He may be a HOF star but his cards don't sell like one...
 

My top 5:

1. McCovey
2. Frank Robinson
3. Whitey Ford
4. Fred Clark

5. Monte Irvin

Billy Williams
Tony Perez
Gaylord Perry
Fergie Jenkins

Jim Rice

Hoyt Wilhelm

Kirby Puckett

Of the names mentioned so far, I believe that Frank Robinson is far and away the best player and I believe the best bargain as well.

I agree with Phil. They were all great players, but Frank Robinson put up incredible numbers. I am not old enough to remember him playing, but I read somewhere that he was a bit surly and curt during interviews. I assume that is why his career—and thereby his cards—is so criminally underrated? No matter, I proudly began a Frank(ie) Robinson postcard/oddball collection a couple months back and as long as prices stay down, I can build it up on the cheap.

Agree with Robinson, as the biggest under-appreciated star. Based on his statistics, 2 MVP's, the Triple Crown, he should probably be up there with Mantle, Mays, Aaron and Clemente.

He played in smaller markets and just seems to lack that flashy "WoW" factor.

Of the bigger stars, I've gotta mention Jimmie Foxx also. What a statistical monster this guy was. He put up Lou Gehrig type numbers without the lineup protection Lou had. I've always thought his cards were incredibly reasonable compared to many others.

Ralph Kiner. If he would have been a Yankee then they would sell for 10x what they do now. Led the NL in homers his first 7 years.

I agree with some of the names mentioned, but I didn't see Don Sutton...his cards, including his RC can be had at incredibly low prices.

Don Sutton
 

I agree with some of the names mentioned, but I didn't see Don Sutton...his cards, including his RC can be had at incredibly low prices.
--Who's Don Sutton :)

You can throw in the whole crop of relief pitchers who have been elected in the last decade. Fingers, Sutter, Gossage, Eckersley....outside of their rookie cards the rest of cards will continue to sell as commons.

I think without question that Frank Robinson is the most underrated and undervalued player in the HOF.

Just about any HOF player who started his career after 1960 and didn't play
in New York can be had quite inexpensively, including rookies, with the exception of perhaps some who are in a Topps high number series.

All-time most underrated HOfer whose cards sell for "common" HOF price but shouldn't is Eddie Collins-nobody is even close. He is every bit the player of any of the "star" HOFers of the era like Speaker, Lajoie, Sisler, and even arguably Wagner. The guy is the only one of the early HOFers who seems to get no respect as it relates to card sales--never really understood why to be honest with you. Years ago Sisler was the same way but his stuff has seen a huge increase in both price and popularity over the past 10 years or so.
-Rhett

Honorable mention goes to Paul Waner--he was way better than his little brother but rarely sells for any more than your average HOFer. Collins still gets my vote though because he played more time in the dead-ball era.

Hoyt Wilhelm! I bought a 1968 Topps Hoyt Wilhelm PSA 10 Gem Mint on Ebay for $135!! I saw a Mazeroski same year, same grade selling for 2 grand!

a few more
 

Johnny Mize (maybe the most unappreciated HOFer ever - he's treated like someone who doesn't belong, even though until the mid-'90s he was in the top 10 in slugging all-time).
Bob Lemon
Red Schoendienst
Jim Bunning
Luis Aparicio
Lou Boudreau

BTW, Whitey Ford sells quite well on the sets I follow.

Add Phil Niekro to the 70's/80's era

So many names come to mind..hmmm I wanna throw one out there that has not been mentioned:

I would say Bob Feller

He missed almost 4 complete seasons! He still had 266 wins (should have had 300+ if not deployed)

struck out 2,581 batters,

won 62 percent of his decisions,

pitched three no-hitters,

12 one-hitters

44 shutouts and won a pitchers` Triple Crown (lead the league in wins, strikeouts, and Earned Run Average).

He led the league in victories six times and strikeouts seven times.

First ballot Hall of Famer with over 93% of the votes.


Hope this makes a valid case. His cards can be had for fairly cheap. He did sign a lot and his vintage stuff doesn't go for too too much.

Totally agree!

I would also add Juan Marichal to the list.

Brooks Robinson

Lot of great ones mentioned so far. I would add:

Eddie Mathews
Robin Roberts
Richie Ashburn

I would agree with Robinson as well. I would also say that Roy Campanella seems to sell well below others of the era. The man won 3 MVP awards and is arguably one of the best catchers of all time, if not THE best. I really wonder what he could have done had he not spent 8 years in the Negro Leagues.

Yeah it's gotta be Frank. I saw an ungraded card that looked like a 5-6 go for 40 bucks. There was recently a PSA 6 that went for $125.

I'd go with Frank Robinson as well. I'm an O's fan and have considered a Frank collection since the prices don't really look that bad on his cards.

profholt82 - I've been collecting Brooks stuff for a while and while his regular issue cards are still reasonable under a PSA8 or so, but most of the harder to find items are relatively high (wish they would be underpriced!)