Baseball Hall of Fame Rookie Cards Discussion

[brianp-beme]

Originally Posted by steve B

Nevermind a card not picturing a player in a major league uniform, that 92 Rivera doesn't even show him in any uniform. when I first saw cards from that set, I was thinking it's nice they included the groundskeepers.

I always thought the Baseball Hall of Fame should have a separate wing devoted to best groundskeepers of all time.

Brian

[bcbgcbrcb]

Here is a link to the Rookie Card list:

https://www.net54baseball.com/showth...s+hall+of+fame


Here is a link to the Earliest Collectible list:

https://www.net54baseball.com/showth...llectibles+hof

[Rhotchkiss]

Phil. These are great. Thanks for creating and posting

[Shankweather]

Originally Posted by bcbgcbrcb

Here is a link to the Rookie Card list:

https://www.net54baseball.com/showth...s+hall+of+fame


Here is a link to the Earliest Collectible list:

https://www.net54baseball.com/showth...llectibles+hof

This is awesome work Phil. I see in it a dozen ways you and I disagree on identifying rookie cards, even post-war (Jackie Robinson?), but your methodology is consistent and has a lot of support in the pre-war community. Post-war collectors will think you're nuts, but that's ok. Part of the fun of my 1882-2023 collection is I get to butt heads with all of the above.

[bcbgcbrcb]

Jay:

The Cameo Pepsin Selee isn’t on the rookie card list simply because it’s not a card. It’s also not the earliest collectible of any kind (1887 Oshkosh team cabinet) in order to appear on the other list. However, if you eliminate team images, the Cameo might very well be his rookie from an individual standpoint. I never pursued that to be sure but off the top of my head, I can’t think of anything else that pictured him individually between 1887 and 1897.

Oops, meant to say Whitehead & Hoag Selee, not Cameo Pepsin.

[h2oya311]

I’ll throw my hat in the ring. It’s far from complete (from a shared images perspective), but the “checklist” I have for each baseball HOFer is about as good as it gets. I doubt there’s much I’ve missed over the years. Half the fun has been finding and discovering new items to add.

Anyway, I started with Phil’s amazing research and have added about two decades worth of additional research and perusing AHs and eBay listings that would put most people to shame. The website is my attempt to give any type of “rookie” collector something that speaks to them that could be construed as a “rookie” and meet at least one definition. If you have a spare couple of minutes/hours, enjoy my website and let me know if you have any proposed edits (or images I don’t already have). You might find some stuff you never knew existed:

https://imageevent.com/derekgranger/hofearliest

I probably need another 6 months or so to “finish” the project. I’ve supplied early images for about 1/3 of the 342 members of the Cooperstown HOFers. Some players will have upwards of 20+ images devoted to that player - like Cobb:

https://imageevent.com/derekgranger/hofearliest/tycobb

And Jay, fear not! Your amazing Cameo Pepsin “On Time Starch” Pin of Sellee will be the featured collectible for him since I prefer the earliest individual item for each HOFer for my personal collection. If you ever…

Happy collecting!

[bcbgcbrcb]

Amazing stuff, Derek. I just looked at a few scattered listings, you have done such a comprehensive job between images and identifications. Once complete, this will be a monumental accomplishment (as if it isn’t already).

Keep up the great work!

[Baseball Rarities]

Phil and Derek - Awesome work. I only follow a few players and know how difficult it is to come up with this information. I cannot imagine how much work it is to thoroughly cover so many!

[Shankweather]

Originally Posted by h2oya311

I’ll throw my hat in the ring. It’s far from complete (from a shared images perspective), but the “checklist” I have for each baseball HOFer is about as good as it gets. I doubt there’s much I’ve missed over the years. Half the fun has been finding and discovering new items to add.

Anyway, I started with Phil’s amazing research and have added about two decades worth of additional research and perusing AHs and eBay listings that would put most people to shame. The website is my attempt to give any type of “rookie” collector something that speaks to them that could be construed as a “rookie” and meet at least one definition. If you have a spare couple of minutes/hours, enjoy my website and let me know if you have any proposed edits (or images I don’t already have). You might find some stuff you never knew existed:

https://imageevent.com/derekgranger/hofearliest

I probably need another 6 months or so to “finish” the project. I’ve supplied early images for about 1/3 of the 342 members of the Cooperstown HOFers. Some players will have upwards of 20+ images devoted to that player - like Cobb:

https://imageevent.com/derekgranger/hofearliest/tycobb

And Jay, fear not! Your amazing Cameo Pepsin “On Time Starch” Pin of Sellee will be the featured collectible for him since I prefer the earliest individual item for each HOFer for my personal collection. If you ever…

Happy collecting!

I've already spent hours on your site Derek, and I did in fact find things I never knew existed. Great resource.

[oldjudge]

Amazing work by Phil and Derek! The hobby owes you both a debt of gratitude.

[Shankweather]

There are a lot of pre-war sets that have multi-year distributions, but people have done a lot of work figuring out what years they actually came out.

Such as:
1886-90 N172 Old Judge
1902-11 W600 Sporting Life
1908-10 E91 American Caramel
1934-36 Batter-Up
1934-36 Diamond Stars

Has any similar work been done for 1909-11 T206? The variations where the team changes are easy to tell which one came out first (Lundgren, Dahlen, Demmitt, etc.). But does anyone know, for example, which Frank Chance came out first: batting, portrait red, or portrait yellow? Or if Piedmont was made in 1909 but Hindu not until 1910, or whatever. I can't imagine there would be any way to tell, but people have studied the heck out of that set so you never know.

[steve B]

Originally Posted by brianp-beme

I always thought the Baseball Hall of Fame should have a separate wing devoted to best groundskeepers of all time.

Brian

It should.
I'm not sure how to calculate WAR for the guy sloping the foul lines depending on if the team bunts a lot or not, or making sure the footing at first is not great when Henderson was playing...

[Svabinsky78]

I am a long the lines of Derek in that I try (in most cases) for the earliest issue (accessibility and cost in consideration) of a player, be it a team issue, a supplement, strip cards (in most cases, still can't get myself to get the Frisch), Exhibits, etc. I am content with my Manush and Duke. I won't be running out to get the Goudey and Bowman "rookies" of these two. I am happy to call these two issues rookies, even though they don't fit the traditional definition of a card.

I am the same way with books. I used to collect first editions and I would always prefer the advanced reading copies/uncorrected proofs as they preceded the "first editions," even though the first editions are more valuable and the ARCs traditionally have been ignored.

[oldjudge]

Phil--why isn't the Selee rookie the 1897 Whitehead and Hoag pin?