Given the nickname "The Big Train" for his imposing physicality and powerful pitching, he was as consistent as an on-time train. PSA has only graded 135 cards total in this entire set. He played his entire 21-year baseball career for the Washington Senators (19071927). This was the beginning of a very strong run for Johnson, who would win 33 and 36 games, respectively, during the next Each set includes 30 cards, with the difference in numbering, image (normal or reversed) or the style of font on the front of the card. None of the cards from the set were ever printed with blue text, yet the Fritsch reprints of the W551 cards were. He remains by far the all-time career leader in shutouts with 110, second in wins with 417, and fourth in complete games with 531. Walter Johnson - Wikipedia I've noticed some strip cards show seepage of color from front to back. Playing in the major leagues with the Washington Senators from 1907 to 1927, Walter Johnson is widely considered as one of the games best pitchers of all time. This leads to some pretty terrible cutting jobs in some instances. Some of the earliest ones were cigarette package inserts, used both to promote the brand and prevent the star of the package, the cigarettes, from being crushed. There are some nice examples you can own now for under $300. Details Select delivery location These include tobacco, candy, caramel and strip cards. The cards were issued by the International Feature Service, as the card fronts feature a copyright symbol with the letters IFC. The only difference is that there is a Neilsons chocolate ad on the back. Cut signature trading cards from manufactures like Topps, Leaf, Tristar and Upper Deck should also be considered legitimate. In addition, as noted by the excellent Pre-War Cards blog, there is another variation issued by Fleer, which isbasically the same as the other W515 cards, but are machine cut and were issued in Fleers Bobs and Fruit Hearts candy packs. WALTER JOHNSON Silver Card 1oz .999 Silver Coin Card Baseball HOF #'d Considered by many vintage collectors to be the most beautiful baseball card set of all time, the 1910 Turkey Red cabinet cards feature stunning artwork with vibrant colors. The 54 card set is loaded with stars, featuring two Babe Ruth cards, with a total of 34 Hall of Fame members. Subsequently, a very popular tobacco card of Johnson was included within the 1909 Ramly set. You can check out all Walter Johnson cards for sale on eBay here. Bowman209 . The cards measure 1.4 by 2.25 and were sold in strips of 5 or 10 for a penny. *No Interest if paid in full in 6 months on $99+. There are only 3 copies of this card verified by PSA. Either way, if buying graded strip cards, it's good to know the differences. Thus, be careful when buying not only raw strip cards but graded versions as well! Each of the above cards listed are 1-of-1's. A PSA 9 of this card sold on REA in 2005 for $37,000. Measuring in at 1-3/8" by 2-1/2", these cards were hand-cut from strips. Johnsons W551 strip card isnt the prettiest one out there, but weve seen worse farworse. . Finally, in 1924 the Senators won the World Championship due, in large part, to Johnsons pitching prowess. Walter Johnson HOF Teams. "The Big Train" was also featured in the budget-friendly1960 Fleer and 1961 Fleer Baseball Greatssets. Surviving cards in this kind of condition are extremely rare. Its hard to find a better pitcher. Hey Mike typically that seepage happened right off the press, with too much ink or a paper that was lighter than needed. The only example known to exist, this graded card without bottom tab in SGC30 good 2 condition sold at auction for $8,962.50. Much like the home run sluggers of the 1920srevolutionized hitting, Walter Johnson revolutionized the game of pitching with power, speed, and an emphasis on striking out batters. The picture of this card looks similar to the previous card. One graded example in spectacular PSA mint 9 condition sold at auction for $12,925. This card also has a tobacco card style and shows a unique portrait of Johnson. The Baseball Hall of Fame issued a set from 1950 to 1956 that featured the early members to the Hall and Johnson's card has a nice ink drawing of him. There is a total of 127 cards in the set. 1923 V100 Willard Chocolate Walter Johnson, 8. Heres a great note from Golden about how the W514 cards were distributed: The W514 cards were sold by local grocers, 5 & 10 cent stores and ice cream parlors. However, if youre willing to sacrifice a little condition for the sake of your wallet, lower grade examples of the Johnson-Knight card can be found quite a bit cheaper. Your email address will not be published. Walter Johnson prices (Baseball Cards 2001 Upper Deck Hall of Famers) are updated daily for each source listed above. Now taking the mound once again TheBig Train Walter Johnson Vintage tobacco