The Baseball Cards Hall of Fame Thread...

[JollyElm]

Granted, I didn't fully explore the other thread and video regarding the baseball card Hall of Fame voting (and am in no way casting aspersions on anyone involved), but I imagine the vast majority of us had the exact same thought, how about a Hall of Fame for the baseball cards themselves, regardless of which player(s) is depicted??

So, here we go. Post pictures (my are screengrabs) of cards you believe to be Hall of Fame worthy based on the images themselves, and tell us your reasoning for each. The players involved could be actual HOF'ers, semi-stars, scrubs or anyone else pictured on a card. Value and other related factors are completely irrelevant (in other words, don't immediately go the tired Mickey Mantle route), and it is the card itself that screams glory (whatever your definition of that is) to you.


I'm sticking to the 1970's with my first entrants...

• 1972 Topps #280 Willie McCovey - the motion blur of his southpaw is absolutely magnificent to me, and this card is a work of art. The colors are beautifully balanced, the growing crowd in the backgound during warm-ups adds a bit of anticipation to the scene, and Stretch's amiable appearance brings it all on home.

• 1973 Topps #35 Willie Davis - for the love of God, is this the best shot Topps had in its image vault??? He is getting plunked by a pitch, for cripes sake!! This card's diversion from established norms just blows me away!! (Side note: take a look at Frank Robinson's 1973 card with his airbrushed Dodgers uniform. It was taken at the same game, from the same vantage point, so perhaps this was the 'best' (or most entertaining?) shot the photog was able to grab of Willie that day?)

• 1976 Topps #300 Johnny Bench - an exquisite, majestic shot of the imperial catcher shrouded in a cloud of dirt, standing on guard with intimidation, just daring the runner to make a break for the plate. And the all star graphic just adds that much more deliciousness to the scenario. Phenomenal!!!

HOF-Vote-Cards.jpg


What does it for you? Post 'em...

[Casey2296]

My vote would be the 51B Mays as the most beautiful card ever produced followed by the 53T Mantle, but that's low hanging fruit so I'll put these four up for nomination.
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I'd also nominate some of the fantastic early 70's cards you came up with for a separate award category.

[smrtn240]

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[JollyElm]

Originally Posted by JollyElm

Post pictures (my are screengrabs) of cards you believe to be Hall of Fame worthy based on the images themselves, and tell us your reasoning for each.

Emphasis added.

[butchie_t]

This is not a card it is an immaculate portrait. I fell in love with it at first sight. I don’t own one yet, but I will one day.

[DeanH3]

This card shows off the mighty Ryan's powerful delivery.



The pose on this card is actually odd, almost seems backwards, but is aesthetically appealing.

[Blackie]

Originally Posted by butchie_t

This is not a card it is an immaculate portrait. I fell in love with it at first sight. I don’t own one yet, but I will one day.

I have to agree..... This is probably the best work of art I have seen on a pasteboard

[carlsonjok]

Originally Posted by JollyElm

• 1976 Topps #300 Johnny Bench - an exquisite, majestic shot of the imperial catcher shrouded in a cloud of dirt, standing on guard with intimidation, just daring the runner to make a break for the plate. And the all star graphic just adds that much more deliciousness to the scenario. Phenomenal!!!

Attachment 460958

I always found the 1976 Bench card to be derivative of earlier work by C. Schulz.



Now if you want a bona fide action shot of a catcher, you can't go wrong with the 1971 Munson card.

[rats60]

1. 1956 Topps Clemente



Great action photo in the background with the colors of the Ebbets Field right field wall. Clemente making one of his routine great catches.

2. 1965 Topps Koufax



Topps best design in my opinion. There are many examples of great photography in this set. My pick is Koufax, the best pitcher of the live ball era, staring down the hitter.

3. Turkey Red Ty Cobb



One prewar card. The Turkey Red set is the most beautiful set of cards ever made. This is such a great image with the colors and background it really pops.

[scotgreb]

With so many from which to choose, here's one a little less mainstream . . .

Hubbell 1933 Sport Kings42 PSA 55.jpg

[G1911]

The 53 Bowman Reese is my favorite image on a post-war card.

I'd nominate this one too for the action shots category, for the strength of the image, hat flying off mid-slide.

The 73 Davis is not a good representation of the player, personally I'd put in the worst of the 70's list. It is different.

[egri]

Can we nominate entire sets? I'd give the nod to the 1935 Diamond Stars and 1949 Leaf sets. The DS's design captures the Art Deco style of the era, and the Leafs look like Andy Warhol designed them.

[mrmopar]

That Bench is an all time great in my mind. So many, but it clearly does stand out as one of the greats. The dust, the all-star badge and the fact that it is future HOFer Bench. Fosse is another catcher with a great card due to an action shot and the A's color scheme is great, but no AS badge and Fosse was no Bench. Too bad the Munson card was just a portrait from the same set.

From 1971 & 1973-1981, the sets were loaded with great action shots before that pretty much became the norm (i left out 72 & 82, both of which had the In Action subsets) and most cards were action in a set. Lots of great shots that made epic cards. Way better than the 60s and 50s images.