Posted By:
Frank WakefieldI don't think it is all about rarity.
You can't collect everything. Although my wife suspects me of attempting it.
The Ramly cards are ugly. And most of us usually looks at our cards (an exception would be the folks who look only at the PSA labels above their slabbed cards, I sometimes think they truly just collect the plastic slabs, I'm tempted to list some "busted" slabs and labels where I've hacksawed out a few cards). The cards are ugly. If a fellow wanted to collect cards of that era, or cards of certain players of that era, he would most likely go for T206s, E90-1s, or maybe Cracker Jack cards. T3s are nice looking, but their size puts some collectors off. Same for M113s. We want to collect something at least someone else is collecting. I do agree that the absence of some of the players detracts from the set... but look at the color! The shape! These are the coyote cards of the turn of the 20th century!
So a few of us have a few for type cards. Some of us collect all of one team. And while everyone on the board would be tickled if some unknown distant cousin passed away and willed us a set, the T204s aren't in the bullseye or crosshairs of our collecting focus. How many of us search "T204" or "Ramly" in our eBay searches? Come to think of it, I guess I should search Ramly in descriptions, in case some antique mall seller has one and knows not what it is...
So I don't think the main reason for few collectors is the cost, or the lack of HOF players... it is their appearance. I'm kinda ugly, dated zillions of girls before I found one who'd marry me. The pickers and collectors out there are after the attractive, not the ugly.