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Search - The Card: Collectors, Con Men, and the True Story of History's Most Desired Baseball Card
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The Card: Collectors, Con Men, and the True Story of History's Most Desired Baseball Card Author: |
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Book Information
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Book Description:
Only a few dozen T206 Wagners are known to still exist, having been released in limited numbers just after the turn of the twentieth century. Most, with their creases and stains, look like they've been around for nearly one hundred years. But one--The Card--appears to have defied the travails of time. Its sharp corners and still-crisp portrait make it the single-most famous--and most desired--baseball card on the planet, valued today at more than two million dollars. It has transformed a simple hobby into a billion-dollar industry that is at times as lawless as the Wild West. Everything about The Card, which has made men wealthy as well as poisoned lifelong relationships, is fraught with controversy--from its uncertain origins to the nagging possibility that it might not be exactly as it seems.
In this intriguing, eye-opening, and groundbreaking look at a uniquely American obsession, award-winning investigative reporters Michael O'Keeffe and Teri Thompson follow The Card's trail from a Florida flea market to the hands of the world's most prominent collectors. The Card sheds a fascinating new light on a world of counterfeiters, con men, and the people who profit from what used to be a pastime for kids.
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Genres:
- Sports >> Baseball >> History
- Sports >> Baseball >> General
- Sports >> Coaching >> Baseball >> General
- Sports >> General
- Home & Garden >> Antiques & Collectibles >> Sports Cards >> Baseball
- Home & Garden >> Antiques & Collectibles >> General
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Having finished reading this yesterday, I would describe this initially as a good but not great book on the most famous baseball card in the world. Tracking the origins of this card proved to be difficult but some new revelations have been made and it makes for a good story. Even more so are some of the characters contained within the book... men with honorable and not so honorable intentions. For something seemingly as pure as baseball cards, that to me was the biggest revelation. Maybe it shouldn't be a surprise that men and their greed took away the joy of collecting in order to make it a business. It's happened time and time again with anything that the public finds interesting. Someone is always there, saying "how can I make a buck on this?"
The writing itself is good, but the information on Honus Wagner didn't really add much to the story, other than fill 30 pages. The story on The Card, the rare T-206 of Honus Wagner could have been told in 50 pages. Maybe I was more interested in the history of card collecting rather than any one card's story is why I found it to be an easy read. The book covered the hobby well although I wanted to know more when I finished. Of course, that wasn't the intent of the book - the focus and main subject was The Card, it's odyssey through the sport and the lives it touched. Along the way, we see how profiteering takes over and the purity of trading cards for fun gives way to the business of cards. Fingers can be pointed in many directions, but I know I personally never collected cards because of it's future profit potential. I got out in the mid-80's when I found it impossible to keep up with all the sets being produced and traders were being replaced by dealers and hucksters.
If you collect or ever collected baseball cards with a passion, you'll find this to be a good diversion. Don't expect a happy ending, just a realistic one.
The writing itself is good, but the information on Honus Wagner didn't really add much to the story, other than fill 30 pages. The story on The Card, the rare T-206 of Honus Wagner could have been told in 50 pages. Maybe I was more interested in the history of card collecting rather than any one card's story is why I found it to be an easy read. The book covered the hobby well although I wanted to know more when I finished. Of course, that wasn't the intent of the book - the focus and main subject was The Card, it's odyssey through the sport and the lives it touched. Along the way, we see how profiteering takes over and the purity of trading cards for fun gives way to the business of cards. Fingers can be pointed in many directions, but I know I personally never collected cards because of it's future profit potential. I got out in the mid-80's when I found it impossible to keep up with all the sets being produced and traders were being replaced by dealers and hucksters.
If you collect or ever collected baseball cards with a passion, you'll find this to be a good diversion. Don't expect a happy ending, just a realistic one.
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