HOFers/stars with only one RC in the junk era of multiple brands
 

Late 80s and early and mid 90s -- Bowman, Donruss, Fleer, Leaf, Score, Topps, Upper Deck, and maybe others. I can think of two players with only one rookie card -- Schilling and Pedro. Any others?

I will amend my answer as I think Nomar and Todd Helton only have one.

Mariano Rivera.

Edgar Martinez unless you could a glossy version separately. Same with Smoltz.

How about McGriff?

Does Leaf which was then just Canadian Donruss count as a second brand? Dunno.

Beltran but don't get me started.

Is 92 Bowman the only Trevor Hoffman?

Not in the same time period but does Miggy have another true rookie other than the Topps traded and chrome version of it?

Well, there is this, but probably technically an insert.

Carlos Delgado and Paul Konerko

Andy Pettitte.

Yes, forgot both of them are only in that set. Best set for reliever rookies

I consider the 2000 royal rookies a true RC as well, but others may disagree.

As I recall he signed an astonishing number of those, like 5000. And with a legible sig and individually numbered too.

A little earlier then you were asking, but for some reason the 1984 Donruss Joe Carter, is the first one that popped into my head.

I think these are discounted now for being minor league cards (a rule I find silly as so many rookies and 1st Bowmans now are photoshopped into an MLB uniform, inconsistent, and only instituted fairly recently), but this was a great era for minor league photo sets and autographs. Royal Rookies, Signature Rookies, Just Minors all produced fun sets in this vein. Large print runs, decent photos, and tons of authentic rookie signatures that nobody wants because they aren't name brands and so are available for much cheaper. I'm building the 1999 Just autographed set and picked up a lot of the other similar cards lately.

They should have photoshopped this one. One of the worst major RCs ever.

When I think terrible and ugly rookies, these jump to mind:


Joe Jackson

Warren Spahn's 1948 Bowman (I would not call it a rookie, but everyone else does). Like the set, but what a horrible photo choice.

Pete Rose, Willie Stargell, and the other floating heads of 62 and 63.

Reggie Jackson's 1969 Milton Bradley

Mariano Rivera

Carlos Beltran

It is concerning to the artistic taste of collectors that a number of these are highly revered marquee cards in the hobby

I don't mind the Spahn, agree on the others. The WWG DiMaggio with the deadpan look is bad too IMO although people like it. The Eddie Mathews is not very flattering either.

WWG DiMaggio is a good one.

I will also add Hoyt Wilhelm. I like Wilhelm, I like 1952 Topps, terrible picture choice. I guess I don't like side face shots, and his eyes are closed. His Bowman, Topps and Red Man from 1953 are all nice cards.

If I weren't a HOF RC collector I never would have bought a Wilhelm, agreed it's awful.

I would consider the Just Minors auto cards minor league, but the Royal Rookies are in his Marlins uniform and from the dirt stains on his uni, the exact same at bat as the Topps Update just a frame later. I don’t see a reason not to count it personally but again others may disagree. The Just Minors auto is just an auto on basically a blank card with an outline of a generic player to try to skirt the jersey rules, I would totally consider that a minor league issue.

I didn't look up Cabrera's picture as I'm just saying I like the sets, but most of the Royal Rookies are minor league cards and uniforms (And Cabrera wouldn't reach the majors for several more years, he was 17 and in rookie ball). The Just cards are not blank outlines of generic players? Maybe they did this at some point but I have a ton of their sets and auto cards and they are excellent photographs of the players in unedited uniforms. We must be speaking of 2 different things.

No worries Greg!

The Just card auto looks like this that some (not me) also consider an auto but I would say its xrc. They created no real photo card of Cabrera in 2000 other than this Mystery card I know of.

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/P00AA...ro/s-l1600.jpg

The Royal Rookies is the same at bat as the Topps and comes in auto #0/4950 or unsigned versions. I would consider this an RC due to the pro uni. However, I understand that many do not as other players are in minor unis and the card text could be read as minor referring.

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/tF4AA...ZR/s-l1600.jpg

I don't think the Royal Rookies card counts. It's not a licensed card. As you can see, while it is the same photo as the 2000 Topps Traded, they've been forced to edit out the marlins logo on the batting helmet.

I'm guessing the jersey is obscured just enough that it didn't require editing.

Maybe Kevin Brown, 1987 Donruss. Think it was his only RC.

Going back a little earlier in the three company era, 83TT Strawberry, 84 FU Clemens, 85T McGwire.

84 FU Puckett?

Yeah forgot about that one.

I have a spreadsheet of 1975-1995 rookies, is should be able to filter the single cards out. Let me see what I can do. Many of the bigger ones were mentioned above, but I sure there are a few more.

