Stars v. Joe Schlabotnik...

[jchcollins]

Just a topic of curiosity out there for those of you that collect older cards, but aren't necessarily set collectors (like me...):

What are your thoughts on collecting Hall of Famers and stars vs. other - lesser - players and maybe teams? For those of you that don't go for complete sets - do you tend more towards the big names only, or just certain other players / teams / oddballs / moment-related things?

Last time I checked, there were nearly 18,000 players who had set foot on a major league field since the 1870's - and of that number, only slightly more than 300 are in the HOF. 1.6%? Clearly the vast majority of the players who are responsible for the memory of baseball in our collective psyche's are not the Babe Ruth's, Ted Williamses, Willie Mayses, and Joe DiMaggio's. This used to bother me somewhat as a kid as I realized that a lot of my focus at least then - was only on HOFer's. Since then I have become a Cubs fan - which led me to realize that there may lie unlimited joy in collecting scores of cards of players with no chance of ever making the Hall.

This is one of the reasons I enjoy Boyd & Harris's "The Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading, & Bubble Gum Book" (known simply as "The Book" in many circles) so much. Not only are the cards presented shown in believable (not mint) shape, but the focus is largely on players with no chance of ever making the HOF...

So yeah this is kind of broad, but...discuss:




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