HOF as a “set” collectors - how many of us are out there?
 

I just read a post from a long timer here who said he started his quest to acquire 1 card for every HOFer from their playing days

That’s my chase too! And it got me wondering how many of us are out there - I started my own collection back up just about 3 years ago (plus what I had as a kid from the mid/late 70’s)

It’s been a lot of fun - I have a loooonnngg way to go (about 110 cards in, 200+ to go) but I have knocked off some of the heavy hitters.

I’d love to hear (and see) others who collect “Hall of Fame Sets” like this.

Thx for sharing!

Jeff

I have about 200 and I have the same goal. I have other goals in front of it, so it's on the backburner for now.

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That’s definitely a goal of mine but it goes beyond HOF. I have my own personal list of excellent but not quite Hall worthy players who I am also collecting.

I'm doing a variation on the theme. I have three interrelated goals: 1) at least one playing-era card of as many HOFers as possible; 2) complete runs of as many HOFers as possible 1953-85 ('52T just ain't gonna happen); 3) complete 53-85 Topps and Bowman HOF runs. I'm going for decent-looking raw cards - the whole TPG thing is such a naked emperor IMO.

I just started last fall, so I've got a long way to go, but I think I've made pretty good progress for only being at it a short time. It's been a lot of fun so far.

I just started the quest recently. It's probably not really going to be possible, but it will be fun trying.

Yes, it is a good goal I’ve also been actively working on!
I narrowed the scope into sections first to make it less daunting:
1.) Collect all HOF excluding: lower tier HOF, 19th Century, Negro Leagues, executives, managers
2.) Collect lower tier HOF, managers, execs (if possible)
3.) Collect 19th century dudes (if possible)
4.) Collect Negro League players where possible (currently have modern sets covering all, but would love to fill in w Cuban, Mexican, supplements, etc where possible)
5.) Collect all future locks and should-be HOF

I have 34 left on #1. I also try to diversify the sets so I don’t have all goudey or 1940 play ball of everyone.

I am currently collecting 3 things in this order at this time

1 - Finishing off the complete run of Topps sets from 1970 on. EASY

2 - Picking up as many as I can of my subjective list of the 20 greatest St. Louis Cardinals at each position (50 SP and 60 OF) since 1900. MEDIUM

3 - HOF'ers as they are available and funds permit - EXPENSIVE at times.

Hall of Fame collector....
 

Yes, I am a Hall of Fame collector as well. I've been working on this for a few years. I started with the players and will then branch out to Managers/ Umpires/Executives, etc. My primary goal right now is to get a "playing days" card of each player....

Contemporary HOF cards have been my focus for quite a while. I've been pretty disciplined with allowing just one card of each for my collection -- with the exception of Clemente. As that collection "matured" I began to allow myself 30 "significant others" (my term) - then 60 - then 90 - now 120 :) - -Roughly 30 Clemente / 30 Pre-War / 30 Post-War / 30 Modern.

A link to my HOF collection is below.

292 of 333 are contemporary (as PSA defines them)

Scott

Started on this when I was 11 years old. Progress is a bit easier now that I'm not mowing lawns for card money.

73% for career-contemporary cards of guys in the hall as MLB players. (Plus a Irvin and Page.)

100% for the post-war Japanese hall of fame. (Pre-war Japanese hall of famers are more-or-less impossible - and in a few cases just actually impossible.)

Because every thread needs a card, here's my Hornsby.

Being a post war set collector I was curious how many HOFers I have in their playing days. Scrolling through Scott's PSA set (VERY COOL!) I have 124 HOFers in their playing days...wasn't sure if that was going to be a lot or not. I only counted the managers that got there by managing, didn't count players that were later managers but was not in their playing days (Joe Gordon for example, I didn't count his 69 Topps card)



Very cool to see a registry for this...I could see being interested in this one day. Not much for pre-war, attacking this list would surely dip my fingers into some unreal cards...

A tough non-player "playing days" . . .

Attachment 450704

No contemporary cards (that I am aware) for the only female represented in the hall . . .

Attachment 450705

That’s me
 

I’ve been doing a “playing years “ HOF collection for years.
I finished it a few years ago.
I too had some exclusions:
Primarily post 1900 career (although I do have a few older 19th century HOF cards)
Primarily HOF players who were voted in as players not managers or pioneers or executives . I would take managers if they came along.
Excluding Negro League players at the time, As I simply had little knowledge or opportunity to acquire those. I want to add some, but I still have that same lack of knowledge.

I also expanded rapidly. One of each player wasn’t that hard back in the days I started. So I wanted as many HOFers in as many unique sets as possible and merged a type card collection into a HOF type card collection.

And then I started collecting just the HOFers in many different sets. But that changed too...and I added more sets of course, needing the commons.

