1909-11 T206 Cy Young (Portrait)

A legend at the end of the line

The T206 set, issued by the American Tobacco Company from 1909 to 1911 in cigarette and loose tobacco packs across 16 brands, runs to 524 cards and is packed with Hall of Famers. Cy Young appears three times, always as a member of the Cleveland Naps: a head-and-shoulders portrait, a pose with his glove showing, and one with his bare throwing hand showing after a pitch.

The timing is poignant. Young was 42 when the set began and 44 when it ended, and 1911 was his last season in the majors. These are, in effect, among the final cards made of him as a player.

Collectors generally pay a little more for portraits than for action poses when a player has more than one card, and the Young Portrait follows that pattern even though it is not rarer. A 2019 survey of PSA's population reports counted about 950 Portraits graded, a little more than 900 Glove Shows and a little more than 850 Bare Hands, which makes the Portrait arguably the most plentiful of the three.

Cyclone

Denton True Young was born March 29, 1867, in Gilmore, Ohio, the oldest of five children of McKinzie and Nancy Young. He left school after the sixth grade to work the family farm. He started as a professional in 1890 with Canton in the Tri-State League, where, he recalled, 'I almost tore the boards off the grandstand with my fast ball.' The fences looked as if a cyclone had hit them, and reporters shortened 'Cyclone' to 'Cy.'

He debuted for the National League's Cleveland Spiders on August 6, 1890, with a three-hit 8-1 win over Chicago. When Cap Anson offered $1,000 for the green young pitcher, Cleveland's manager answered, 'Cap, you can keep your thousand and we'll keep the rube.' His career bridged two eras: when it began, pitchers delivered underhand and fouls were not counted as strikes, the pitching distance did not move to 60 feet 6 inches until his fourth season, and he did not wear a glove until his sixth.

He jumped to the American League's Boston club in 1901 and won the pitching triple crown. He threw the first pitch of the first modern World Series in 1903, and on May 5, 1904, he pitched the first perfect game of baseball's modern era, against Rube Waddell's Athletics. In 1908, at 41, he threw his third no-hitter and posted a 1.26 ERA.

On February 19, 1909, Boston traded him back to Cleveland, to the Naps, for two pitchers and $12,500. That is the uniform on his T206 cards. He went 19-15 that year, won his 500th game on July 19, 1910, against Washington, and split 1911 between Cleveland and the Boston Rustlers. His last win was a 1-0 shutout of Pittsburgh on September 22, 1911. He retired with 511 wins and records for innings, games started and complete games that still stand. He entered the Hall of Fame in 1937 and died November 4, 1955. The Cy Young Award was created the next year.

Cleveland, 1909

Young came back to the city where he had started, now 42 and heavier, pitching for a Naps team that finished 71-82 in 1909. He still threw 294 1/3 innings and 30 complete games. In July of that season a Naps shortstop, Neal Ball, turned the first undisputed unassisted triple play in major league history.

By 1910 the decline was visible: 7-10 in 21 games. In 1911 he went 7-9 in his final season, and in his final start the last eight batters he faced collected a triple, four singles and three doubles.

Beyond baseball, William Howard Taft became president in March 1909, the NAACP was founded in February, the Queensboro Bridge opened in New York, and Sigmund Freud gave his only American lectures that September.

What the Portrait brings

Unlike the T206 rarities, the Young Portrait trades regularly, which gives it a readable sales record. At the PSA 5 level of this entry, copies sold at auction for $4,140 in a sale that closed November 4, 2017; $6,150 in May 2021; $6,900 in August 2021; and $7,500 in August 2023.

Prices rise steeply with grade. A PSA 7 sold for $19,680 in April 2021, and PSA 4 copies brought between $3,383 and $6,168 at auction from 2021 to 2023. High-grade Portraits are scarce: a 2019 survey noted it was getting hard to find numerically graded Young cards in any condition under $1,000.

Public sales records also list two PSA 5 sales at $11 and $23 in April 2025 for the same certificate. Those figures are almost certainly not real market prices, and this page leaves them out of the price history.

