The T205 was a

baseball card A baseball card is a type of trading card relating to baseball, usually printed on cardboard, silk, or plastic. In the 1950s they came with a stick of gum and a limited number of cards. These cards feature one or more baseball players, teams, sta ...

set issued in 1911 by the

American Tobacco Company The American Tobacco Company was a tobacco company founded in 1890 by J. B. Duke through a merger between a number of U.S. tobacco manufacturers including Allen and Ginter and Goodwin & Company. The company was one of the original 12 members ...

through 11 different cigarette brands owned by it. The collection is considered a landmark set in the history of baseball card collecting.

History

Chief Bender, Philadelphia Athletics, 1911

The name T205 refers to the catalog designation assigned by

Jefferson Burdick Jefferson R. Burdick (1900–1963) was an American electrician and a collector of printed ephemera, including postcards, posters, cigar bands, and other types of printed materials dating from the mid-nineteenth century to the early 1960s. He is ...

in his book ''

The American Card Catalog ''The American Card Catalog: The Standard Guide on All Collected Cards and Their Values'' is a reference book for American trading cards produced before 1951, compiled by Jefferson Burdick. Some collectors regard the book as the most important i ...

''. It is also known informally as the "Gold Borders" set due to the distinctive gold borders surrounding the lithographs on each card. The T205 set consists of 220 cards, which includes many variations and short prints. The set consists of three different leagues: the American, National, and Minor Leaguers. The American League can be identified by the baseball diamond surrounding the portrait of the player sporting their team logo near the top. The National League displays a simple colored background with the first-ever use of a facsimile autograph of the player. Minor Leaguers are made up of 12 cards printed with noticeably different and more detailed borders.1911 T205
on Card Board Connection The cards measure 1-7/16" x 2-5/8" which is considered by many collectors to be the standard tobacco card size.Gold Border
on PSA Cards The T205 set is one of the most popular sets of the tobacco/pre-war era, second only to

T206 T206 is a tobacco card set issued from 1909 to 1911 in cigarette and loose tobacco packs through 16 different brands owned by the American Tobacco Company. It is a landmark set in the history of baseball card collecting, due to its size and rarity, ...

. The large number of variations, number of stars, and colorful artwork give it enormous appeal to collectors. There are 27

Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball ...

members in the set (in alphabetical order):

Home Run Baker John Franklin "Home Run" Baker (March 13, 1886 – June 28, 1963) was an American professional baseball player. A third baseman, Baker played in Major League Baseball from 1908 to 1922 for the Philadelphia Athletics and New York Yankees. Althoug ...

Chief Bender Charles Albert "Chief" Bender (May 5, 1884There is uncertainty about Bender's birth-date. He was voted the SABR "Centennial Celebrity" of 1983, as the best baseball player or figure born in 1883. However, the SABR ''Baseball Research Journal'' f ...

Roger Bresnahan Roger Philip Bresnahan (June 11, 1879 – December 4, 1944), nicknamed "The Duke of Tralee", was an American player and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB). As a player, Bresnahan competed in MLB for the Washington Senators (1897), Chicago O ...

Mordecai Brown Mordecai Peter Centennial Brown (October 19, 1876 – February 14, 1948), nicknamed Three Finger Brown or Miner, was an American Major League Baseball pitcher and manager during the first two decades of the 20th century (known as the "dead-ball er ...

Frank Chance Frank Leroy Chance (September 9, 1877 – September 15, 1924) was an American professional baseball player. A first baseman, Chance played in Major League Baseball for the Chicago Cubs (initially named the "Orphans") and New York Yankees from 18 ...

Fred Clarke Fred Clifford Clarke (October 3, 1872 – August 14, 1960) was an American Major League Baseball player from 1894 to and manager from 1897 to 1915. A Hall of Famer, Clarke played for and managed both the Louisville Colonels and Pittsburgh Pirat ...

Ty Cobb Tyrus Raymond Cobb (December 18, 1886 – July 17, 1961), nicknamed "the Georgia Peach", was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) center fielder. He was born in rural Narrows, Georgia. Cobb spent 22 seasons with the Detroit Tigers, the la ...

Eddie Collins Edward Trowbridge Collins Sr. (May 2, 1887 – March 25, 1951), nicknamed "Cocky", was an American professional baseball player, manager and executive. He played as a second baseman in Major League Baseball from to for the Philadelphia Athlet ...

