This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 3/10/2017
While the T204 Ramly collection is commonly thought to be one of the most aesthetic baseball creations, its biggest knock is the lack of a Ty Cobb, Christy Mathewson or Honus Wagner card. And in the absence of those "big three," the issue of Walter Johnson rises up as the key card in the series and one of the most coveted cards of the decade. Though playing most of his career in an era when pitchers put in far more time on the mound and the home run was a rare occurrence, producing records that are virtually impossible to even approach today, almost all baseball historians are in agreement that Walter Johnson's pitching achievements transcend any time period in baseball history. Playing his entire 21-year career with the Washington Senators, Johnson struck out 3,508 hitters, the all-time record at his retirement, and still holds the major league record with 110 career shutouts. He led the American League in strikeouts 12 times, shutouts seven times, wins and complete games six times, ERA five times, and finished his career with 417 wins and a 2.17 ERA. While there's no doubt that Johnson benefited from the "dead-ball" era, he continued to dominate late into his career, recording 140 victories from 1919-1927 and earning his second MVP award in 1924 at the age of 36. His side-arm delivered fastball was clocked at 99 miles per hour in 1917, having already logged almost 3,500 big league innings, so it's easily conceivable that he spent most of his career throwing bullets in excess of 100 MPH. It's no wonder that many consider him the greatest pitcher of all-time, and maybe it's justified that Johnson is the main attraction of the T204 Ramly series. The featured SGC 82 EX/MT+ 6.5 example of Walter Johnson's T204 Ramly card, well it's quite simply one of the best there is! While the centering is slightly in favor of the left edge, the sharpness and clarity of "The Big Train" commands the eye's attention, even more so that the wonderfully well-preserved gold edges and endpoints, relenting barely a speck of chipping that is virtually exclusive to the extreme tips and barely visible to the naked eye. The intricate gold design that surrounds Johnson's image is perfectly intact on the clean white surface and the reverse displays a deep black Ramly Turkish Cigarettes ad on a slightly off-white canvas. Although the grade appears to be a little too conservative for our tastes, the card presently stands as the only 82 EX/MT+ 6.5 specimen and fourth best ever graded by SGC. A charter member of the top 250 sports cards of all-time and worthy of a world-class collection!