Baseball card set numbering system

bowdowntome

Ok, anybody know the origins of the set numbering system? I'm not refering to the numbers on the backs of the cards, but rather the number/letter combinations used for sets like T206, T205, B18, etc...

I've had a Sports Collectors Bible since I bought it in 1978, and the question never really came to me. Who came up with these designations, and when?

I also notice that EVERY set had a designation, even regular issued Topps and Bowman sets. It's interesting that some stuck (T206) and others are never used. I've never heard the 1964 Topps set refered to as the R-414-32 set. I suppose it's much easier to just say 1964 Topps, since there is nothing else to confuse it with. I can also see why the early tobacco sets generally use them, as there are ALOT of similar looking sets.

I think it would however, be beneficial to come up with some such code or numbering system as an alternate identifyin system for modern cards since there are multitudes of sets put out each year. Does anyone know if this has been attempted, or even thought about?


Interesting side note about the Sports Collectors Bible - There is a short 2 page chapter about trading cards in general at the front of the book, written by Keith Olbermann. They were even kind enough to include Mr. Olbermanns home address. I'm assuming he don't live there anymore though.

FYS

This is a good reference site.

Old Cardboard

Mac53

An individual named Jefferson Burdick donated his baseball card collection to the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art in the 1940s. When he did so, he invented the system that categorized the cards as T-201, T-205, etc.

calleocho

The father of card collecting Burdick invented the system.

Every letter stand for something, T = tabacco, E = caramel...etc

Most often it means how they were distributed.

Here is a wonderful article on him



Burdick

Stone193

Not to overstate the SCD thing - but they have run fantastic articles on these guys and what they had to say about the hobby. They published personal notes to each other etc. It was kind of interesting to see what they had to say about the hobby in the early days of collecting.



SCD also ran some nice articles on Lionel Carter who was also a major league collector before this stuff got so expensive that only a "select" group could afford to have full sets of the early issues!



In some ways, I think there was a "golden age" of collecting.

mike

bowdowntome

Thanks for the great info and links. Fascinating stuff. I guess I never really thought about card collecting prior to my own start in the late 60's/early 70's.

Just got done reading the Burdick article. I have to admit, even though I've been collecting for more than 35 years, I knew virtually nothing about Jefferson Burdick, other than he was a collector from way back. Great stuff!

I still wonder however, if anyone has considered continuing the numbering system into modern day cards.

helionaut

Nah, the hobby is already so segmented and regimented it doesn't need any kind of over-arching system. Such a system would likely cause more complication than it might solve, with so many sets being issued.