Baseball Hall of Fame Rookie Cards Discussion

[steve B]

Originally Posted by Shankweather

I know Beckett had a major influence on those things, but it was all for the good in my opinion. And it's not all that complicated. First card in a widely distributed MLB set. That generally guarantees it's a card that collectors can actually find. It would be less good if Jackie Robinson's rookie card was the '47 Dodgers team issue or Bond Bread. It's better for collectors that his rookie cards are Bowman and Leaf.

Post-war collectors are heavily influenced by Beckett, no doubt. Pre-war collectors are heavily influenced by Burdick. All this is largely for the good. But just because something is "in the catalog" doesn't mean we have to bow to that. Receiving the designation W600 doesn't, in my mind, bestow baseball card status upon a 5x7 portrait one received in the mail.

EDIT: And expense isn't the issue. It's being able to find the card. If cards are virtually non-existent, why bother making a rookie card list at all.

That's the major difference.
To me it's all about what came first. That some early stuff is extremely uncommon doesn't affect what was first. Beckett took an approach more like yours. I have always believed that it was done mostly to benefit dealers and keep collectors in the mainstream.

That "we" as a hobby can get the date wrong on something as recent as 49 Leaf when it's both fairly clear and there are people still around who bought the cards new (Hi Ted!) says a lot about how few collectors even consider what isn't "in the book" having firsthand knowledge should make it easy. But it's not.

What defines a "major set"? 48 Bowman is only 48 cards, and probably shouldn't count, but it does. Probably because of its place as pretty much the first postwar set from a gum company. Many of the 1800s cards were part of sets that were 50 cards, but only a handful of baseball players.

The "what's a card discussion" is a totally different topic, one that's got so many twists and turns because almost no matter what definition you use there's an exception. As well as cards that were issued in multiple ways, usually both as cards in packs and a complete set. I see a LOT of room for interpretation there. To the point that if someone wants to claim stuff like mail in premiums are not cards I can see the logic to it. The sportscasters were issued as "sets" by subscription. making them essentially monthly publications. The Spot Bilt Brett supposedly came with shoes, but it a one card "set" So many variations of that...