International Polar Bear Day: Sherry Magee T205

Tuesday February 27th is International Polar Bear Day. The day is dedicated to raising awareness of the plight of the Polar Bear. You can even Adopt a Polar Bear for just $30 - well virtually anyway.

1911 T205 Sherrwood Magee

Sherry Magee is one of those borderline Hall of Famers from the deadball era that I don't know much about. He was traded away from the Phillies prior to their 1915 NL Pennant winning season so he did not get to play for that squad. He did manage to get into a World Series with the 1919 Cincinnati Reds who defeated the ill-fated Joe Jackson / Black Sox team.

In 2003 Magee was added to the Phillies Wall of Fame during an era that included several other early 20th century Phillies such as Gavvy Cravath and the original Billy Hamilton. Magee's best year with the club was 1910 when he led the league in Batting Average, Runs, RBI and Total Bases. In addition to those traditional stats he led the league in OBP, Slugging, OPS, OPS+, and Offensive WAR. That is a Mike Trout type year kids!

T206 may get all the notoriety because of the Honus Wagner card but I much prefer their 1911 predecessor T205 (see below). There is so much more going on with T205, The color, Gold Borders, Facsimile Signature and Team Logo are all things that stand out and then you flip the card over and...

1911 T205 Sherrwood Magee (b-side)

Look at all that text AND Stats. It may only be Games Played, Batting Average, and Fielding Percentage but they are stats. The Final Stat line includes the League Leading batting average mentioned above. The final line in the biography mentions the 263 Total Bases.

Not sure how many issues prior to 1952 Topps contain both a written synopsis and a stat box.

At the bottom of the card we return to todays theme "International Polar Bear Day". T205 were issued for a variety of Tobacco brands, This one just happens to be Polar Bear.


Retros

2002 Topps T206 #123 Pat Burrell (mini)

Among the Topps many retro brands are both T205 and T206 cards. This is a 2002 mini, which means it matches the size of the original tobacco cards from the early part of the 20th century.

 

2002 Topps T206 #123 Pat Burrell (mini / b-sdie)

 

Flipping over the card we get to see a faux Polar Bear ad, as Topps is not associated with the Tobacco company.

 

One of my minor collections is Polar Bear cards, both originals and retros. I have no official list, but do enjoy picking up the ones I see. Ideally I would like to have 1 T205 from each team - that would make for a good set for me.

 

This is all because my High School Mascot was the Polar Bear. It's a funny connection, I suppose it make me feel good when I hear stories about Polar Bears and I think of my younger days.

 

 

International Polar Bear Day

Yes it is a real think and if you want to learn more about the plight of the Polar Bear you can check here.



Sources and Links
Phillies Wall of Fame Index
Polar Bears International
Baseball-Ref

Broken News: The Bill Mastro Honus Wagner Card Trimming

In the wake of the news regarding Bill Mastro and the t206 Honus Wagner card, I would like to issue the following statement: 

I have an admission of my own.  I am also guilty of altering a card to increase the value.

1986 Topps #453 Steve Jeltz (RC - altered)

Yes I am guilty of altering the above Steve Jeltz card to sell it at a profilt. The dime I recieved for the card is far far more than it was worth in the original condition.

In fact the windfall I gained from the exchnage was likely far greater (percentage wise) than the amount Mr Mastro profitted from the sale of the T206 Wagner card. 

I appologize to my family, friends, and the fans for the embarassment and hardship that I may have caused them. 

Philly Card Show Report - 2009 12 05 - Tobacco Cards

Getting back to some of the things I found at the Philly Show.

1909-11 T206 Gabby Street

I could not let a couple of low end T206 cards go. This T206 is of Gabby Street who was a light hitting catcher for several teams in the early 1900s. However, He is also considered a significant mentor in the development of Hall of Fame pitcher Walter Johnson.

After his playing days were over Street had a fairly successful career as a manager including a World Series Championship in 1931.


1909-11 T206 Doc Crandall

I picked up one other t206 of Doc Crandall who according to his wiki page is basically considered the first relief pitcher. His Baseball-Reference page concurs as he led the league in games finished 5 times and his career 2.93 era is still ranked 64th all-time.


1910 T58 Flying Fish

I know very little about the above T58 card. There are a series of non-sports tobacco cards from the early twentieth century with different themes (T37 Autos, T25 Actors, T42 Birds etc) According to the back of the card there are 50 cards in the fish series. Semi-related Flying Fish is a favorite beer among the Phungo Phaithful.

For the Collector
I really don't know much about these 100 year old cards, I am not really even sure that they are authentic. At any rate the cards went as follows $4.00 for Street, $9.00 for Crandall and $1.00 for the Flying Fish. Of course all are in fair/poor condition as you can see and all three cards are Piedmont Backs. The t206 museum site is where I go for my info on the classic set.

$10.00 is likely my breaking point to consider a T206. They are not a priority for me and here I was lucky enough to find two cards of players with interesting backgrounds. A graded (Good) Gabby Street, which is significantly nicer then my corner deprived version recently went for $21.85 on ebay. Doc Crandall went for $21.77. I was unable to find any recent sales on t58 cards, there is a BIN of a nice flying fish card for $13.45 - and there are a couple others in this set that have a BIN of $12.00

For a look back at some of the other cards available at the 09 Philly Show check here and here and here.