T206 Hall of Famers – A More Attainable Goal for Collectors

The T206 ‘White Borders’ set is most indeed a ‘Monster’. The set features 524 cards, which for most collectors, is a rather expensive and time-consuming adventure.

Many vintage collectors I know forgo the actual Monster and head right to building out the T206 Hall of Fame subset.

While it’s still a pricey proposition, it’s much easier to hunt down 74 different cards (or 76, including Plank and Wagner) than the 524 that make up the entire set.

In this piece, we examine the nuances of building a Hall of Famers only T206 set while also speaking to someone who’s one card away from completing the challenge.

Hopefully, this piece provides motivation to some of you on the fence!

The T206 Hall of Fame Checklist

There are 76 baseball cards in the complete T206 Hall of Fame subset.  However, most will not attain the full 76 for two big reasons: Honus Wagner and Eddie Plank. The elusive Wagner card is a tough find, as less than 60 are known to exist. 

The Eddie Plank card is almost as scarce as Wagner’s, with less than 100 believed to exist.  A poor-condition Plank card would likely run into the $40K-$50K range.

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So, if you’re being realistic, the truly attainable number is 74 cards. Here’s the full list (including the Plank and the Wagner) with current pricing for cards in Good condition (aka PSA 2 grade).

Note for pricing: I used PSA’s SMR pricing.  I will tell you for certain that many of the values presented here are WAY under the current market value.  For instance, the odds of finding a PSA 2 Walter Johnson portrait for $400 are slim to none; try more like triple that, at the very least. 

So, I was tempted to change prices to reflect recent sales but decided to leave it.  Here’s why: Treat this pricing as the target number you want to pay. It might make your challenge much harder but also help you save a thousand or a few thousand bucks. 

Print it out, study it, browse sold listings on eBay, and then you will be well-informed about how you want to tackle this pursuit.

Player Checklist and Pricing

Game Plan(s) For Building the HOF Set

Depending on the budget, a few ways to build the set exist.  If you have an ENORMOUS budget and want to get this done as quickly and efficiently as possible, you could probably do it today. 

Look at the checklist above, click on the eBay links we provided, and you could probably be staring down a 75-card-graded HOF T206 subset by next week.

Unfortunately, for most of us, we don’t exactly have the big bucks lying around to knock off this HOF subset in a couple of hours.  Thus, if you’re in this more ‘cost-conscious’ mindset, I think there are a few ways to play this.

One of the T206 HOF cards, a portrait card of Nap Lajoie

Build A Raw T206 Binder Set

When I’m talking ‘raw,’ I mean not graded by one of the third-party authentication companies (such as PSA or SGC). Buying raw typically results in a bit of a better price, but also comes with risks. There are many sellers online selling non-graded T206 cards.   

One place I’ve found with a great group of tobacco card collectors is the Net54 Forums, which has its own Buy/Sell/Trading forum specifically designed for T206 collectors.

You can look at a user’s past posts to see how long they’ve been around and how active they are in the forums.  I haven’t had any problems with Net54 sellers and would recommend it to anyone.

Lookout For Trimming

When buying raw cards, especially with T206 cards, you have to be careful about one important thing: trimming.  T206 cards are notorious for having been trimmed at some point during their 110+ year existence. 

The Gretzky Wagner, which was later discovered to be trimmed and graded a PSA 8.

Thus, purchasing raw T206 cards online comes down to buying from a trustworthy seller.  The first question you must always ask “Do they measure up?”.  It’s a simple question; anyone selling the cards should know the story.

A T206 card must normally measure 1 ⁷⁄₁₆ by 2 ⁵⁄₈ inches.  Note there are MOST definitely some variations to this; cards with an ‘American Beauty’ back have smaller measurements.  According to Scot Reader, the American Beauty cards were cut thinner to fit in the smaller cigarette packs.   

Aside from this, any T206 card should have the standard measurements.  If it doesn’t, when you get it back from one of the grading companies, it will most definitely be returned to you flagged as ‘Altered.’ 

You definitely don’t want that, as the value is seriously deflated with altered cards. Here’s a trimmed version of a T206 Harry Hinchman card, which would be very obvious for most long-time T206 collectors.

Throw It In a Binder

Some collectors know that the cards they buy are ‘trimmed,’ usually with the seller fully acknowledging the fact.  And normally, it’s because the set builder doesn’t really care about grading and is more content getting a better deal on the cards. 

Usually, these collectors are building out ‘binder sets’ and are working to build something they can show off to friends without needing those ‘slabs’ from PSA or SGC. 

In that case, it’s usually just a matter of finishing the set without any significant concern about condition or trimming.  These Ultra-Pro 15 pocket pages are probably the best bet if building out the set for a binder.

Going Graded

If it’s a graded Hall of Fame T206 set you’re after, your chase might be a tad pricier, depending on the condition that satisfies your thirst.  There’s also the possibility of buying raw and submitting it to one of the third-party graders. 