Telling the three apart

The Portrait is a head-and-shoulders image of Young; the two action cards show him full length. On the Glove Shows card he faces the front with part of his glove visible; on the Bare Hand Shows card he faces right after releasing a pitch. All three are captioned for Cleveland.

Backs vary. Sales listings show Portraits with Piedmont and Sweet Caporal backs, and grading companies record the back, so population and sales data are often split by brand. Some backs carry series numbers such as 150 or 350.

For grading, PSA notes the Portrait is tough in high grade. Because T206 has been heavily counterfeited, a graded and authenticated copy is the standard way this card changes hands.

The numbers

1909 season (Cleveland)

19-15, 2.26 ERA, 35 G, 34 GS, 30 CG, 3 SHO, 294 1/3 IP, 109 SO, 59 BB, 113 ERA+.

1910 season (Cleveland)

7-10, 2.53 ERA, 21 G, 14 CG, 163 1/3 IP, 58 SO. 500th career win July 19.

1911 season (Cleveland and Boston NL)

7-9, 3.78 ERA, 18 G, 12 CG, 2 SHO, 126 1/3 IP, 55 SO. Final season, age 44.

1908 season (Boston AL)

21-11, 1.26 ERA, 30 CG, 299 IP. Third no-hitter at 41.

Career

22 seasons (1890-1911), 511-315, 2.63 ERA, 906 G, 815 GS, 749 CG, 76 SHO, 7,356 IP, 2,803 SO.

Hall of Fame

Inducted 1937, 153 of 201 ballots.

Timeline

1. Mar 29, 1867

   Denton True Young is born in Gilmore, Ohio.

2. Aug 6, 1890

   Young debuts for the Cleveland Spiders with a three-hit 8-1 win over Chicago.

3. Sep 18, 1897

   Young pitches his first no-hitter, against Cincinnati.

4. 1901

   Young joins Boston in the new American League and wins the pitching triple crown.

5. 1903

   Young throws the first pitch of the first modern World Series; Boston wins.

6. May 5, 1904

   Young pitches the first perfect game of baseball's modern era.

7. Aug 13, 1908

   The American League holds 'Cy Young Day' in Boston.

8. Feb 19, 1909

   Boston trades Young to the Cleveland Naps.

9. 1909

   The American Tobacco Company begins issuing T206, with three Young poses, all as a Nap.

10. Jul 19, 1910

    Young wins his 500th game, against Washington.

11. Sep 22, 1911

    Young's last win, a 1-0 shutout of Pittsburgh for the Boston Rustlers.

12. Oct 6, 1911

    Young pitches his last major league game.

13. 1937

    Young is elected to the Hall of Fame on 153 of 201 ballots.

14. Nov 4, 1955

    Young dies at 88 in Newcomerstown, Ohio.

15. 1956

    The Cy Young Award is created.

16. Nov 4, 2017

    A PSA 5 Portrait sells at auction for $4,140.

17. Aug 13, 2023

    A PSA 5 Portrait sells at auction for $7,500.

The world in 1909

• Jan 28, 1909

  U.S. troops leave Cuba.

• Feb 12, 1909

  The NAACP is founded.

• Mar 4, 1909

  William Howard Taft is sworn in as president.

• Mar 30, 1909

  The Queensboro Bridge opens in New York.

• Aug 12, 1909

  The first event is held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

• Sep 1909

  Sigmund Freud lectures on psychoanalysis at Clark University, his only U.S. lectures.

• Oct 16, 1909

  Pittsburgh beats Detroit to win the World Series.

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, 1909-11 T206 Cy Young (Portrait) is number 74 of 100 in the trading cards entries of the FLOAT 100. 97 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (30 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• Young won 94 more games than Walter Johnson, second on the all-time list.
• He did not wear a glove until his sixth major league season.
• In 1902 the sixth-grade graduate coached pitchers at Harvard.
• His 1908 no-hitter at 41 made him the oldest pitcher to throw one until Nolan Ryan broke the mark 82 years later.
• He threw 25 1/3 consecutive hitless innings around his 1904 perfect game, a record that still stands.
• He is tied with Roger Clemens for most wins by a Boston Red Sox pitcher, 192.
• Young said he warmed up only three or four minutes before a game, believing his arm had 'just so many throws in it.'