Ongoing HOF project

[bravesfan#1]

Hello all, I'm new to this forum but have frequented other forums over the past few years. I have mostly collected modern baseball cards since I first started collecting, but I recently just got into vintage cards.

Over the past few months, I have started working on a new project that I think will take me awhile to complete - a rookie card of every member of the baseball HOF (well, as close to a RC as I can afford). There are many tobacco cards and the '52 Mantle that I will never afford, so for those I will just try to find a card as close to their rookie as possible. The key to this project is that I am looking for low grade copies of the 30's-60's rookies and then better looking copies for the newer stuff. As the years go by, I will hopefully upgrade some of the low grade items as my budget increases. I resale modern stuff pretty heavily, so this is definitely a step in a different direction for me so I will hopefully gain some very important hobby knowledge on this forum.

I am up to 40 total cards as of 8/17/2017. I will use this thread to track my progress for those interested. Below are some key additions I have had recently. If anybody can point me in the direction of low-grade copies of cards I need, please send me a PM!

Picked up this Koufax rookie last weekend for $155. Not the greatest of shape, but I am going to send it in my next PSA sub just to have it in a slab.


Picked up this Gibson rookie for $40 at my local card shop.


Killebrew rookie picked up for $30


McCovey rookie


Winfield rookie


Mazeroski rookie - picked this up for $10 at my local card shop


Ozzie rookie


Carlton rookie


Morgan rookie


Yount rookie (miscut but got it tossed into a deal for free so I'll take it!)


Picked this up on eBay for around $10 if I remember correctly. The seller misspelled his name.

[Topnotchsy]

Really cool project!

With some of the earlier players, defining what a rookie card is can be an interesting challenge.

The 1925 Exhibits Lou Gehrig has recently exploded in value as people view it as his rookie card.

There are other Exhibits from 1921 on that would similarly be rookie cards from some very big names, and are still not too expensive.

Good luck!

[mechanicalman]

Great centering on those cards. Nice buys.

[jbl79]

Welcome to the forum! Great cards. Love the centering on that Koufax especially!

[bravesfan#1]

Originally Posted by Topnotchsy

Really cool project!

With some of the earlier players, defining what a rookie card is can be an interesting challenge.

The 1925 Exhibits Lou Gehrig has recently exploded in value as people view it as his rookie card.

There are other Exhibits from 1921 on that would similarly be rookie cards from some very big names, and are still not too expensive.

Good luck!

I'll have to keep an eye out for the Exhibit cards when I see them, thanks for the info!

[bravesfan#1]

Some more scans since I'm limited to 18 images per post.

Not Ruth's rookie, but this will be the one I keep for this project for now. Got a good deal on it for $80 as well.

[bcbgcbrcb]

Your journey is one that I pursued for nearly 10 years from 2004 to 2014, definitely a lot of fun times. You might want to check out the OldCardboard website, there is a hyperlink on there for Hall of Fame Rookie Cards, which gives you the earliest five cards for each HOF'er. There should be something in there for just about anyone's budget.

Best of luck with the hunt.

Phil

[bravesfan#1]

Originally Posted by bcbgcbrcb

Your journey is one that I pursued for nearly 10 years from 2004 to 2014, definitely a lot of fun times. You might want to check out the OldCardboard website, there is a hyperlink on there for Hall of Fame Rookie Cards, which gives you the earliest five cards for each HOF'er. There should be something in there for just about anyone's budget.

Best of luck with the hunt.

Phil

Woah, now that tidbit of info is why I joined this site! Thank you for pointing out OldCardBoard, I'm browsing the link you just mentioned!

[darwinbulldog]

Check this out too: http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=141603

[71buc]

Good luck with your quest. I did the same thing for a long time. I abandoned it because although a number of the rookie cards are very attractive Clemente, Koufax, Killebrew, Kaline, Gibson, Banks, Aaron etc are beautiful cards many others are boring or unattractive. Although I own copies of the Rose, Stargell, Jackson, Ryan, Carlton, Sutton, Morgan and Bench serve as examples of this. In the end I decided that I wanted attractive copies of cards depicting members of the HOF. Due to this I added a T206 Mathewson Dark Cap, T205 Baker, 1955 Ted Williams, a 1956 Mantle, 1956 Robinson, 1952 Doby etc. I just find the aesthetic beauty of the card more appealing than the year it was produced.

[clydepepper]

Originally Posted by bravesfan#1

Woah, now that tidbit of info is why I joined this site! Thank you for pointing out OldCardBoard, I'm browsing the link you just mentioned!

You may as well tell us your name too.

I wish everyone would add their name to their avatar so we could converse more effectively...or, at least, more traditionally.

-Raymond

[h2oya311]

Good luck on your quest! You might say I have a slight infatuation with HOF rookie cards as well...take a look at my imageevent site. I generally prefer the esoteric issues over the mainstream Topps/Bowman/Goudey/T206 issues.

Welcome aboard the board! Always happy to chat "rookie" card stuff with other Net54 members!

[Leon]

Welcome to the forum,
I started out going for Rookie HOFer's when I got back into collecting, as an adult, 20 yrs ago. I wish I would have kept those cards. Type card collecting has been a ton of fun but I still like some of those cards from back then...

[bravesfan#1]

I appreciate everyone's kind words so far. I have three new additions to share.

First is a Marichal SGC authentic rookie that I picked up for $20. This looks to be in amazing shape, but is it safe to assume that this is trimmed/altered if in an authentic holder? I would prefer not to bust it out just because I like the case.


Then a Rice rookie that a net54 member sent me for free to help with my quest


And then I picked up this Greenberg at my last show for $20. Not a rookie - but this counts for me since his stuff is fairly expensive.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by bravesfan#1

I appreciate everyone's kind words so far. I have three new additions to share.

First is a Marichal SGC authentic rookie that I picked up for $20. This looks to be in amazing shape, but is it safe to assume that this is trimmed/altered if in an authentic holder? I would prefer not to bust it out just because I like the case.


Then a Rice rookie that a net54 member sent me for free to help with my quest


And then I picked up this Greenberg at my last show for $20. Not a rookie - but this counts for me since his stuff is fairly expensive.

Nice cards and yes, Marichal looks like he has a wavy left border and is trimmed. Just wait till you really start seeing and dealing with the old pre-war stuff. After discovering the OldCardboard site it is all downhill.