Starting in December, Joe Posnanski began counting down the 100 greatest baseball players. Initially, we published one a day to count down to Opening Day — but with the start of the season pushed back, we’ll be counting down the last 13 with three essays per week. In all, this project will contain roughly as many words as “Moby Dick.” Yes, we know it’s nutty. We hope you enjoy.



The most famous baseball card ever printed is the Honus Wagner T206. In mint condition — or as close to mint condition as you can get for a card that appeared in cigarette packs more than 100 years ago — it has sold for more than $3 million. There has been a book written about it, a movie made about it, there have been numerous scandals surrounding it (with one dealer going to prison). Various Wagner cards have been owned by Wayne Gretzky and Charlie Sheen. The card has been auctioned off by nuns to raise money for their ministries.



The T206...