Completing a HOF collection

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Posted By: Paul Carek

Hi, all.

I recently got back into the hobby, and have decided to try and acquire at least one card of every Hall of Famer. Not that I'm anywhere close to reaching this goal, but for those of you who are -- or who have actually done it -- I have a question. Namely, what do you do for HOF members for whom cards were never issued during their "playing days?" I'm talking, of course, about guys like Alexander Cartwright and the early pioneers.

Just curious. Thanks for any input you can offer.

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

You can go with photographs or postcards. That's what a lot of Hall of Fame collectors are doing.

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Posted By: Matt

Or you can just skip them and say you are collecting 1 card from every HOF that had a card issued.

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Posted By: barrysloate

There are photographs of Cartwright from various stages of his life, but they are rare and don't come up for sale too often. Other early pioneers, such as Al Spalding, Henry Chadwick, Candy Cummings, and George Wright can also be very difficult.

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Posted By: Frank Wakefield

I started the same thing... but sold 3 N172 HOFers so that took a permanent step backwards.

Callahan Hall of Fame cards will give you a shot at folks who don't have a card, or whose card is very difficult to obtain.

The National Baseball Museum will mail you a box with all of the post cards of HOF memeber plaques. I'd guess that is about $45 or $50 now...

I did not like the look of them, so steered clear of 'em, but some folks like the Perez-Steele cards that depict HOFers.

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Posted By: Frank Evanov

I limit my collection to cards issued while the individual was active in baseball. As a result, there are some people not in my set. Good luck to you!

Frank

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Posted By: John S

Paul,

I have been working on a Pro football HOF collection for twenty years. Many members do not have a card but I have managed through press and wire photos, program covers, and other misc. pieces to narrow my list to twelve members. All items in my collection were issued/produced when the member was active. It can be done but for baseball could be quite expensive.

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Posted By: Phil Garry

Paul:

As you will soon find out, your task will prove to be a lot of fun and challenging but will also have its share of frustration as you will lose out in some auctions where you may not have another opportunity to obtain a card of a "really tough-to-find" HOF'er. This is especially true if you are working on a budget and don't have unlimited funds to purcahse any card that you want.

My task is that much more difficult in that I collect the earliest possible issue of each HOF'er. Until this past week, I was only collecting career contemporary cards of each HOF'er but have just decided to expand my collection to every HOF'er and simply look to purchase their earliest issue, even if it was produced years after the individual was out of baseball. To make it a little bit more challenging, I have also added Ford Frick and Taylor Spink award winners to my collecting efforts.

GOOD LUCK AND HAVE FUN!!!

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Posted By: Jim VB

Although none of the HOF postcards are dated to their playing days, there are some that are 50+ years old. Albertype postcards were printed from 1944-45 (Type 1) and 1945-52 (Type 2). The only difference is whether the bottom line on the front says "N.Y." (Type 1) or is spelled out "New York" (Type 2).

This is a poor condition Cartwright (Type 2).

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Posted By: barrysloate

Jim- it's been a long time since I read Cartwright's HOF plaque, and I have to say I'm not certain he did all the things he is credited for. There may be a bit of mythmaking at play here- not on the magnitude of the Doubleday debacle- but establishing 9 innings and 90 foot basepaths may have been more a joint than an individual effort. Fact is, we just don't know.

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Posted By: Ken Wirt

Paul,

Below are a couple of websites that are helpful in determining which HOFers have cards or not. All the major league players, managers, and umpires do, but with some of the pioneers and executives, you have to be a bit unconventional. I have found several postcards with the men in suits on them but you just have to be patient and diligent. For the early pioneers, you pretty much have to go with CDV's and Studio cabinets. Some don't consider those "cards" but they are way cool and are some of my favorite items - as well as most expensive.

http://members.aol.com/metsbwd/hofers.html

Finally, there are the Negro Leaguers! Below is another link to a board member's website, which spells out what's possible. Again, sometimes a rare, previously unknown postcard or team card will show up, but its hit and miss on when. About half of the players can be found on Cuban, Mexican, or South American issues, but they're all gonna cost you.

http://cubanbaseballcards.com/

As someone said above, the 1950's Callahan set is good for HOFer's that are impossible or too pricey. For the Negro Leaguers, the 1974 and 1978 Laughlin sets are probably the earliest tribute cards and are cheap and readily available. Good luck and enjoy the challenge!

Ken

My HOF set: http://s155.photobucket.com/albums/s290/triwak/


edited to fix links

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Posted By: Mark Tylicki

Hi Paul-

A 1968 Topps Joe Morgan got me started on a HOF collection around fifteen years ago. I liked the mugshot. I didn't know a lick about anything issued prior to 1991 really. But, as I walked around card shows/visited shops, I recorded my favorite portrait card for each member...

