In 1909 Honus Wagner discovered that the American Tobacco Company without his permission. Though Wagner used tobacco, his granddaughter later noted that he did not want children to have to buy cigarettes to get the card. Wagner forced the company to recall the card, and today only about 50 examples survive. Wagner’s fame, the scarcity of the card, and the story behind it make this baseball’s most famous collectable.

The Baseball Hall of Fame has two of these cards in their collection.

The “official” reason for the recall was the issue of children buying tobacco. The “unofficial” reason was that he was not paid to have his likeness on the card.