Cy Young’s Three Cards Among the Keys to the T206 Set

Posted on October 21, 2019 by Pre-War Cards

The Hall of Famer has three of the more expensive cards in the set

Cy Young is one of many Hall of Famers in the T206 set and he is found three times in the massive issue. Once you get beyond the Big Four cards, Young’s are among the more expensive ones you will find.

The T206 cards were issued from 1909-11. 1911 was actually Young’s last year as a major leaguer as he split time with Cleveland and Boston. These, essentially, are some of Young’s final cards. Here’s a closer look, by the way, at the cards during Young’s career.

By 1911, Young was a shell of his former self. He had 511 career victories, which is a major league record that will almost certainly never be broken. But the seven wins he had in each of 1910 and 1911 were the fewest of his career. Give him a break, though. By 1911, he was an astonishing 44 years old and he still managed to toss two shutouts that season.

All three of his cards picture him with the Cleveland Naps. The most desirable of Young’s three cards is probably his portrait. That’s a common theme as the portraits are generally the more sought after cards among players that have more than one card.

Young’s portrait is not seemingly any less rare than his other two cards, if you study PSA’s population reports. In fact, with about 950 graded to date, you can actually make the argument that it could be the most plentiful.

Still, that has not hurt values even in the slightest and if you’re looking for a Young portrait card, if all things are equal, you can probably expect to pay a little more for it than his action poses.

Young’s two action poses are also pursued quite a bit.

One of those has Young facing to the right after throwing a ball. The other has him facing the front of the card with a bit of his glove showing. Because of that, these are mostly known as the Glove Shows variation and the Bare Hand variation (or slightly different iterations of those definitions) when collectors try to distinguish them.

Neither of the two appear much rarer than the other, either, according to PSA’s population reports. PSA has graded a little more than 850 of the bare hand version and a little more than 900 of the glove version.

My own personal favorite of the two action shots is probably the glove shows version. And if buying any one of the three, that’s the one I’d be the most interested in. Young’s bare hand card isn’t pursued much less, though, even if the image of the iconic pitcher isn’t necessarily a great one.

Any of Young’s three cards are getting to be expensive for collectors. It’s getting harder and harder to find decent low-grade examples much under $1,000. You can find authentic grade cards of Young for under that amount but anything with a numerical grade, even a 1, is typically over that price.