1909-11 T206 Eddie Plank

One card, and then hardly any

Between 1909 and 1911 the American Tobacco Company packed small lithographed baseball cards into cigarettes and loose tobacco sold under 16 brands. The set, now called T206, runs to 524 cards, many of them minor leaguers, and big stars often got two, three or four poses. Ty Cobb appears on four cards. The company distributed tens or hundreds of thousands of cards of a typical player.

Eddie Plank got one. His card shows the Philadelphia Athletics left-hander and carries, in the examples that trade publicly, a Sweet Caporal back. Sales listings identify copies from both the 150 series and the later 350 series, which matters to the mystery of why so few exist: the card was printed in more than one run, yet it survives in tiny numbers.

How tiny is reported differently by different sources. A 2016 report said only 45 were known. One dealer guide says 75 to 100 exist. A 2019 survey said PSA and SGC had graded a little more than 100 between them, compared with 47 Wagners, and an auction house editorial put the combined certified total at about 100. Collectors group the Plank with the Honus Wagner and the Sherry Magie and Larry Doyle error cards as the set's 'Big Four.'

Gettysburg Eddie

Edward Stewart Plank was born August 31, 1875, and grew up on a farm near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the fourth of seven children of David and Martha Plank. He did not play baseball until he was 17 and practiced by throwing against the barn door. Frank Foreman, the pitching coach at Gettysburg College, recruited him for the college team. Plank attended Gettysburg Academy, the affiliated prep school, and played for the college without ever enrolling there.

Foreman recommended him to Connie Mack, and Plank debuted for the Athletics on May 13, 1901, at 25. He went 17-13 as a rookie and won 20 for the first time in 1902. He was a finesse pitcher with a sweeping sidearm curve and a pitch called the 'cross-fire,' thrown across his body. He was famous for long pauses on the mound and sometimes talked to the ball before he threw it.

When the T206 cards were being printed he was in his prime: 19-10 with a 1.76 ERA in 1909, 16-10 with a 2.01 ERA in 1910, and 23-8 with a 2.10 ERA in 1911, the year the Athletics won the World Series. He missed the 1910 Series with a sore arm. In the 1913 Series he beat Christy Mathewson 3-1 in the deciding Game 5.

He finished with 326 wins, 194 losses and a 2.35 ERA. He was the first left-hander to win 200 and then 300 games and stayed the winningest lefty in history until Warren Spahn won his 327th in 1962. In the World Series he had a 1.32 ERA over 54 2/3 innings but a 2-5 record. He jumped to the Federal League's St. Louis Terriers in 1915, finished with the Browns in 1917, refused a trade to New York, and went home to run a Buick dealership in Gettysburg. He died there of a stroke on February 24, 1926, at 50, and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1946.

Why is it so scarce?

Nobody knows, and the people who know the card best say so. 'There are different theories, but none has ever been verified,' one longtime grading and auction executive told an interviewer.

The most widely repeated theory is a bad printing plate. PSA's own card notes say the plate may have been poor, so that many cards were destroyed because they could not pass quality control, and that many surviving copies are badly miscut top to bottom, sometimes into the caption. Skeptics answer that a company throwing away flawed cards would likely have given a star of Plank's stature a second pose, as it did for so many others.

A second theory echoes Wagner: that Plank objected to being sold with tobacco, or was never asked. One dealer guide describes Plank as an anti-tobacco advocate who was never seen using it; a collector historian notes he is missing from most other tobacco sets, but that he does appear in a small 1913-14 cigar issue. The fact that his card shows up in both the 150 and 350 series complicates any story of an early, permanent withdrawal.

A third points to money. When Plank left for the Federal League in 1914, Mack said, 'He was after the money.' Whether a pay dispute touched his tobacco card is speculation. The sources agree only on the result: a star's card that should exist by the thousands survives in the dozens.

Philadelphia, 1909

In April 1909, Plank started the game that opened Shibe Park, the Athletics' new steel-and-concrete stadium, and beat Boston 8-1. The day turned tragic: catcher Doc Powers crashed into the wall chasing a foul pop, played on, and died two weeks later of his injuries.

The Athletics went 95-58 that year and finished second. Plank's 1.76 ERA was only part of a staff on which Harry Krause led the league at 1.39. Two years later Plank was the last player left from the 1901 club, and the team won the first of its two titles with him in 1911 and 1913.

Outside the ballpark, William Howard Taft took office in March, the NAACP was founded in February, the Queensboro Bridge opened in New York, and in October Honus Wagner's Pirates beat Detroit in the World Series.

From the hobby's posters to six figures

Long before population reports, collectors ranked the Plank just behind the Wagner. A veteran grading executive recalled that in the 1970s and 1980s it already appeared on posters of rare cards, 'the Wagner and then, a tier down, the Plank.' In 2006 a copy owned by Arizona Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick, who also owned a Wagner, was described as the second most valuable card in existence, and Kendrick's collection was later loaned to the Hall of Fame.

