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Old 10-07-2021, 04:56 PM
BobC BobC is offline
Bob C.
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Ohio
Posts: 3,275
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It is a great set from 1913, desgnated as WG6, and very similar to the National Game set. Since they're actually playing cards, the material is much sturdier and made to be handled a lot, unlike regular base ball cards from back then. Plus the corners are already rounded, which makes it easier (and usually cheaper) to acquire them in actually very nice condition for being over 100 years old. The Tom Barker set includes a lot of star and HOF players, led by the big three, Cobb, Wagner, and Joe Jackson. Depending on what condition you can find any one of those three in, you can easily get to four figures for Cobb and Wagner. Jackson should easily get to four figures, plus, unless you can come across an absolute beater somebody is willing to sell you.

The are also several "In Action" cards of unnamed players, but one of them has been determined to be to Cobb sliding, and normally goes for a premium over all the other "In Action" cards. Depending on condition, the Cobb sliding can run you up into the $100-$200 range+, depending on condition.

And since it is a game, you can also come across a Rules card, and a separate Score card. And if you're really lucky, you might even come across an empty box/carton the game originally came in, as Leon was showing in his post. It isn't an impossible set to put together, and the cost for player's cards, especially the stars and HOFers, are generally much lower than those same star/HOFer cards in other contemporary sets. The exceptions to that would be for the same star/HOF/player cards found in the other two game sets from about the same time, the National Game set (WG5) from 1913, and the Polo Grounds game (WG4) from 1914. In fact, once you do start working on the Tom Barker game set, don't be surprised if you get sucked into collecting these other two game sets as well at some point in the future. All three are great! Happy collecting.

Last edited by BobC; 10-07-2021 at 04:58 PM.
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