T206 artwork vs. reality

[Ericc22]

Greetings,

I've been staring at lots of T206s and reading lots about pre-war baseball. In putting together my T206 wish list, I am looking for cards that portray the player in a manner that at least seems realistic.

In your view, what T206 cards best match your feeling about a player?

For example, I can't come to grips with the Walter Johnson pitching card. That face just doesn't match my view of what he looked liked.

I don't see McGraw in the portrait with hat. But the McGraw glove at hip is one of my favorites. I also like the portrait with no hat.

I love both Waddell cards. The one of him pitching looks a bit freaky but I saw the photo it is based on and that grounded the card a bit for me.

I love the Evers cards - amongst my favorite. Both Crawford cards though feel a bit non descript.

Thoughts? Any of the representations really speak to you? Or any of them feel particularly bland?

Just curious!

Eric

[familytoad]

Billy Purtell really looked like that!

The portrait cards look really good to me. Note the Cy Young pitching pose is on the "unrealistic" side...same for the Johnson pitching you already mentioned...Bresnahan batting looks very little like his portrait cards...the list is pretty long.

And then there is Spike Shannon, "Lurch" Egan and Chappy Charles...

[Bridwell]

I also like the T206 poses where the image is an almost perfect iconic likeness of the guy. Some of the poses show the guy's personality, too. Here's a few to consider:

Cobb (either portrait)
Ames (Pitching)
Chase (either portrait)
Evers (batting)
Jennings (2 hands up)
Lajoie (portrait)
Davis (A's)
Chief Meyers (Portrait)
Bender (portrait)
M Brown (throwing, Cubs)

[White Borders]

For me it's Ty Cobb, Bat Off. It's like he's staring down an opposing pitcher.

[Jantz]

I imagine the process of transferring the photos into a card image was difficult and a lot of the details were left out.

The T206 of Crawford (throwing) has barely any of the details showing on the card when compared to the original photo taken by Van Oeyen.


Jantz

[brianp-beme]

I have posted these scans before, but I thought all those that have the T206 of Egan on the top of their dislike list might consider the photographic evidence below. If anything, the artist was probably guilty of sugar-coating the monster-esque reality that was Egan, such as the gaping fish mouth and crazed eyes set within sunken sockets. I personally believe that close to 85% of the T206 cards do a real good job depicting the player's likeness, and many times convey a bit of their personality as well. In the case of Egan that probably would be stupor and demonicism.

Brian

[leaflover]

Eric,
These are the two that I wonder about. Wiltze(no cap) on the left looks 20 years younger than Wiltze(with cap) on the right. Also,Schlei in the center and Wiltze (with cap) look to be the same person.
Mike

[OldSchoolBaseball]

I'd swear the Doyle, throwing version is Bob Feller (just look at the face). Weird!

[Peter_Spaeth]

Johnson pitching is indeed nothing like him. Mathewson portrait, to me, doesn't look much like him either. Compare it to the T205 which is taken from a photo -- I don't see the resemblance. Speaker is a little iffy too.