4-Sport Hall of Fame Rookie Cards Guide
 

I recently completed a year-long project of putting together the industry's first fully pictorial "4-Sport Hall of Fame Rookie Cards Guide". I believe, in the future, this guide will be the "go to" reference for anyone looking to start or expand upon a Baseball/Football/Basketball/Hockey Hall of Fame Rookie Cards collection.

The guide will be printed in full color with approximately 350 full-size pages (8 1/2" X 11"). There will be four major sections to the guide. The first will cover Rookie Cards of every single member of the Baseball Hall of Fame (currently 310). The second section will cover Rookie Cards of every Football Hall of Fame member (currently 295). The third section will address Rookie Cards of every Basketball Hall of Famer (currently 339) and the fourth section will cover Rookie Cards of every Hockey Hall of Famer (currently 380). In total, there will be over 1,300 Rookie Cards pictured in the guide. Price ranges for every card listed will also be included. In addition, an appendix at the back of the guide will include "Top 25 All-Time Rookie Cards" lists for each of the four major sports.

The initial print run for the guide will be 100 copies with future print runs to be either the same or possibly move up to 250 copies. As of right now, a maximum number of copies of 1,000 is planned but that could change based on customer demand.

In order to help cover the significant printing costs for this full-color guide, I am offering a very limited number of advertising pages. Please keep in mind, this book will appeal to baseball, football, basketball and hockey card collectors so the collector base will be much broader this time around as compared to the Negro League Baseball Collectibles Guide that I published a couple of years ago. Every ad will be a full-size page of 8 1/2" X 11" in full-color, you just need to maintain a one-inch margin all the way around. This time, my publisher has given the okay to offer cover ads so please see the below list of pricing for each ad spot in the guide:

Back Cover @ $9.00 X 100 copies = $900.00

Inside Front Cover @ $7.00 X 100 copies = $700.00

Inside Back Cover @ $6.00 X 100 copies = $600.00

Front Page @ SOLD

Full Page @ $5.00 X 100 copies = $500.00

As previously mentioned, there are a very limited number of ad pages available so for anyone who is interested, please e-mail me privately for details at: vguerrerobb@yahoo.com. Ads will be taken on a first come, first serve basis. Before each new print run, you will have the option to renew your ad or cancel if you wish. Every advertiser will receive a complimentary copy of the guide.

I would like the guide to go to print by Memorial Day weekend, so please let me know ASAP if interested and please don't hesitate to e-mail me with any questions. You can also contact me via cell phone at (201)-638-9001.

At this time, I am not taking any advance orders for the guide but if you send me an e-mail, I will reserve a copy for you and send you an invoice once I have the books in hand. The cost will be $34.95 plus $5.00 for USPS shipping.

Thank you for your consideration.

Phil Garry

Rookie Cards
 

Sounds like a great project Phil. Look forward to getting one.

In the meantime maybe you can post a copy of your Ruth rookie card selection in the pre war thread and resolve the debate that is going on now and pops up over there now and then :)

Sure, Al, consider it done.

Likewise- any average collector knows better, its NOT the Goudey as the RC.
Also, Phil, i just read your reply on your new book. About the reading material part info.
As becoming a RC style collector, indeed tickles my fancy.

Thanks, Chris, I should have copies available for sale by the end of June.

Rookies
 

Phil-- I am not a rookie card collector. I collect sets, mostly Topps and Fleer post war. So I have never gotten much into the debates that sometimes pop up on which card is a player's "true" rookie card...like the current Ruth thread on post war.

In selecting cards for your book did you encounter much or any controversy as to which card to use as a player's rookie card ? If so, what criteria did you apply or what criteria do you recommend be applied in such determinations ? Do you discuss it in the book ?

While I do not concentrate on rookie cards, I do collect variations to my sets, and there is not a standard accepted hobby definition of what constitutes a "true" or "legitimate" variation that should be considered part of a master set. Since value gets attached to cards that are accepted from an overall hobby standpoint as a variation, the debate is sometimes lively and even contentious. Is there much or any of that in the realm of rookie cards beyond the Ruth question being discussed on post war now ?

Al:

There is a brief discussion regarding the rookie card debate in my Introduction but more detailed parameters are set forth on the very first page of each section. Most of the parameters are pretty similar across the board for baseball, football, basketball and hockey. In my opinion, Ruth is one of the most clear-cut choices amongst pre-war baseball Hall of Famers. The discussion is almost always much simpler when it comes to basketball and football as those sets do not go back as far as the early baseball issues. Hockey is kind of in-between.

Due to the lack of interest from all but one of the potential advertisers that I have contacted regarding the 4-Sport Guide, it does not appear that the books will be going to print anytime soon. As it stands right now, my printing costs will exceed my sale price of the guide. This means I would have to increase the sale price per copy to around $50.00 rather than my planned price of $34.95 just to make a few bucks, otherwise it will not be worthwhile for me to produce them. In my opinion, that is too high of a price point and will discourage too many potential buyers from making the purchase.

I apologize to all of those people who were looking forward to purchasing copies, believe me, I am just as disappointed as you are, if not more. I was hoping to garner more support from within the industry but it's not forthcoming at this time.

Please see poll on main board.

Thanks!

poll
 

+1

+1 i am down with it

Thanks, guys. If I can see numbers getting up around 40 - 50 copies, we're good to go.