june 12, 2016

Gold is good enough for me! I have been chasing this card for years from a fellow cardboard collecting friend, and now, I finally own it as mine! I proudly introduce an autographed 1911 T205 Gold Border of Hall of Famer Ed Walsh!!! There is a 1909-11 T206 signed of his, but I'm happy with the Gold as it's my preferred set of those two :D.

The lifetime leader in Earned Run Average at 1.82, "Big Ed" Walsh won 40 games for the 1908 Chicago White Sox while pitching an astonishing 464 innings. Slowly damaging his arm while eclipsing 360 innings in three consecutive seasons between 1910 and 1912, the Chite Sox hurler was all but finished by 1913, never again reaching even 50 innings pitched in his last four seasons. Still, his earned run average and 195 career wins were enough to enshrine him in the Hall of Fame in 1946.

This example of Walsh's T205 "Gold Border" card was signed in Walsh's hand, in heavy blue ink. Authenticated by PSA/DNA, this is the only Walsh-signed tobacco card we have seen, the scarcity of his signature on a baseball card well known among hobbyists. This is an exceptional example, one of several HOF signed tobacco cards to be featured in this auction.