cards can bring big bucks. Walter Johnson Baseball Stats by Baseball Almanac See details. $0.91. As of the last check, there were close to 100 PSA graded Ruth cards. Lastly, in 1979 Topps, hewas featured with the man who would eventually break his strikeout record, Nolan Ryan. Free shipping for many products! No doubt in my mind that this would only receive an 'Authentic' grade from PSA. There are 20 different numbered cards in the complete set. These tobacco issue felt squares are roughly a little more than 5 long on all four sides and will even be encapsulated by some grading companies. A 1914 Cracker Jack of Wajo sold for $84,000. He obtained a staggering WAR of 164 which is second to only Babe Ruth. You can email him at [emailprotected] or find him on Twitter @PreWarCards. All Rights Reserved, 10. Ungraded (1) Sellers. Even vintage cardssuch as his 1940 Play Ball issue arent too pricey. A Collectors Guide to Pre-War Strip Cards, can get a card of one of the big name baseball stars while they were playing for the fraction of the cost, our piece on the history of baseball cards, in the Old Cardboard cover story in issue #11, Heres a gallery of all cards in the W514 strip card set, PSA notes that only 760 W516 cards in total have been graded, that both sets were produced by Decalco Lithco of Hoboken, NJ, The W521 set only has one issue and it also has twenty cards, recent sales of Authentic PSA graded W519-1-2 Ruth cards, Heres a gallery of the W519 strip card set. At his retirement, Walter Johnson wassecond in all-time wins with 417 and is still the careerleader in shutouts with 110, a record which will probably never be broken. As we discussed in our piece on the history of baseball cards, strip cards (along with Exhibits) were given the W designation in the American Card Catalog, thus you will normally see strip sets referred to with a W classification. The W515-1 set, while rather scarce, is more plentiful than the second series (W515-2), as PSA has graded 1158 of series one and only 337 series two cards. $24.99. Washington Senators (1) Item Conditions. While several of the cards in 1908-1910 American Caramel use the same illustration for different players, Johnson seems to have his own portrait in the set, albeit with a more youthful look than hemay have ever truly had. S T-205 baseball card of John J. Evers (Chicago T-205 baseball card of John J. Evers (Chicago Cubs). Addie Joss Portrait SGC 30 Good 2, 1911 T206 Christy Mathewson Dark Cap Sweet Caporal Card HOF - Certified SGC 1, 1909-11 T206 Cy Young Portrait PSA 2 Good. He grew up on a farm and baseball did not have an impact on his early life. The cards were initially either sold or provided to customers in various retail stores in the 1920s. Walter Johnson'sentry in the 1911 baseball card series produced by the publication Sporting Life is duly recognized as one of his best. two seasons. A bit of apples to oranges comparison I know, but just simply put the W515s look undervalued relative to its peers. His resume and statistics are jaw-dropping and reflect the reason why he is still revered in the hobby today. Like all strip cards, most found today have been cut (oftentimes poorly) into individual cards. Sponsored. Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA) & PSA/DNA are divisions of Collectors Universe, Inc. Get free collecting news from leading hobby professionals, in-depth articles, breaking news, insightful videos & more! 1910-1911 Turkey Red T3 Walter Johnson #99, 1. There's a bit of confusion, and lack of clarity regarding strip card grading. However, Johnson has several cards from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s that would work for collectors on any budget. The total PSA pop on these cards is 88. The Exhibits series of cards debuted with this postcard-sized set and they would continue to be popular for decades to come. Another extremely scarce early item depicting Johnson was produced as part of the 1907-09 Carl Horner Cabinets series. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Im curious that the article says despite the obvious flaws, these cards offer baseball card collectors a more reasonable way to collect some of the biggest names from yesteryear, including Babe Ruth, Cy Young, Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson and more. Maybe its sitting right in front of me and Im just not seeing it, but I cannot find any strip set that includes Honus Wagner. 