1909-11 T206 Ty Cobb
1956 Topps Ted Williams
1957 Topps Yogi Berra
1965 Topps Roberto Clemente

As the list grew, I started dabbling with vintage. And, I learned more and more about card collecting and each player's career. Eventually I researched the gaps and tried to find portrait cards for some of the tougher Baseball Hall of Fame members - including executives and umpires. I realized some didn't have contemporary issues or they were very expensive/rare. I settled on owning tribute cards - Perez-Steele, Callahans, etc.

A few years ago, I reached near completion for Phase 1. I had nearly every HOFer represented by some card - contemporary or tribute - in a portrait form. So, I decided to kick off Phase 2. I had several T205s, T206s, 1953 Topps, and 1933 Goudeys. I guess these were my favorite issues so I had picked cards from these sets for many of the HOFers. I decided to swap them out for new type cards. I had no more than 75-100 different issues represented at that time.

I shifted cards around to maximize the number of types represented while keeping the portrait theme. So, the 1962 Topps Duke Snider became a 1960 Leaf Duke Snider....decided Aparicio was better for 1960 Leaf (Big Head), and purchased a 1953 Bowman Color Duke Snider instead. I had a 1961 Topps Rizzuto MVP, a 1961 Topps Nellie Fox, and a 1961 Topps Musial. They became a 1949 Bowman Rizzuto, a 1953 Wilson Franks Fox, and a 1948 Bowman Musial. Since, I bought the Musial, my 1948 Bowman Mize became a 1947 Bond Bread. Anyway you get the point... today - I have 230 different issues represented in the collection (106 of which are pre war).

As you can see in this thread, there's a lot of different approaches to collecting the HOFers - contemporary and/or tributes, action poses, Rookie Cards, portraits, etc. They'll all keep you very busy and offer lots of fun. You'll learn about history, paper, people, marketing. Good Luck!

Kind Regards,
Mark

------------------------------
MY COLLECTION: http://www.rustywilly.com/MYCOLLECTION.htm

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Posted By: Phil Garry

For those of you who may be interested, I have just discovered a card of Effa Manley. She appears in a Negro League Playing Card set issued in 1996 and listed in the 2008 Standard Catalogue of Baseball Cards.

However, I see that Ken W. has already added the Manley to his collection. I wish I had Ken's Cartwright Cabinet Card & McGowan Postcard. Great pieces and very, very tough to find!

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Posted By: Ken Wirt

Here's Effa:

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Posted By: Jim VB

Barry,


What??? It's fiction? Next thing you'll be bad mouthing Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy and Abner Doubleday!!!

I think it's important to realize the dates that these plaques were written. Much of their rhetoric is really fiction.

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Posted By: Ken Wirt

Thanks Phil!

Ditto on your Cool Papa Bell and Alex Pompez team PC's. Been meaning to ask where in the heck you came up with those?!

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Posted By: barrysloate

Jim- another error I found was on Harry Wright's plaque. It states Wright took American ballplayers on a World Tour in 1876. Well, the tour was in fact in 1874. If I know that, wouldn't you figure they would too?

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Posted By: Phil Garry

Ken:

I won both the Bell/Smith & Pompez postcards in a cubanbaseballcards.com auction a couple of years ago.

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Posted By: Paul

Here are a few tough ones.

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Posted By: Phil Garry

Paul:

Great stuff!!!

Are there any HOF'ers that you are still looking for?

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Posted By: Hal Lewis

Collecting Hall of Famers?

Who would be so crazy?

If you had surfaced on this site a year or so ago, I could have made your task a lot easier!

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Posted By: barrysloate

Even crazier is collecting Hall of Fame rookie cards!

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Posted By: Derek Granger

I am also working on a HOF Rookie collection...I've found many cards along the way that I don't think other people even know about...but that's half the fun...since the completion is pretty much impossible (esp. given that only one specimen exists for many HOF rookie cards (1904 Allegheny, 1894 Alpha Photo Engraving Baltimore Orioles cards, 1893 Just So, etc.).

Examples of cards that most HOF Rookie collectors have probably never seen before would be the 1909 Lancaster PA Team PC (which includes Stan Coveleski -- even pre-dating his 1915 Zeenut by 6 years) or a 1936 All-Star Game Ticket Stub w/ profiles of Landis, Harridge, and Frick.

Good luck to those of you looking for the earliest of each HOFer...it's a daunting, time-consuming, and extremely costly endeavor! And "new" rookies are discovered all the time...take, for instance, many of the Negro League stars w/ PC's and the like. Oh, and for those that were ogling the McGowan card...wasn't there a 1948-50 Safe-T card issued of him? And has anyone ever seen it?