Obviously, buying some raw and buying some graded could work as well.  You’ll often find graded T206 cards on eBay or the Net54 forums or even on some card-collecting Facebook groups.   

I opt for PSA cards when buying graded T206 cards, but I have purchased both SGC and Beckett slabbed cards before.  Normally, PSA-graded cards carry a slight premium to others, but this can vary on a case-by-case basis.

Planning Out The Costs

If we went according to the rock-bottom SMR prices listed on the checklist above, your all-in total for the 75 HOF cards would run you nearly $16,000.   

As noted, the likely costs would be above this number, so I would probably plan on, at a very minimum, looking at around a $20,000 total investment over time. 

Now ask yourself, how long do I want to accomplish this?  Is this something I must have finished this year, or am I perfectly content in grabbing a card here and there whenever I get a deal?   

Most people have different personalities (and budgets); thus, it is hard to say there’s a perfect fit for all collectors.

I will say that some also have different strategies for tackling the actual set. Some think getting the more expensive cards out of the way is better in case they keep increasing in value. 

Some might argue that starting with the lowest-priced cards is better because big-time names such as Cobb, Johnson, and Lajoie have increased in value immensely. Doing this would bide some time if there’s some correction in the market.

The problem is understandable but, unfortunately, so hard to predict.  I believe vintage cards should generally perform well over the longer term, but at what rate?  I’m hard-pressed to say that we will see the same appreciation in the past few years, especially if we were to enter a recession or the stock market fell significantly.

So, it’s ultimately up to you, and your direction depends on the deals you find.  You might be offered a deal on a Walter Johnson Portrait tomorrow that you can’t refuse, and that ultimately leads you to knock off the big guys first. 

Or you can buy a small collection of T206 cards that consists mostly of the $100 to $150 cards.  That, of course, would set you off in the direction that fits you best.

Thus, the only thing you can do today is learn about the cards themselves. Read the forums, join some Facebook groups, go to card shows, and get up to speed on the set. 

Evaluate your budget and devise a plan of attack on how you want to assemble the set, including what grades you are looking for if going graded.  And make sure you buy yourself a ruler to measure the cards!

See The Most Watched T206 Cards on eBay

Collector’s Corner

Frank Dean

Frank and I go way back.  Some of our fondest grade school memories include staring each other down on my kitchen table.  We traded a lot of cards together. Frank is a big time vintage collector and even runs his own Bowman group on Facebook.  Frank is also one card away from building the T206 HOF set.  I asked him for some of his thoughts.

What led you to building the Hall of Fame subset as opposed to the full ‘Monster’?

To be honest, I never really had any intention of building either. I started out about four years ago just grabbing a few cards I thought were cool because I wanted to have a sampling of the t206 set. I always loved the t206 cards as a kid but I never had any.

Now that I had found my way back into collecting I mostly focused on the things I wanted as a kid but either couldn’t afford or couldn’t find. I bought a few cheap beater commons and then decided I wanted to have a few better, HOF cards as well. I picked up a Nap Lajoie Portrait, a Tris Speaker, and a Mordecai Brown Cubs Shirt Hindu Brown. That was supposed to be the end of it, but I kept seeing other cards I wanted so the HOF list started growing and growing.

Soon enough I was close to half way there and it seemed silly to stop. Though I’ve focused on completing the HOF set, I’ve been picking up other commons along the way as well. So despite the fact that I never intended to build either the HOF subset or the whole Monster, I find myself building both. 

Any tips for collectors in building out the Hall of Fame set?

My biggest mistake was sort of stumbling into doing the HOF set. What I mean is that because I never really intended to do it I didn’t have a strategic approach to completing it. My build ended up being very top-heavy toward the good cards at the end. The Cobbs, Youngs, and Johnsons ended up looming large – I had 6 or 7 of them in my last 20 or so.

It’s one thing to have 20 or 30 cards left to finish out the set if there are a handful of the more expensive ones. It’s another thing entirely to have 20 or 30 cards left and see ten of the big ones still staring you in the face. The better strategy would have been to tick off five or ten (or more) of those cards early on and then backfill with the easier cards. I ended up doing it backward and it was a harder journey. I also am not as patient as I should be. As these cards continue to grow in popularity there is a degree of ‘buy it when you see it’ mentality. I’ve fallen victim to that more than I should have. 

What’s your opinion on some of the big price increases for the popular players in the set?   Is the increase sustainable or more of kind of bubble of sorts?

I think I find myself in the middle here a little. The price increases over the last couple of years have been very steep. I don’t think that type of increase is sustainable. There almost has to be at least some kind of leveling off that happens in the relatively near future. I don’t know that I would go so far as to call it a bubble. If I was talking about another set I would be more concerned about the bubble bursting, but this is arguably the most collectable (and collected) set in the history of the hobby. I don’t think that is going to change any time soon. The market for t206 is something I can envision continuing to grow. If that’s the case, then there will always be value to be found in these cards long term. I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of these cards coming back to earth in the next year or two, but I’m pretty comfortable that if viewed as a long term investment they will be solid assets to have down the line.