2007-08 to present. However, in the case of Walter Johnson, this is not true. Johnson, 1909 Ramly Cigarettes T204 #60 Walter Johnson, 1909-11 American Tobacco Company T206 White Border #NNO Walter Johnson, 1996 Metallic Impressions The Original Hall Of Fame Electees #4, 1991 U.S. Games Systems Baseball Legends #9. Something went wrong. Along with strip cards, playing game cards are usually one of the most inexpensive routes a collector can take when trying to assemble a pre-war card collection featuring star players. Interestingly enough, Johnson pitched on quite a few losing teams. Estimated Value: A PSA 1 copy sold for $6,123 in 2017. In 12 seasons, Johnson accumulated 20 or more victories withtwo incredible yearsfeaturingmore than 30 wins. Combining the print runs of all the cards, there is a total of 20 Walter Johnson memorabilia cards in 2012 Panini National Treasures Baseball. The cards measure 2 1/4" by 3". The ingenuity and talent that went into creating these cards is something special. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network. 1909 T206 TY COBB BAT ON SHOULDER Piedmont 350 PSA AA, 1910 T206 John Titus Portrait Piedmont Only Mustached T206 Player RAW Stunner. The problem is that most of these cards don't have any identifiable marks to indicate that they are reprints like many other sets do. 1961 Fleer Baseball Greats (Baseball) Card# 49 walter johnson of the Washington Senators VG Condition at Amazon's Sports Collectibles Store Collectibles & Fine Art Sports Trading Cards $795 $6.50 delivery Sep 30 - Oct 5. As with any popular card issue, the strip cards have had their fair share of forgeries, reprints and intentionally aged cards. There are many different T206 backs that the Walter Johnson portrait has including (but not limited to) El Principe de Gales, Hindu Brown, Old Mill, Piedmont, Sovereign, and Sweet Caporal. Combined with the evergreen and gold coloring, they form truly stunning pieces of miniaturized art. Looks Better. The 1909 T204 Ramly set features some of the most beautifully designed cards ever made. In preparation for this year, here is the patron saint of Washington, D.C. baseball, the Big Train Along with the portrait, this is Johnsons other card from the T206 set. Free shipping for many products! He is also in the 1910 W-UNC Strip card set. A graded Walter Johnson 1911 T3 tobacco card with Turkey Red cigarettes back in PSA excellent 5 condition sold at auction for $1,553.50. Ah, the strip cards. When you factor in back variations, Johnson has 23 total cards in the set. $1.00. The Street version is often priced a bit higher. I can't see buying cards which are being damaged and degraded. Died: December 10, 1946 (59 years old) Total Cards: 1,073. In addition, from a grading perspective, the cards remain a challenge, since the cards were meant to be hand-cut. Johnsons fastball was overpowering to begin with, and his sidearm motion made it even tougher for batters to pick up the ball. The only difference is it has intricate borders. Designated trademarks and brands are the property of their respective owners. The Big Train appears to be throwing the ball here in this simplistic design and if youre looking for some of his inexpensive cards, they just dont come much cheaper than this. Here are ten Walter Johnson baseball collectibles that are sure to interest historians and sports memorabilia enthusiasts. I think from a price to scarcity comparison, these cards have a lot of potential. The anonymity of the cards (most have no known issuer), the low quality of the card stock, and a lack of a printed back has led to strip cards not maintaining the same level of popularity as some of the more well known candy or tobacco issues. This card has the same photo as the 1921 American Caramel. From time to time new discoveries are made in the card collecting world. Walter Johnson 1911 Turkey Red cigarette card $1,553.50 - Heritage Auction Galleries. Original 1921 W551 Uncut Strip w/ Walter Johnson, George Sisler, Casey Stengel, Buy It Now: 1921 W551 FRED FULTON BOXING STRIP CARD CROPPED. Heres a gallery of all cards in the W514 strip card set (courtesy of Old Cardboard). Our articles may contain affiliate links. Buy or make an offer anytime. Baseball cards started with humble beginnings. None have print runs higher than five. The W512 set is only ten cards and is part of a larger multi-sport set that featured other popular players from golf, boxing and other celebrities of the day. Get your first month for $1 using code BREAKOUT, These disks were made by the Sweet Caporal company. The all-time leader in shutouts with 110, Johnson compiled 417 career wins as well as 3,509 career strikeouts. Cigarettes. Great cards. The product has four different cards that come with a small piece of ball leather alleged to have been used by Johnson in an official game. . Heres a gallery of the W519 strip card set (courtesy Old Cardboard). Along with baseball players, there are also boxers included on the checklist. Walter Johnson 1911 Sporting Life card $12,925 - Robert Edward Auctions. The most valuable in the set is (no surprise) the Babe Ruth card, but the set features many big stars and HOFers including Ty Cobb, Rogers Hornsby, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, and Grover Alexander.