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Posted By: Jason L

cut off a small sample of your own hair, put it in a ziplock baggie, and label it as having been from any HOFer whose card you are missing.
Works every time.
It's also very cheap, and can fit in a nine-card album page.
And you can't get called on it because DNA testing is prohibitively expensive. Or at least that's what I assure those who challenge me.

no worries.
anytime.
glad to help.

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Posted By: Phil Garry

Derek:

I have seen the Coveleski 1909 postcard come up once or twice for sale but did not pursue it because it pictures him during his minor league days, which I consider a pre-rookie like his zee-nut. I think it is a great item but am trying to resist the temptation of collecting "minor league" cards.

Does the 1936 ticket stub picture Landis and the other two HOF'ers?

I know of the 1948-50 Safe-T-Card McGowan but have never seen one nor the Early Wynn from that set, which is his earliest card as well.

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Posted By: Cat (ret.)

I consider myself a HOF rookie collector, but I do make up my own rules as to how my collection has evolved. Instead of rookies, I have many prookies just because I like the images on some of the prookies (read zeenuts). Also, I don't like e-cards since they are often cartoon-like so if an e-card is his first card I may supplement it with something else. As an example, I have a Cobb greenback T206 rather than an earlier printed e-card.

Also, I personally define rookie cards as the card printed right after his rookie year. If such a card doesn't exist it is less important to me to have the "commonly defined" rookie card if it was printed 2 or 3 years after his rookie year. I may just go with a card I like if there is no card printed within the year after his rookie season.

Here are some cards that will drive you nuts trying to acquire:





There are another 10-12 cards that are tough but do-able.

Also, the Jackson e90-1 (not in the HOF but a must have I guess), Ruth M101-5, and Johnson T204 are not hard to find but will cause some real sticker shock, as will the negro league cards.

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Posted By: Derek Granger

I love the 1936 Ticket Stub...pretty cool item (in my opinion) since most consider the 1956 Topps to be the Harridge rookie and the 1949 Eureka Stamp to be Frick's rookie...I would probably consider the 1929 Men of America Booklet to be the Landis rookie...to each his own...

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Posted By: Phil Garry

Cat:

Great stuff!!!

Here a couple of my rarest HOF RC's..........














Please visit my website to see more: http://www.bbhofrc.com/

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Posted By: Paul

Phil,

Nice Irvin! I'm still looking for Barney Dreyfuss. I guess I'm technically also still looking for Pete Hill. But "looking" isn't exactly the right word, since I know where it is and it's not for sale.

There's a few others I would like to have, but tell myself I don't need. Willie Foster's Mallorquina -- available only in an uncut sheet, so I tell myself it doesn't count. Al Spalding -- has a unique card in the G&B set. He's pictured as an owner. It's unclear to me if he was elected as an owner or a pioneer pitcher, so I tell myself it doesn't count. W600 Burkett -- I'd love it, but have to satisfy myself with his T204. He was a player/manager but in the minors when the T204 was isssued.

I've never gone after players who have only CDVs or studio cabinets. But I sure wouldn't mind having Warren Studio cabinets or CDVs of Spalding and George Wright.

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Posted By: Alan

Speaking of Barney Dreyfuss, WHAT cards, CDVs, etc,... were made of him ?

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Posted By: Bruce Babcock

The odds are high against Locke making the Hall although the Pillsbury Doughboy has launched a grassroots campaign to get the Mascot elected.

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Posted By: Mark Tylicki

still the only one ever graded by PSA or SGC!

1924 Diaz Cigarettes Ted Lyons

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Posted By: Ken Wirt

Guys, just how rare is the Tip Top Bread series, and particularly, Barney Dreyfuss? Since the announcement of his upcoming HOF induction, I have not seen one example come up for sale or auction, anywhere. So far, I've only seen Bruce's beautiful card. (I'm assuming yours is not for sale, Bruce.) Just wondering if this card should even be on my radar. Or is this one pretty much unattainable. Thanks.

Ken

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Posted By: Cat (ret.)

There is a Dreyfuss in the next Goodwin auction. It won't be cheap.

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Posted By: Alan

I've actually seen that Dreyfuss card show up in some of the major auctions (don't recall where though) over the last few years.

Alan

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Posted By: Bruce Babcock

The Tip Top series is very tough in general but still possible. Certainly tougher than T206 or T205. Also tougher than E93 or E95. Maybe comparable in difficulty to E103 or D304. However, the inclusion of four non-player cards, IMO all tougher than the player cards, make the Tip Tops a more difficult set to complete. A single type card example, however, is certainly very possible to obtain.

I would imagine that few kids cared about the Dreyfuss, Locke, mascot and Forbes Field cards, so many of them may have been discarded, while everyone kept their Wagners.

Having said that, we may actually see Dreyfuss being offered up more often than usual as some collectors try to cash in on his new HOF status. Set collectors like me are not likely to part with their Dreyfuss, however.