Recorded sales show how far prices have moved. A PSA 1 brought $21,150 at auction in 2007, and a PSA 4 brought $88,875 in 2013. In 2016 a high-grade copy from a collection called the Madison Collection was offered with an estimate of more than $250,000; it was one of only four graded at the EX-MT level at the time. On September 20, 2018, a Sweet Caporal 350/30 copy graded PSA 7 sold for $690,000.

Even copies with no numerical grade bring six figures. One copy graded Authentic sold at auction twice in 2022: for $129,171 in a sale that closed April 1, 2022, and again for $105,000 in August 2022. A 2019 survey said a PSA 1 had sold for more than $51,000 in 2018.

This entry is a PSA 4. In PSA's census for its unknown-back category, three copies graded PSA 4 and one graded higher at the time the page was captured, a reminder that population counts are split by back and change as new cards are graded or discovered.

What to look for

Plank has only one T206 pose, so there is no variation by image, only by back and series. Public sales listings describe Sweet Caporal backs with 150/30 and 350/30 factory overprints, and one listing a 350/25. Grading companies record the back, which is why population figures are often split by brand.

Centering is the classic problem. PSA notes that many known copies are miscut top to bottom, sometimes cutting into the caption text, so a well-centered Plank is unusual in any grade. One auction description put it plainly: rarity is only the first hurdle, and condition is the second.

Because the card is valuable and the set is widely counterfeited, authentication matters more here than in most of T206. Collectors track surviving Planks individually, so a copy's grading certificate and sales history are part of its identity.

The numbers

1909 season

19-10, 1.76 ERA, 34 G, 33 GS, 24 CG, 3 SHO, 265 1/3 IP, 132 SO, 62 BB, 138 ERA+.

1910 season

16-10, 2.01 ERA, 38 G, 22 CG, 250 1/3 IP, 123 SO. Missed the World Series with a sore arm.

1911 season

23-8, 2.10 ERA, 40 G, 24 CG, 6 SHO (league lead), 4 SV, 256 2/3 IP, 149 SO, 149 ERA+.

1911 World Series

1-1, 1.86 ERA, 9 2/3 IP, 8 SO. Athletics beat the Giants in six.

World Series career

4 Series, 7 G, 6 GS, 6 CG, 2-5, 1.32 ERA, 54 2/3 IP, 32 SO.

Career

17 seasons (1901-1917), 326-194, 2.35 ERA, 623 G, 410 CG, 69 SHO, 4,495 2/3 IP, 2,246 SO.

Hall of Fame

Inducted 1946.

Timeline

1. Aug 31, 1875

   Edward Stewart Plank is born near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

2. May 13, 1901

   Plank debuts for Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics.

3. 1905

   Plank pitches in his first World Series, allowing three runs in 17 innings as the Athletics lose to the Giants.

4. 1909

   The American Tobacco Company begins issuing the T206 series, including Plank's single card.

5. Apr 1909

   Plank wins the opening game at Shibe Park, 8-1 over Boston.

6. 1911

   Plank goes 23-8 and wins Game 2 as the Athletics take the World Series.

7. 1913

   Plank beats Christy Mathewson 3-1 to clinch the World Series in Game 5.

8. 1915

   Plank wins 21 games for the Federal League's St. Louis Terriers, his eighth 20-win season.

9. Aug 6, 1917

   Plank pitches his final game, an 11-inning 1-0 loss to Walter Johnson.

10. Feb 24, 1926

    Plank dies in Gettysburg at 50, two days after a stroke.

11. 1946

    Plank is elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

12. 2006

    A Plank T206 in Ken Kendrick's collection is described as the second most valuable card in existence.

13. 2007

    A PSA 1 copy sells at auction for $21,150.

14. 2013

    A PSA 4 copy sells at auction for $88,875.

15. Jun 30, 2016

    A high-grade copy is announced for auction with an estimate of more than $250,000.

16. Sep 20, 2018

    A PSA 7 copy sells at auction for $690,000.

17. Aug 15, 2022

    A copy graded Authentic resells at auction for $105,000, months after bringing $129,171.

The world in 1909

• Feb 12, 1909

  The NAACP is founded.

• Feb 22, 1909

  The Great White Fleet returns to Hampton Roads after circling the globe.

• Mar 4, 1909

  William Howard Taft is sworn in as the 27th president.

• Mar 30, 1909

  The Queensboro Bridge opens in New York.

• Jun 9, 1909

  Alice Huyler Ramsey sets out to become the first woman to drive across the United States.

• Aug 12, 1909

  The first event is held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

• Oct 16, 1909

  The Pittsburgh Pirates beat 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 Eddie Plank is number 23 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 (31 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• Plank never enrolled at Gettysburg College, though he pitched for its team; history books often say he graduated.
• He was the winningest left-hander in history until Warren Spahn won his 327th game in 1962.
• In six World Series starts he threw six complete games, yet finished 2-5 with a 1.32 ERA.
• When the Yankees traded five players and cash for him in 1917, he refused to report, insisting he had retired.
• Gettysburg College built the Eddie Plank Memorial Gymnasium in 1927, and part of his childhood farm is now a housing development called Plank's Field.
• Ogden Nash put him in the 1949 poem 'Line-Up for Yesterday.'
• Babe Ruth wrote a 1926 tribute calling Plank 'the real daddy of the brainy players.'