This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 12/2/2022
The T204 Ramly series is highly-prized for its clean black and white photography and strikingly ornate gold-leaf border. While the series is undoubtedly one of the most aesthetic baseball creations, the lack of Ty Cobb, Christy Mathewson, and Honus Wagner among the collection's subjects raises the issue of Walter Johnson to the status of 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 historians are in agreement that Walter Johnson's pitching achievements transcend any time period in baseball history. 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. The featured SGC 9 MINT example of Walter Johnson's T204 Ramly card is quite simply one of the best there is! A sheet cut example as noted in the grading assessment, the card shows no hint of chipping along the gold borders that limit most Ramly cards to VG/EX or lower. The centering is perfect, allowing the observer to focus their attention on the sublime sharpness and clarity of "The Big Train" in the central image. 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. The one and only example ever to achieve a MINT grade by SGC and charter member of the top 250 sports cards of all time; worthy of a world-class collection!