Additionally, I have not officially added all of the newer HOF players since those are already accounted for in my complete Topps “monopoly years” run. Anything for 1981- present I probably have too, but haven’t really counted to see.

I should count the number again. For many of the older HOFers I have 6-10 different cards.
A few are obviously tougher but I’m pretty certain that I have more than one of everyone.

Fun topic, I’d love to hear more!

i am working on acquiring all Hall of Famers, including 19th Century, Negro Leaguers, Umpires, Executives, etc. I'm very far along. I need only two Negro Leaguers -- Pete Hill and Willie Foster. I also arguably need Jesse Burkett because my T204 shows him as a minor league player manager, and I'd prefer him as a major league player. But his Just So and W600 are both quite pricey.

I have excluded from my collection people who don't have cards from their playing days (or their days as owner, manager, GM, or whatever they're in the Hall for). So I haven't been pursuing CDVs, studio cabinets, and real photo postcards or other photos.

Paul - I have to admit that I curse you every time I see that Selee :)

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Nice! I can see there are a lot of “us“ out there.

I’d also be interested to hear how each of you decide which card makes your collection for each player.

For me, I prefer the player with the team that I most associate them during their playing days. Then, I look for, what I consider to be the best looking card for that player.

The final step is to group text my family and have a virtual “beauty contest” where they each vote for their fave - it’s become a bit of a fun family affair, actually

Question – how do you all display your collection?

I collect 20th century HOF players. I just need 4 more to finish. The 19th century and negro league players are out of my price range. I did not "start" this goal until I realized that i was about 12 cards away. I have always collected HOF players, but originally without the goal of getting them all.

Choice of card is mostly a matter of price/availability. I'd prefer the team the player is most associated with, and for the Topps era that's no trouble, but for pre-war cards I'm willing to compromise. That Hornsby was not expensive, and for a not expensive Hornsby I'm willing to tolerate the fact that he's on the wrong St. Louis team.

Display: except for graded cards, in a binder. One card per page. I cut down a 3x5 card to use as a backing behind undersized cards so you can't see the card on the next sheet. The idea is for each page to be its own little exhibit featuring that player. Over sized cards I put in a card saver, mount that on a sheet of card stock, and put the whole thing in one of those full-sheet-of-paper plastic pages. (See Speaker below.) I put a full sheet of card stock in a page protector before any over-sized cards, so that the over-sized card isn't visible when looking at the cards in front of it.

I'm way into this too... the hardest ones in terms of "career contemporary" status are, as some of the prior posters have alluded, the Negro league players and the 19th Century people. Some of the non-players are also either non-existent in career contemporary cards (Marvin Miller) or very scarce (Umpires McGowan and Evans come to mind). This project can require stretching the definitions of the word "card" in order to find something for certain subjects....

Yep. My #1 collecting goal. But I have the unenviable and “impossible” task of getting the earliest of each HOFer (all, including players, executives, umpires, etc.). It’s quite an awesome checklist and touches on all sorts of card types and years. It’s the ultimate type card endeavor.

Love that postcard, Scott!

Here’s a few other “contemporary” McGowan postcards:
https://photos.imageevent.com/derekg...eague%20PC.jpg https://photos.imageevent.com/derekg...dio%20RPPC.jpg

I am doing a version of this for all MLB HOF players and managers that played / managed between 1901 and 2001. I haven't follow baseball too closely for a long time, but love the history of the game.

Erik Greenwood

My version was 1 of each Hall of Famer that had cards issued during their career in sets between 1909 and 1941. I became familiar with the Negro League players too late in the game, so they got left out due to affordability. For HOF managers it was fine if the card was depicting the Hall of Famer as a player or as a manager. In the Executives and Umpires categories I mostly gave my cold, bony shoulder, with notable exceptions of Branch Rickey, Clark Griffith and Charles Comiskey. I just wasn't too interested in having CEO/CFO/QC Supervisor, or General Wanker types on my roster of greats.

The total amount of cards needed with these parameters in place is 120. The Hall of Famers within my subset that have very few (while still being relatively available) card options include Jake Beckley, Elmer Flick, Joe Kelley, George Davis, Jack Chesbro, Charles Comiskey, Branch Rickey, Bill McKechnie, Lou Boudreau, Pee Wee Reese, Phil Rizzuto, Joe Gordon and Enos Slaughter. Thankfully the T206 set exists for some of the earlier players, and the 1941 Double Play set for some of the later players.

Brian

That is excellent!

Wow. So many cool stories and great ideas. What I like most about it is the decisions collectors make about which card of each player to include...really interesting. I hope more people post their collections....

I don't have a formal HOF collection, though maybe I'll go through what I do have already and see where I stand. What I have done is to start collecting playing-era cards of the 10 greatest players in each sport that I collect (retired ones only, so far, so I can examine the entire career). It involves more opinion than the HOF and has less structure, but I still find it challenging. Plus, I enjoy thinking about and debating who the greatest players in each sport are.

