T206 "Wagner" of Soccer Cards - Proposal

[Bored5000]

Originally Posted by aljurgela

Fair enough. Certainly that is one of the most famous cards (and most valuable), so that would hit the mark for most. My criteria was a bit different. Onto a couple of the other points....

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).

BTW, Billy Meredith had a 20+ year career and have many cards issued of him and he (and Steve Bloomer) are probably the top two early British Football stars. Of course there is no true Wagner of soccer cards... was just hoping to have fun with some entrants and see what others thought.

This was just meant to be a fun conversation and I was hoping to get some other "entrants" to the game from other posters to see what other cards are out there.

This is a great discussion, so don't take my opinion as criticism. I enjoy the discussion.

I think the Balas Futebol Pele card and the Taddy and Co. Billy Meredith card are just too rare to qualify as the Wagner of soccer cards. The Wagner T206 isn't at all rare relative to many pre-war baseball cards. Honus Wagner himself has several cards that are far, far more elusive than the T206. Much of the mystique of the Wagner T206 is because it at least circulates once in a while. That is why I would go with the Quigol Pele.

The card at least has to sell/go to auction once or twice a year or so IMO to be a Wagner equivalent. Look at some of the other cards that are often considered Wagner T206 equivalents -- the 1935 National Chicle Bronko Nagurski for American football, the 1948 Bowman George Mikan for basketball, the C55 Georges Vezina for hockey. All those cards are from mainstream sets, yet none of those cards are impossible rarities.