Question for Hall of Fame collectors
 

It was clear that the recent announcement of Harold Baines and Lee Smith getting voted into the Hall of Fame that some people were annoyed to now have to add their rookies (or other cards) to their collection, which clearly focuses on HOF players.
How do you all handle upcoming borderline candidates and other candidates with questionable outcomes (PED users, etc.)? Will you try to acquire rookie cards of Curt Schilling, Joe Mauer, Sammy Sosa, Lance Berkman and others before they might be elected? Or do you wait and see what happens?
Obviously, getting a Jeter or Rivera rookie now saves the trouble later, but you might be stuck with Lou Whitaker, Kenny Lofton and other rookies if you try to get ahead of the curve.

most of the borderline guys have RCs that are minimal cost . why not just get a nice raw card of each?

The only thing more annoying than having to buy Baines and Smith for me is that I can't find them in PSA 9 at anything near a good price. LOL. As to your question, two part answer. If the only reason someone isn't in the Hall is PED, at least taking their stats at face value (not looking for a debate), I own them already. Bonds, Clemens, Sosa, Palmeiro. For guys who might make it, I have bought them if I would want to own them anyway (e.g. Schilling), or if it's obvious they will get in (e.g. Jeter) but will wait otherwise.

I bought a couple of Marty Marion RCs when he was a possible guy on the Veteran's Committee, but that's because I didn't want to be priced out as a Georgia Tech collector.
But yes, you could easily plunk down $20 or so for the prospective "correct" RC and just sit on it. Or you could buy 10 of them for $200 and flip them for $50 right after the announcement. Depends on your risk tolerance and storage space.

I think the problem with your theory is that for the most part, the chances a guy makes the Hall are already priced into the cards. The big bump is only going to come for a surprise like Baines.

Mazeroski prepared me for all of this.

Well said.

I probably have several dozen RCs of each of these non hall of famers (Baines, Lee, Morris, Trammell, etc.). And every hall of famer that began from 1988 to about 1995.

They cost me very little to acquire. You can still buy junk wax VERY cheaply to acquire more legitimate HOFers like Bagwell, Biggio, Chipper, etc. I find cards like this weekly at thrift stores, Goodwill, Vintage Stock, Savers, etc.

It's extremely affordable to acquire these cards in quantity.

You can even buy factory sets cheaply to assure that you get the good rookies. Keep the other hall of famers in those sets. Hold 'em for the future. Dump the rest.

So....Nike.