In Theory

[mintacular]

In theory there should be a larger supply of HOFers/stars in existence since these players would've been more likely to be saved than tossed. Is this assumption true and if so, to what extent? Taking out other considerations such as short-prints, etc if you did a count of Ty Cobb v a common there should be a larger supply of Cobbs (albeit demand/availability is a different tale).

[bcbgcbrcb]

Especially true for redemption issues such as W600, where the collector could choose which player they wanted. In these cases, the more obscure players would be countless times rarer than the Wagners, Mattys, Youngs, etc.

[hangman62]

I see your thought process on the subject, but I didnt think guys would say way back.."OK..Im no longer into bb cards...I will throw away or give away everything except my Seavers,and Clementes...I know I didnt save my "favs" or make sure they stayed with me.
I tend to think collectors who stayed with it..saved the complete shoebox

[Brian Van Horn]

Let's not forget the wildcard of mother's cleaning.

[rhettyeakley]

It probably all balances out in the end. While a Cobb may have been "kept" more by people I also suspect Cobb may have been "more handled" by others as they were more likely to keep one in their wallet, pocket, or whatever the case may be thus causing more damage, loss, etc.

When it comes to borderline HOFers and the like there wouldn't be any appreciable difference. Also keep in mind that some HOFers were lesser known than their non-HOfer counterparts back in the day. People like Hal Chase, Larry Doyle, and Mike Donlin were much better known than some that eventually made it into Cooperstown (ie Ray Schalk, Bobby Wallace, etc)

[ctownboy]

hangman,

I don't know about that. Back in the mid 1990's, I bought card collections from two different guys who had collected the cards as young boys. The cards I bought were Topps from 1956 to 1962. The ONLY cards they would NOT sell me were their Mickey Mantle cards.

Both of these guys said the reason they were selling their collections was because the cards had just sat in a closet or attic all of those years and that they needed the money. The funny thing is, the Mantles were the most valuable cards.

So, I think there are more guys out there who, if they had to get rid of their collections way back when, would have begged their parents to be able to keep their favorite player if they had to get rid of the rest of their cards.

David