Why don't more people collect Baseball Hall of Fame Rookie Cards?

[glchen]

Originally Posted by oldjudge

Phil-you poses the question to begin this thread as to why more people were not collecting HOF rookie cards. Let me ask a different question, one which ties to my prior post:

Why should anyone collect rookie cards instead of collecting one's favorite card of each HOFer (assuming one wants a card of each HOFer--I don't)

I don't collect this set yet (the HOF rookie run), however, it is on my list of the many things that I do want to collect. For me at least, I think, part of the appeal is that this is the first card of the player as a major leaguer, and this is the first step that he is taking to greatness in the major leagues. It's like this is how the person was before he became really famous. You can see the youth and the love for the game before that player truly became a "professional." Also, for most players, collecting the rookie card gives the set consistency. How do you determine the key card for that player when you compare it with your hobby friends? When you tell them that you got the rookie for Cal Ripken, they are much more likely to know what you are talking about, and you can share it w/ them. (Was it the Donruss, Topps, or Fleer version?) Your childhood hobby friends will typically say that's pretty cool, I always wanted one of those. They'll have a decent idea what the card image looks like. If you tell them you got the 1986 one because you liked the image, most of them won't even know what the image looked like even if they did collect cards as kids. This is not to show off. This is because you want to be able to speak a "common language" with the average collector rather than discussing really specific card images that no one cares about but you. Do you want the conversation to continue or just end w/ you? I hope this makes sense.

The prewar aspect is a little different as has already been discussed previously in this thread and others. There's ambiguity of what is the true rookie card, the cost, and the scarcity involved. This is probably a really bad analogy, but to me, it would be like collecting the Cracker Jacks. You can do the 1914, you can do the 1915, or you can do a mixture of both. Therefore, for prewar, for myself, I would probably try to approach it this way. I will take a look at the rookie card for that player. If the card is not obtainable or I like the image of another card (e.g., a key card) much better, I'll get that key card instead of the rookie. However, if I don't really have a big preference, I'll try for the rookie by default. For example, Chick Hafey is not a really important HOFer to me. I think I'll just try to get the rookie. However, for Ty Cobb, there are some key cards (like the CJ's) that I really like, so I think that I would like to get one of those instead of one of his true rookie cards. Same thing with Cy Young, as his rookie is practically unobtainable. I'll fill that slot with a key card with an image that I really like.