s (T206 set for example).
Note as mentioned before it is also quite common to find higher grade copies of many players due to many discoveries of unusued game sets.
High grade Fan Craze are quite common like this PSA 9 Mcaleer card
Five Most Valuable Cards In The 1906 Fan Craze Set
1906 Fan Craze Honus Wagner
Can’t afford the millions for a T206 Holy Grail Wagner? Well, the Fan Craze Wagner is a great option. It’s the same image used on Wagner’s T206 card. It was produced three years earlier than the White Borders set. And it has roughly the same graded population as the T206 Wagner.
The last sale of a PSA 8 Fan Craze Wagner topped $7K at auction, but in lower grades the number might get closer to $5K. Well worth it in my opinion for those looking to buy a Wagner for an investment.
1906 Fan Craze Cy Young
Similar to the Wagner, here we have a Cy Young card that uses the indentical Horner image used for Young’s T206 Portrait card. The pop is super low (PSA has graded only 34) and although there isn’t much auction data to work with (last PSA sold in 2020), I still like the Fan Craze Young for investment purposes.
A Cy Young T206 Portrait card
1906 Fan Craze Eddie Plank
T206 Plank’s can run in the multiple hundred’s of thousands of dollars, whereas a 1906 Fan Craze Plank (with the same exact image as the T206 Plank) can often be found for a few thousand. A great deal.
1906 Fan Craze Nap Lajoie
PSA has graded only 30 of the Lajoie Fan Craze cards, making it, at least a bit more accessible than some of his earlier issues. And it’s a fraction of the population Lajoie’s T206 portrait card. Notice a pattern here?
1906 Fan Craze Addie Joss
Only around Fan Craze Joss cards 30 have been graded by PSA, whereas over 800 of his T206 Portrait cards have been graded by PSA. There haven’t been many auction sales of late, but even at a slight premium versus his T206 portrait card, I say pull the trigger!
Investment Potential For Fan Craze Cards?
I think this is one of the underrated gems in the vintage pre-war baseball card market. Fan Craze cards are technically game cards and often get ignored because of this.
But let’s start with the fact that they use the portraits from the T206 set.
Can’t afford a T206 Wagner or Plank?
Well, here’s a little secret – the 1906 Fan Craze cards of both Wagner and Plank have lower graded populations than both of their T206 cards.
This doesn’t mean a Wagner Fan Craze card will come cheap, but if you’d rather spend thousands as opposed to millions then you might just find yourself the deal of a lifetime.
So, chalk the Fan Craze set up as one of the hidden gems I’m probably most excited about in terms of investment potential over the long term.
1906 Fan Craze Checklist
AL WG-2 Set
| 1 | Nick Altrock |
| 2 | Jim Barrett |
| 3 | Harry Bay |
| 4 |
Chief Bender (HOF) |
| 5 | Bill Bernhardt |
| 6 | W. Bradley |
| 7 |
Jack Chesbro (HOF) |
| 8 |
Jimmy Collins (HOF) |
| 9 |
Sam Crawford (HOF) |
| 10 | Lou Criger |
| 11 | Lave Cross |
| 12 | Monte Cross |
| 13 | Harry Davis |
| 14 | Bill Dinneen |
| 15 | Pat Donovan |
| 16 | Pat Dougherty |
| 17 |
Norman Elberfield (Elberfeld) |
| 18 |
Hoke Ferris (Hobe) |
| 19 |
Elmer Flick (HOF) |
| 20 | Buck Freeman |
| 21 | Fed Glade |
| 22 |
Clark Griffith (HOF) |
| 23 |
Charley Hickman |
| 24 | William Holmes |