Your Japanese HOF threads is one of the most interesting I've read. Thanks again for that!

My focus for HOFers was cards issued during their playing career and also voted in via the BBWAA, not veteran's committee or old timers. This has made it a little more manageable from a monetary standpoint and the fact that I started a few years ago means the Ruth, Mathewson, and Gehrig cards were far less expensive than they are now. I couldn't purchase the same cards if I started today.

My goal as well. One "period" card of EVERY HOFer. I'm 11 shy of completion (5 execs, 6 Negro Leaguers). I count CDVs, Studio cabinets, premiums, supplements, and postcards. Team cards, also. I've tried to embed the link to my collection in my signature, below (Flickr), but not certain I'm doing it correctly?!

HOF collection
 

I, too, am avidly collecting HoF players from their playing days.

This is a link to my PSA Registry collection of them: https://www.psacard.com/psasetregist...shedset/367589

This is a link to my PSA Registry collection, showing only the images:
https://www.psacard.com/psasetregist...gallery/367589

There are 266 possible in this "set". Most of my 19th C. players and negro leaguers are not from the playing days. That will be quite a task!

Count
 

You all have me interested in my HOF collection again!
Thank you!

I’m not terribly organized with mine since it morphed into set collecting . And unfortunately I do not have the HOF singles and sets all in one place for many of the sets , but I tell myself I will get there some day.

So what caught my eye is the difference between BP’s 120 count of HOFERS that sorta sounds like my criteria and the larger 266 from Ron.
We all have different counts on this quest it seems.
It seems that some of you guys have even different counts based on how you want to collect them.
I’d be very interested in trying to track these counts somehow .
And I guess it makes sense for me to develop my own count that I never really finished.

Anyone wanna play “What’s your HOF number” including a clever nickname?

me too
 

It's creative/great how we all come up with our own collecting criteria!

Mine is

- Elected as 'Player' and card must be from playing days [thanks for taking a few AB's in the Teens Hughie Jennings and for being a player manager Jesse Burkett]


- Played for a National League or American League team (ALL of the 19th century guys at least clipped a still-existing MLB franchise I came to learn) and also adds in Willard Brown as well who only had Negro League cards issued)


3 left to go

-Paul

Same here, but mine also involves collecting all (ok, most) of the HOFs usimg different baseball card sets. Takes some coordination and pre-planning. Close to finished.

I started my Baseball HOF "playing days" collection back in 1994 with cards I could afford and more importantly liked. I am always searching for the four 19th century players I am missing however the price tags and rarity make it a challenge to complete. In addition I have nearly completed a Baseball HOF collection with modern day cards of each HOFer. Cards include cut signatures, patches, bat cards and I especially enjoy the Helmar cards. The newer variations allow me to honor the Negro League HOFers which I have not collected in my playing days collection. I also have a small collection of potential Hall of Famers ready to go when announcements are made in January and all cards are displayed in my den in large displays cases so I can enjoy daily. Good Fun!

Awesome thread.

I am also in the process of HOF collecting. I focusing on players only, so no managers or execs. Excluding Negro Leaguers right now (due to difficulty) unless they happened to also play in MLB later in their careers and are in a mainstream set.

As to what card to acquire - I also like to get a card of the player on their primary team (according to Hall website). For more modern players, I try to get a card of the player 'at the peak of their powers'. I do this by looking at season WAR totals. But I also try to select the card so that I have a good distribution of sets represented - I don't necessarily want 10 1965 Topps cards.

To make the project more manageable for me, I've tried to collect all HOFers by position at a time. I usually give myself a year to work on a position. I've completed 3B, 2B (minus McPhee), C, and 1B. In 2021 I'm working on LF. Obviously, I still have a long way to go! But it has been a lot of fun so far, and I've also enjoyed learning about a lot of the pre-war stars that I knew very little about.

With the explosion in prices during recent times for HOF rookie cards, I’m very surprised to have not heard anyone mention a HOF rookie card collection or a spin-off of the same, earliest card of each HOF’er. This can or can not include the previously discussed managers, executives, umpires and Negro Leaguers.

I do believe Derek mentioned his... although, I know you're well aware of Derek's amazing collection! I would say, the majority of my more recent acquisitions COULD be counted as "rookies." But when I began this project, I wanted to include my childhood cards, of which most were simply career-contemporary. Also, there's the added expense, as you know! But if the price is not too prohibitive, I will generally opt for the earliest card I can find.

I collect the HOF...The International Boxing Hall of Fame. Not an easy collection to complete as the earliest fighters in the HOF predate the actual creation of cards by about 100 years. I too try for career-issued items over items issued in tribute or ATG type sets. My earliest career-contemporary piece is this one:

https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...a%20Curtis.jpg

A copper plate etching from 1824 of HOFer Dick Curtis. Looks pretty good for nearly 200 years old.

