Posted By:
John SOver the last 12 years I have been collecting Colgan’s. As with many sets, one becomes fascinated (and frustrated) with the nuances, anecdotes, and inconsistencies. I have spent the last few months attempting to construct an up to date and accurate listing for E254 Colgan's Chips. Obviously the checklist has been in place for years, I have just made revisions, clarifications, and additions. The new list includes (in most cases) full player names, team and league affiliations, and probable years of issue for players with multiple E254's issued between 1909 and 1911.
I have also ranked each card on a scale of 1 to 5 based on scarcity (1 being the easiest). Assigning five levels was subjective but seemed to be the best fit based on my experience. Many of the Colgan's were probably issued continuously during print runs from 1909 to 1911. These obviously would receive a 1 or 2 ranking. Others could have only been issued during one year (for instance if a player was traded in 1911 and is represented with his new team on an updated E254). These explanations, however, are extremely oversimplified because many Colgan's seem more difficult to find than would be expected and vice-versa.
Whether you are long-time Colgan’s collector or simply know a little about the set I would invite you to view the checklist and offer criticisms and opinions. I will consider all opinions and make revisions to the checklist based upon this input.
If interested, please post in this thread or email me and I will send you a Word copy of the checklist. Highlight your changes/additions in another color or just send me a note in an email.
The Standard Catalog, old Larry Fritsch catalogs, Lew’s book, the NY Times online (to search at least 1000 old articles and boxscores), and the SABR database were used as references. I would also like to thank everyone who also responded to my posts over the last few months; your input has been assimilated into the checklist.