HOF minimum price tiers

[nat]

Because I'd like to stay married, I usually have a very limited baseball card budget. But due to a birthday and a Net54 contest (thanks Leon!), I've got about $140 to spend this month. (Not much by the standards around here, I know, but a lot for me.) Rather than get several small things that would be available to me otherwise, I thought that I'd put it towards a player who would normally be out of my reach. So I have two questions:

(1) Without much concern for condition (but requiring that the card actually be intact), which hall of famers could I get a card of, which was issued during their playing days, for $140, but not for less than that?

(2) More generally, what do the minimum price tiers for hall of famers look like? There are the lesser lights - like Roger Bresnehan - which can be had cheaply. There are big names, like Speaker, who turn up in strip sets. There are a few big names from the deadball era who retired before the inexpensive strip sets. And there are 19th century guys. Obviously there will be variation within each, but do we have ballpark figures for what the bottom rung of these tiers cost?

[bnorth]

I love the Sanella Babe Ruth card. Great picture and from his playing days. Because it is paper stock instead of card stock i would recommend buying graded or getting it graded. It really pops in a SGC slab.

Some of the strip cards are not super ugly but I can't think of what one it is now.

Good luck finding something you like and please post a pic when you do find it.

[frankbmd]

Originally Posted by nat

Because I'd like to stay married, I usually have a very limited baseball card budget. But due to a birthday and a Net54 contest (thanks Leon!), I've got about $140 to spend this month. (Not much by the standards around here, I know, but a lot for me.) Rather than get several small things that would be available to me otherwise, I thought that I'd put it towards a player who would normally be out of my reach. So I have two questions:

(1) Without much concern for condition (but requiring that the card actually be intact), which hall of famers could I get a card of, which was issued during their playing days, for $140, but not for less than that?

(2) More generally, what do the minimum price tiers for hall of famers look like? There are the lesser lights - like Roger Bresnehan - which can be had cheaply. There are big names, like Speaker, who turn up in strip sets. There are a few big names from the deadball era who retired before the inexpensive strip sets. And there are 19th century guys. Obviously there will be variation within each, but do we have ballpark figures for what the bottom rung of these tiers cost?

nat,

You may be in the wrong place. We are all single and sleep with our cards.

Once you accept that premise, take your time. My first prewarcard was a HOFer. I overpaid by more than $140.

Currently I have 96 prewar HOFers. 2/3 of them I obtained for less than $140, and only a couple are true beaters. You should be able to find something you like that is within your budget.

[pherbener]

You mentioned Tris Speaker. This one's not bad and in your price range. Good luck!! http://www.ebay.com/itm/T205-Hassan-...cAAOSwnHZYVykR

[Leon]

Speaker is a good choice and it sounds like Dennis (above) might have a nicer one for about the same money...although, as he points out, you should go for a card that speaks to you, "so to say."

Originally Posted by pherbener

You mentioned Tris Speaker. This one's not bad and in your price range. Good luck!! http://www.ebay.com/itm/T205-Hassan-...cAAOSwnHZYVykR

[Luke]

I've always really liked the T205 Speaker. I love the T206 set, but the Speaker doesn't do much for me. I think Dennis' card might be the perfect card to get since $140 would be on the low end of what you might spend for a nice looking copy.

[JustinD]

I am a huge fan of W517's for the budget minded.

• Fantastic checklist with cards printed during playing careers.
• Great photos and can be found with great registration.
• Priced in the realm of much uglier strip cards.

A great set for the low budget collector to nail down some prize HOFer's at very reasonable amounts.

[Prince Hal]

For pre-war you can't do much better than T206 and I bet a Lajoie (I like the portrait best) can be had. Find one with a bit of back damage. That always drops the price quite a lot even if the front image is great. He was right there with Cobb as a hitter but much more reasonable price.

[EvilKing00]

Sanella Babe Ruth

[Luke]

For T206, you can get a nice looking lower grade Keeler, Joss, or Lajoie at that price. Maybe a T201 Matty. The Diamond Stars set is also worth a look as are the Ruths mentioned earlier. Good luck!

[packs]

If you like cards with photographs rather than artwork you could take a look at the M101 set. There are some nice real photos of HOFers in that set and some of them run pretty cheap.