| 25 | Harry Hoswell |
| 26 |
Frank Isbel (Isbell) |
| 27 | Albert Jacobson |
| 28 | Ban Johnson |
| 29 | Fielder Jones |
| 30 |
Addie Joss (HOF) |
| 31 |
Billy Keeler (HOF) |
| 32 |
Napoleon Lajoie (HOF) |
| 33 |
Connie Mack (HOF) |
| 34 | Jimmy McAleer |
| 35 | Jim McGuire |
| 36 | Earl Moore |
| 37 |
George Mullen (Mullin) |
| 38 | Billy Owen |
| 39 | Fred Parent |
| 40 | Case Patten |
| 41 |
Eddie Plank (HOF) |
| 42 |
Ossie Schreckengost |
| 43 | Jake Stahl |
| 44 | Fred Stone |
| 45 | William Sudhoff |
| 46 | Roy Turner |
| 47 |
Rube Waddell (HOF) |
| 48 |
Bobby Wallace (HOF) |
| 49 | G. Harris White |
| 50 | George Winters |
| 51 | Cy Young (HOF) |
NL WG-3 Set
| 1 | Leone Ames |
| 2 | Clarence Beaumont |
| 3 | Jake Beckley (HOF) |
| 4 | Billy Bergen |
| 5 | Roger Bresnahan (HOF) |
| 6 | George Brown (Browne) |
| 7 | Mordecai Brown (HOF) |
| 8 | Header Card |
| 9 | Jas. Casey |
| 10 | Frank Chance (HOF) |
| 11 | Fred Clarke (HOF) |
| 12 | Thos. Corcoran |
| 13 | Bill Dahlen |
| 14 | Mike Donlin |
| 15 | Charley Dooin |
| 16 | Mickey Doolin (Doolan) |
| 17 | Hugh Duffy (HOF) |
| 18 | John E. Dunleavy |
| 19 | Bob Ewing |
| 20 | Chick Fraser |
| 21 | Ed Hanlon |
| 22 | G.E. Howard |
| 23 | Miller Huggins (HOF) |
| 24 | Joseph Kelley (HOF) |
| 25 | John Kling |
| 26 | Tommy Leach |
| 27 | Harry Lumley |
| 28 | Carl Lundgren |
| 29 | Bill Maloney |
| 30 | Dan McGann |
| 31 | Joe McGinnity (HOF) |
| 32 | John McGraw (HOF) |
| 33 | Harry McIntire (McIntyre) |
| 34 | Charley Nichols |
| 35 | Mike O’Neil (O’Neill) |
| 36 | Orville Pverall (Orval) |
| 37 | Frank Pfeffer |
| 38 | Deacon Phillippe |
| 39 | Charley Pittinger |
| 40 | Harry C. Pulliam |
| 41 | Claude Ritchey |
| 42 | Ed Ruelbach (Reulbach) |
| 43 | J. Bentley Seymour |
| 44 | Jim Sheckard |
| 45 | Jack Taylor |
| 46 | Luther Taylor |
| 47 | Fred Tenny (Tenney) |
| 48 | Harry Theilman |
| 49 | Roy Thomas |
| 50 | Honus Wagner (HOF) |
| 51 | Jake Weimer |
| 52 | Bob Wicker |
| 53 | Vic Willis (HOF) |
| 54 | Kew Wiltsie |
| 55 | Irving Young |
1906 Fan Craze Cards On eBay
1906 WG3 Fan Craze N.L. Vic Willis Hall of Fame Rookie (RC) - PSA 8 NM-MT
| $699.99 Buy It on eBay for only: $699.99 Buy It Now on eBay |
1906 FAN CRAZE #53 AL BALL SGC 8 *DS13805
| $139.00 Buy It on eBay for only: $139.00 Buy It Now on eBay |
1906 Fan Craze A.L. Wm. Holmes - PSA 7
| $179.95 Buy It on eBay for only: $179.95 Buy It Now on eBay |
1906 FAN CRAZE N.L. ROY THOMAS NNO NRMT WG2 PSA 7 BASEBALL PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES
| $300.00 Buy It on eBay for only: $300.00 Buy It Now on eBay |
1906 Fan Craze Art Series National League WG3 Billy Bergen PSA 8.5
| $213.34 Buy It on eBay for only: $213.34 Buy It Now on eBay |
1906 Fan Craze NL Billy Bergen PSA 8 Brooklyn Superbas
 | $300.00 Buy It on eBay for only: $300.00 Buy It Now on eBay |
1906 Fan Craze NL G.E. Howard PSA 8 Boston Beaneaters
 | $300.00 Buy It on eBay for only: $300.00 Buy It Now on eBay |
1906 Fan Craze NL Irving Young PSA 8 Boston Beaneaters
 | $300.00 Buy It on eBay for only: $300.00 Buy It Now on eBay |
1906 Fan Craze NL Mike O'Neil PSA 8 St. Louis Cardinals
 | $300.00 Buy It on eBay for only: $300.00 Buy It Now on eBay |
1906 Fan Craze N.L Claude Ritchey NM-MT PSA 8 #S4370
 | $199.99 Buy It on eBay for only: $199.99 Buy It Now on eBay |
