Quote:
Originally Posted by aljurgela
I can pretty much guarantee that most Brits would not know who Honus Wagner is, so I am not surprised that Billy Meredith seems obscure to US collectors. However, I am pretty sure that most Brits would have heard of Babe Ruth. I could be wrong, but I think that this is reasonable given the amount of cards issued overseas that include him (pretty much like Pele - the global super star with cards of him issued all over the world). Therefore, in defining my "Wagner" I was looking for a valuable card of an amazing player / HOFer from a highly collected prewar set that was not just the rookie card of the sports best player - that is easy. I was also trying to stay away from post war cards in the spirit of the Wagner (which would include all Pele cards).
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Very few people on this side of the pond would have heard of Honus Wagner. As for Babe Ruth? Most people into sports would have some knowledge of him but the most “famous” baseball player over here (insofar as the player most people, including those not interested in sporting history, could likely name) would be Joe DiMaggio. This is because of his relationship with Marilyn Monroe and, more so, the reference to him in the Simon & Garfunkel song.
Billy Meredith was, without doubt, an iconic player in the earlier years of the sport - although he probably played a bit too early for his name to be recognisable today. Anyone with an interest in British football history will, without doubt, know of him but, for those with a more general liking for the game, the pre-World War Two player they would likely be able to name is Dixie Dean and, without doubt, Stanley Matthews (although much of his career was post war).
I don’t know the card market but anything Meredith-related will command a premium given his Manchester United connection. Manchester United are, by some distance, the most collected British club and the prices achieved for rarer Manchester United items are vastly higher than those for any other team.