And from the Class of 2021:

https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...ers%20Ward.jpg

i am roughly 6-10 fighters away from completion (depends on whether you count female inductees and inductees who were fighters but inducted as referees, trainers or other categories). I suspect some will never be found as cards and I will have to go with a photo.

Thanks Ken! Much appreciated. I tried clicking into your site and only found two cards...one of which is the ridiculously overpriced (but necessary for those HOF completionists) card of John Schuerholz. I'd love to see the others in your collection!

Try it now, Derek. Should be every HOFer, in order of induction. Four pages, total.

Isn't it odd that the only woman in the Hall is named Manley?


As to the Op's question: I have recently, cashed out of my vintage cards- almost entirely (easy there Howard) - and have concentrated on Autographed Cards of HOFers. Though hardly any of them were while they were active players, a vast majority of them are third-party certified (for what that's worth) and I'm almost certain they were all signed while the player was still living. LOL

Just thought I'd add a couple of images to this thread of two of the more difficult subjects if you want career contemporary cards of HOFers are including management and Negro Leaguers. I 'm hoping it inspires more posts of rare HOFers....Here is the very formidable looking Cuban great Christobal Torriente and the longtime owner of the Pirates who is often given credit for the first modern world series in 1903.*

* They had something like it in the 1880's between the American Association and National League champs starting in 1884, but it never really captured the public's imagination way the American League vs. National League fall classic did in the early 20th century.

That's fun, Brian.

https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...0Aaron%201.jpg
https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...0Aaron%202.jpg

This is a 1982 Korean card of Hank Aaron from a tour he did over there with the Korean pro league. I know it is kind of a flip of the call (a rare card of an easily collected HOFer) but as an Aaron collector I was really happy to pick it up recently and thought I'd use the excuse to show it off.

Working on HOFers as well. My order of preference for choosing a card for each HOFer, which I stray from as much as abide by, is:

1) rookies if well defined as such and clearly a card
2) if the rookie is too rare or expensive, the earliest contemporary card I can afford.
3) a card from a mainstream and popular set (t206, Goudey)
4) non-contemporary cards if there aren’t any contemporary ones
5) for managers and executives who played, the earliest card I can reasonably find and afford from the years corresponding to the reason they were elected.

So for example I just bought a 1914 CJ Comiskey (from Misunderestimated—can’t wait to get it, Brian) even though Comiskey has several earlier cards. It corresponds to the reason he was elected and is from a mainstream and popular set, so it’s the one for me.

Also working on a Hall of Fame project myself. I categorize my targets as "playing/involvement days", as obviously there are umpires, managers, executives, etc. I'm at 235/333, but did sell ~50 Hall of Famers last year due to financial reasons. Such a fun project that is best tackled with the mindset of it being a lifetime project.

Here is a link to my spreadsheet...
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...pwY/edit#gid=0

Add me to the list of HOF collectors.

I'm up to about 150, so I've got a ways to go.

I'm slowly chipping away at it. Up to 140 and counting.

I am 1 card away
 

Only need Bid McPhee to complete my HOF run. All players, execs, negro leaguers, and managers

With respect to players/managers who have period "cards," I need Candy Cummings, Frank Grant, Pete Hill, Willie Foster, Frank Selee, and Al Spalding. I have period photos or RPPC's of all of them except Cummings and Selee. For Spalding, I have Baseball Currency. I also have period photos or RPPCs for all Negro Leaguers except Stearnes, Suttles, Cum Posey and Sol White (I traded my photo of White with the Bellaire Globes in my deal for the TG Charleston -- traded photo attached). For executives, I need Chadwick, Cartwright and Schuerholz. I don't do post-period cards for my HOF collection.

Kenny, love that Bellaire Globes cabinet photo of Sol! But I also understand the trade for that rare TG Charleston. I was fortunate enough to pickup this 1911 Lincoln Giants RPPC with White, Lloyd, & Santop last year. Such a great hobby!

Hi... I started my playing days HOF collection back in 1994 with my son. I currently stand at 232 players and always look forward to adding to my collection when new HOFers are announced in January. I chose the cards based on likeability and affordability at a time when I was sole provider for my family of seven as the wife felt that food was more important than cards. I have no Negro League players and no umpires or executives however I did purchase Cracker Jack cards of Connie Mack, Rickey and Comiskey years ago. Another project that I started about 10 years ago was to acquire one new age card of each HOF player. I have autograph cards, game used material cards and love the new Helmar cards offered on eBay each week. I have 232 of these cards as well. Good luck with your project and we should all aspire to have a HOF collection like Ken Wirt... which is fantastic.