Graded: 1906 Fan Craze NL WG3 #49 Honus Wagner
Holding a baseball card that is over 100 years old that is in decent shape, there is value in your hands. Holding a baseball card over 100 years old of one of the top players to ever play the game, there’s a nice chunk of change coming your way that collectors will bid out over in an auction. Holding a Honus Wagner card, you’ve got a piece of history in your hands.
The 1906 Fan Craze NL WG3 #49 Honus Wagner may not be in the financial realm of proverbial big brother 1909 Honus Wagner T206, but it is still a rare, cool, and unique card. Part of a 54-card set produced with National League players as part of a game, the top of the card directs the player how to proceed in the game; as pictured, this Wagner card is a 3-base hit.
The cards were not numbered but are arranged in the set in alphabetical order giving the Wagner #49.
On the scarcity side of the hobby, especially considering condition, BGS has graded two; a 7 near-mint and an 8.5 near-mint mint. PSA has auctioned off 37 of the 1906 Fan Craze Honus Wagner cards. Based on their public records, there are seven near-mint 7s, 10 near-mint 8s, five mint 9s, and one 10.
Beckett Online Pricing Guide starts the Wagner #49 at $400 in poor condition ranging up to $8,00 in near-mint form. A graded value of a near-mint 8 is around $15,600.
The Player Behind the Card
Johannes Peter Wagner, commonly known as Honus (Haw-nus) Wagner, spent 21 years playing MLB. His career began with the Louisville Colonels in 1897, ending in 1917 with the Pittsburgh Pirates as a player-manager. After hitting .328 for his career with 3,420 hits capturing eight NL batting titles, and a 1909 World Series (Pirates) on the resume, Wagner received 95.1 percent of the votes need on his first ballot for the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Have you landed a card you love and/or of value? Protect it and increase your card’s worth by having it graded with Beckett.
