This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 8/15/2014
Graded POOR 10(1) by SGC. Plank rarely threw to a base to hold a runner close. Sad Sam Jones, good enough to win 229 games over a long career, told Lawrence Ritter, "I once heard Eddie Plank say, 'There are only so many pitches in this old arm, and I don't believe in wasting them throwing to first base.' And he rarely did. Made sense to me. I was just a young punk, and I figured if it was good enough for Plank it should be good enough for me." On every pitch, Plank went through a seemingly endless ritual: Get the sign from his catcher, fix his cap just so, readjust his shirt and sleeve, hitch up his pants, ask for a new ball, rub it up, stare at a base runner if there was one, look back at his catcher, ask for a new sign and start the process all over again. As if that wasn't enough, from the seventh inning on, he would begin to talk to himself and the ball out loud: "Nine to go, eight to go . . ." and so on until he had retired the last batter. The offered card although in "rough" condition draws an exhale from even the most ardent and advanced of enthusiasts. The 1903 E107 Breisch Williams issue is one of the most difficult and highly collectible issues within our hobby and the offered pasteboard of Hall Of Famer Eddie Plank shares the same image as the famed T206 card of Plank and is most likely even rarer! The card shows obvious signs of mishandling with both the staining as well as the small notch at the top as well as the two small letters (e.m) at the top of the card and the "1903" running down the right side of the card. With these stumbling blocks mentioned, it's these types of misnomers that endear a card like this to the collecting masses. A card that has survived the trenches and can still shine bright on its guile and sheer rarity alone. A spectacular offering of a very scarce card.