"A survey was taken in 1981. Eleven collectors of T3's were polled. Combined, they owned 725 T3's and 76 T9's. The following observations were made... Of the 11 collectors polled only two had card #114, Rhoades. There were at least six of all other players."
Lew Lipset - The Encyclopedia of Baseball Cards, Volume 3.
Those collectors were collecting toward completing a set, searching for one of each, not accumulating duplicates.
I'm not saying that the Rhoades card is scarce. It is nowhere near T206's Wagner, Plank, Magie, or the Polar Bear cards of Demmitt and O'Hara; nowhere near as tough as E90-1's Mitchell; nor T207's Lowdermilk; nor T210's Jackson or Stengel.
Mr. Lipset notes that the series 2 backs that omit the premium offer and mailing address are much more difficult to locate than the other backs, but that (at the time of his printing) there is only a small price premium. And, Mr. Lipset says "There are no great rarities in the T3 series... "
Having said all of that, tracking down a T3 Rhoades is a chore. I was after one 14 years before I almost got one, a west coast dealer sold it out from under me, knowing that it was on my short want list he had, he said he just didn't bother to check the list. 4 more years and I snagged one.
I think if we surveyed all board members we'd find that there are more of us that don't have a T3 Rhoades than there are that do. And I think our population for them would not reflect the reality of what's out there. I have about 4 T3's. Rhoades is the only one I'd sought for years, the others I gathered in because of the opportunity at the moment. That would be the deal for several of us here. If we surveyed all of our T206 holdings, the folks that collect a team, or HOFers, or a particular HOFer would skew our survey so that it didn't reflect the proportions of all cards. I'll dig around and see if I can find a scan of mine, or dig down to the card itself and scan it. In the meantime, for those who say that finding a Rhoades card isn't so difficult, I look forward to seeing theirs. I think Mr. Lipset had it about right...
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