The mini. Is the mini the greatest parallel ever? Sure, it doesn't work for everything, but for vintage cards I wonder whether everything should be tobacco card sized. From what I've seen, Topps 206 is no exception. I'm not sure what it is, but the full sized cards don't seem to impress me as much as I thought they would. Maybe the cards are a little too stylized to look old-timey so that the players look out of register or imperfect in some way--I had a lot of trouble finding scans that looked in focus--and the minis just seem to minimize that effect. Whatever it is, I think this set has a lot going for it, with the various mini parallels taking second billing only to the gorgeous framed autographs and relics.
With that, your 2009 Topps 206 Detroit Tigers--in their miniature, tobacco card sized form:
Base Set Here's the full base set. A few things of note: Ty Cobb, Justin Verlander and Ryan Perry each have short printed versions with no number on the back just "ROOKIE" or "TY COBB" in big letters. Those SP variations carry over to the mini set as well. To their credit, Topps made sure that these no number variations had different pictures on the front. Something that makes this collector very happy.
Also of note, last winter at the annual Hawaii Trade Conference Topps released a "Topps 206 100th Anniversary Preview" set of six cards. Ty Cobb happened to be #6 in the set. I've included the card here as part of the main set just for kicks (and so I wouldn't have to crate another table for one card). Interestingly the card uses the same picture as the Cobb variation that is actually in the set, but with slightly different cropping. The card is numbered to 100 and both the front and back are showcased here.
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#25 Magglio Ordonez | #53 Wilkin Ramirez RC | #66a Ty Cobb | #66b (NNO) Ty Cobb SP |
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#72a Rick Porcello RC | #72b (NNO) Rick Porcello RC SP | #87a Ryan Perry RC | #87b (NNO) Ryan Perry RC SP |
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#119 Curtis Granderson | #166 Joel Zumaya | #183 Jeremy Bonderman | #230 Miguel Cabrera |
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#276 Justin Verlander | Hawaii Trade Conference Preview #6 Ty Cobb | Hawaii Trade Conference Preview #6 Ty Cobb (Back) |
Relics There is only one relic in the set--Ty Cobb--but he has three different border variations. These cards are all amazing, with the picture of Cobb being the highlight, if you ask me.
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#FR-22 Ty Cobb (Piedmont) | #FR-22 Ty Cobb (Old Mill) | #FR-22 Ty Cobb (Polar Bear) |
Autographs Two autographs here, both on card which gets major bonus points. Ryan Perry has a nice looking signature. The other card is...Curtis! Which is not numbered, apparently. Huh. I've got one in transit, so if it has a number I'll let you know. Oh, by the way, it is an outstanding looking card--Granderson's best on-card solo auto?
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#FMA-3 Ryan Perry RC Auto | NNO Curtis Granderson Auto |
And that's it! I haven't seen a formal checklist yet, so if there are some other mystery cards out there I'll be sure to update, but for now these are your 206 Tigers. Hope you liked the minis.