Hugh Duffy Hugh Duffy (November 26, 1866 – October 19, 1954) was an American outfielder and manager in Major League Baseball. He was a player or player-manager for the Chicago White Stockings, Chicago Pirates, Boston Reds, Boston Beaneaters, Milwauke ...

Johnny Evers John Joseph Evers (July 21, 1881 – March 28, 1947) was an American professional baseball second baseman and manager. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1902 through 1917 for the Chicago Cubs, Boston Braves, and Philadelphia Phillies ...

Clark Griffith Clark Calvin Griffith (November 20, 1869 – October 27, 1955), nicknamed "The Old Fox", was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher, manager and team owner. He began his MLB playing career with the St. Louis Browns (1891), Boston Reds ...

Miller Huggins Miller James Huggins (March 27, 1878 – September 25, 1929) was an American professional baseball player and manager. Huggins played second base for the Cincinnati Reds (1904–1909) and St. Louis Cardinals (1910–1916). He managed the ...

Hughie Jennings Hugh Ambrose Jennings (April 2, 1869 – February 1, 1928) was an American professional baseball player, coach and manager from 1891 to 1925. Jennings was a leader, both as a batter and as a shortstop, with the Baltimore Orioles teams that won Nat ...

Walter Johnson Walter Perry Johnson (November 6, 1887 – December 10, 1946), nicknamed "Barney" and "The Big Train", was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played his entire 21-year baseball career in Major League Baseball as a right-ha ...

Addie Joss Adrian "Addie" Joss (April 12, 1880 – April 14, 1911), nicknamed "the Human Hairpin", was an American professional baseball pitcher. He pitched for the Cleveland Bronchos of Major League Baseball, later known as the Naps, between 1902 and ...

Rube Marquard Richard William "Rube" Marquard (October 9, 1886 – June 1, 1980) was an American left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball in the 1910s and early 1920s. He achieved his greatest success with the New York Giants. He was inducted into the Ba ...

Christy Mathewson Christopher Mathewson (August 12, 1880 – October 7, 1925), nicknamed "Big Six", "the Christian Gentleman", "Matty", and "the Gentleman's Hurler", was a Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher, who played 17 seasons with the New York Giants ...

John McGraw John Joseph McGraw (April 7, 1873 – February 25, 1934) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) player and manager who was for almost thirty years manager of the New York Giants. He was also the third baseman of the pennant-winning 1890 ...

Tris Speaker Tristram Edgar Speaker (April 4, 1888 – December 8, 1958), nicknamed "the Gray Eagle", was an American professional baseball player. Considered one of the greatest players in the history of Major League Baseball (MLB), he compiled a career bat ...

Joe Tinker Joseph Bert Tinker (July 27, 1880 – July 27, 1948) was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played from 1902 through 1916 for the Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds of Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Chicago Whales of th ...

, Bobby Wallace,

Zack Wheat Zachariah Davis Wheat (May 23, 1888 – March 11, 1972), nicknamed "Buck", was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a left fielder from 1909 to 1927, most notably as a member of the Brooklyn Do ...

Cy Young Denton True "Cy" Young (March 29, 1867 – November 4, 1955) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher. Born in Gilmore, Ohio, he worked on his family's farm as a youth before starting his professional baseball career. Young entered th ...

. With a little effort the set can be completed minus the most difficult card to obtain, the elusive Hoblitzell no stats.

Brands marketed

T205 cards were issued with 17 different backs, representing the 11 different brands of cigarettes/tobacco with which the cards were issued. Due to the same card having different backs, there are actually far more than 220 "different" T205 cards. Brands that commercialised T205 cards were: * American Beauty * Broad Leaf * Cycle * Drum * Hassan * Hindu * Honest Long Cut * Piedmont * Polar Bear * Sovereign * Sweet Caporal

Notes

The sports memorabilia community recently discovered an uncorrected error on Cycle brand cards of Hall of Fame pitcher

. While his pitching record should (and typically does) read 37-11, on Cycle cards it is listed as 37-1. While it is difficult to determine rarity and value due to a lack of market data, the card is expected to be more common and less expensive than the Hoblitzell no-stats variation.

References

External links

Gallery
on T205.org website
Gallery
on Flickr

{{American Tobacco Company Trading cards Baseball cards