T-206

T-206: For most of the early history of The Hobby, this was the single most popularly collected set. Still considered by many as the greatest baseball card set of all time. Produced by the American Tobacco Company (ATC) when they held a virtual monopoly in the American cigarette market, the first series of cards were issued beginning in 1909. From 1909 to 1911, ATC produced 1 1/2" X 2 5/8" cards of over 500 major and minor league players, in sixteen different cigarette brands. The set features the "Big Four:" Honus Wagner, Eddie Plank and the error cards of Larry Doyle and Sherry Magee.

The term "T-206" was first coined by hobby pioneer Jefferson Burdick, who published his landmark The American Card Catalog, in the mid-1930s. Burdick used a letter prefix to distinguish the type of card ("T" for tobacco), and a sequential number for the set.