Here is the list I created for 1981 to 1995, alphabetical by last name:

Appier, Kevin 1989 Fleer Update U-35
Beane, Billy 1986 Donruss 647
Beltran, Carlos (Pictured on another card) 1995 TOPPS TRADED 18T
Brown, Kevin 1987 Donruss 627
Buhner, Jay 1988 DONRUSS 545
Carter, Joe 1984 Donruss 41
Clemens, Roger 1984 FLEER UPDATE U-27
Cone, David 1987 DONRUSS 502
Damon, Johnny 1993 SP FOIL 273
Darling, Ron 1984 DONRUSS (# 30 on back or no #30 in back) 30
Daulton, Darren 1985 FLEER UPDATE U-33
Davis, Chili 1982 Topps (Multi Player Card) 171
Davis, Glenn 1985 Fleer (Multi Player Card) 652
Delgado, Carlos 1992 Bowman 127
DeShields, Delino 1988 O-PEE-CHEE 88
Fernandez, Sid 1984 Donruss 44
Franco, John 1984 FLEER UPDATE U-39
Franco, Julio 1983 DONRUSS 525
Gruber, Kelly 1985 Fleer (Multi Player Card) 645
Hampton, Mike 1992 Bowman 638
Helton, Todd 1993 TOPPS TRADED 19T
Henderson, Dave 1982 Topps (Multi Player Card) 711
Hoffman, Trevor 1992 BOWMAN 11
Kittle, Ron 1983 FLEER 241
Klesko, Ryan 1991 BOWMAN 590
Konerko, Paul 1994 Topps Traded 112T
Lindros, Eric 1990 SCORE ROOKIE TRADED 100T
Lofton, Kenny 1991 BOWMAN 565
Lopez, Javy 1991 Bowman 587
Martinez, Pedro 1991 UPPER DECK FINAL EDITION 2F
Mondesi, Raul 1991 Bowman 593
Pettitte, Andy 1993 Bowman 103
Piazza, Mike 1992 BOWMAN 461
Puckett, Kirby 1984 FLEER UPDATE 93
Rivera, Mariano 1992 BOWMAN 302
Rodriguez, Ivan 1991 BOWMAN 272
Salmon, Tim 1991 Bowman 203
Santiago, Benito 1986 Fleer (Multi Player Card) 644
Schilling, Curt 1989 DONRUSS 635
Sosa, Sammy 1989 DONRUSS BASEBALL'S BEST (Most forget about this card...)
Strawberry, Darryl 1983 TOPPS TRADED 108T
Ward, Duane 1986 Fleer Update U-125
Wells, David 1988 DONRUSS 640
Young, Dimitri 1991 UPPER DECK FINAL EDITION 7F


2nd list of players who have a rookie card with a glossy/tiffany/gold parallel.
1985 TOPPS 401 McGwire, Mark
1985 TOPPS Tiffany 401 McGwire, Mark

1988 Topps 14T Benes, Andy
1988 Topps Traded TIffany 14T Benes, Andy

1992 Topps Traded 39T Garciaparra, Nomar
1992 Topps Traded Gold 39T Garciaparra, Nomar

1991 Topps Traded 45T Giambi, Jason
1991 Topps Traded Tiffany 45T Giambi, Jason

1990 Bowman 192 Lankford, Ray
1990 Bowman Tiffany 192 Lankford, Ray

1988 FLEER 378 Martinez, Edgar
1988 FLEER GLOSSY 378 Martinez, Edgar

1988 TOPPS TRADED 66T Martinez, Tino
1988 TOPPS TRADED Tiffany 66T Martinez, Tino

1987 FLEER (Multi Player Card) 652 Seitzer, Kevin
1987 FLEER (Multi Player Card) Glossy 652 Seitzer, Kevin

1988 FLEER UPDATE U-74 Smoltz, John
1988 FLEER UPDATE GLOSSY U-74 Smoltz, John

1988 TOPPS TRADED 124T Ventura, Robin
1988 TOPPS TRADED Tiffany 124T Ventura, Robin

1988 FLEER 652 Weiss, Walt
1988 FLEER Glossy 652 Weiss, Walt


Or a Donruss/Leaf:
1988 DONRUSS 34 Alomar, Roberto
1988 LEAF 34 Alomar, Roberto

1987 DONRUSS 36 Maddux, Greg
1987 LEAF 36 Maddux, Greg

1986 DONRUSS 28 McGriff, Fred
1986 LEAF 28 McGriff, Fred

Guessing that the anomalous Lindros baseball card can safely be removed from the list, considering how he is overrepresented in his respective sport.

Could be. I just put it on there as an option. Certainly not a baseball star or even player…

Not a complete list by any means. Where are Puckett, Clemens, McGwire, Nomar for example? Edgar? Smoltz?

That was just my initial list. Of only a single card in the early year. I’m adding a 2nd list of players who will include the names you mentioned and more. Too nice outside to compile it all the first time. I will add to my last post.

Edit: Done adding, let me know if I missed any stars/minor stars.