N172 HOF Top 10 (new rankings)
 

Per the below mentioned podcast, here's the new top 10 HOF players by scarcity. No big surprises here, but fun stuff

Attachment 578208

I almost want to laugh when I see McPhee at #2 because I've seen SO many McPhee N172s being sold at auction in the past 5-10 years and I wonder just how scarce/rare McPhee is.

I've seen more McPhees than anybody else on that top 10 list for sale, and it's not even close. Definitely believe the others are tough. It would be interesting to see if there's some net entity that tracks N172 OJ sales (like VCP). I bet in the past 5 years alone that McPhee has been one of the more available HOF OJs. But then again, it's just my observation.

I’ve seen far fewer Rusie cards than McPhee.

I don’t know much about the set- is it the player or pose, or both, that makes it rare? For example, is that Delahanty pose rarer than him holding the bat?

Love that Rusie card.

Ryan if you look at the top 10 for example-- all those players in any pose are tough. So to answer your question the ranking you are seeing is player specific..

Delahanty like some others was only printed in 1889-- the last year of production. Less were printed compared to Clarkson for example.. On top of that- yes one particular pose can be tougher than others, but the list is referring to player, not other combos.. Delahanty with the bat horizontal is the toughest pose of his.. Bat on Shoulder is his most common..

No Anson in uniform?

I am delighted and privileged to own even one of those.

This is a top 10 ranking by player, not card. Deacon White is the most difficult HOF player overall. Anson has two poses and ranks #8

It would be interesting to see a top 10 most rare HOF by pose (not year or team change bc then you get into PL ect)...just poses.

I'd imagine these would have to be up there:

Deacon White Portrait (McGreachery)
Cap Anson in Uniform
Roger Connor Bat Resting on Left Shoulder
Delahanty Bat Horizontal
Harry Wright Looking Left

Maybe throw in a few of the tougher Deacon White poses...

Any others I'm missing?

Delahanty Bat Horizontal

Apparently I have the ultra rare DelEhanty (double E) version!!

I think Brian has most of the right poses with the exception of Delahanty --bat horizontal which I don't think belongs on the list:

1-Connor bat on L/shoulder--2
2- McGreachery (Deacon White portrait)-2
3- Hamilton-Philadelphia (His true rookie)-3
4-Wright looking L-3
5- One of the McPhee batting poses-3
6- Anson in Uniform-4/5

A few of the other White poses might make the list but I don't have a good enough feel for their pops. Joe might be able to hazard a better guess.

Jay: Is it McCreachery (per book) or McGreachery ?

I think it is McGreachery. If you look at the card (see REA archives) compare the letter in question to the G in Goodwin and the C in Company at the bottom of the card. It sure looks like the G to me, although they are very similar.

Jay-

The Wright looking left has 5 different graded sales on VCP (1 could be a reslab I suppose) where Delahanty only has 1 (GAI 1).

How many different Delahanty Bat Horizontals have you come across over the years? You've definitely seen more than me but I was only able to find the 1 public sale.

Also, I was asking about the top 10 poses specifically and not including team changes (ie Hamilton to PHI or any PL).

LOL, I guess that I answered a different question. My guess is that that VCP does not have the correct information. Do they have images of five different copies? I am a only aware of three copies of the rare Wright pose and two of those are not graded. I have owned a few copies of the Delahanty horizontal bat pose over the years and I know of a few others in other collections. If I had to guess, and it would be a guess, I would say there are about 5-10 around.
While it may not interest you, the fact that I know of only three copies of Hamilton-Philadelphia makes that card significant to me. A HOF rookie with only three copies is a major card, especially for a player like Hamilton.

It's interesting for sure. I was just looking for poses. I'm sure there are folks out there that care more about "Rookie" cards than me. I'd personally rather have an earlier image on a non-ML team.

BTW did some more sleuthing and found 6 different graded Harry Wright (Looking Left). With the raw ones you've referenced I'm wondering if this image is more common than originally thought (I believe it was even in the key rarities section in the OJ Bible)

That is not the rare pose. Look at the Old Judge book

This is the rare pose grasshopper

Hey Jay - Why would this be considered his rookie card and not his earlier cards that picture him with the Kansas Citys?

DOH!!

You're right Jay my bad. We're up at our cabin for the week so I'm OJ Bibleless.

Kevin- I'm guessing he's going to say it's bc KC wasn't considered a ML team. I guess same would apply to Nichols Omaha vs when he finally showed up in Boston in 1890.

KC was in the American Association in 1888 and 1889, which has always been considered a Major League team AFAIK. Between 1884 and 1890, the Champions from the American Association would play against the Champions of the National League in an early version of the World Series.

Omaha was a Minor League team that was part of the Western Association.

Interesting point Kevin. I've always considered a rookie card to be the first NL or AL card, but if it is any major league then I guess the KC cards would count.

Let me just say that as someone who has only begun to dabble in Old Judge’s (thanks again for that Tip O’Neill, Jay), just observing this conversation is invaluable to me. Love learning from the experts on this site.

Does anybody have access to VCP to check how many of each HOFers have been sold in the past 5 years?