[Clydewally]

Hi Bob,

Answers to your questions below. Sorry for the late response. I got caught up watching TV.

You said the goal was to have a HOFer's card from their active playing days, which obviously makes some of the 19th century guys super tough (and real expensive). Anyway, that gave me a few questions I wanted to ask about your HOFer collection then, and what you accept as an apprpriate part of it. Okay, here goes.

1. Just out of curiosity, what 19th century HOFers have you not been able to get a card from their playing days for yet?

There are a bunch of these and mostly because they are so expensive and not because I could not find them. I have generally paid less than $1,000 for my cards (I remember being guilt stricken when I spent $600 on a Honus Wagner CJ in the 90s). So folks like Ed Delehanty have always been too expensive.

2. As a follow-up to Question#1 then, would/do you go ahead and maybe use a card from a later set, after they were done playing, as a placeholder till you can eventually find a contemporary card from their playing days?

No, but if a Hall guy was a coach or manager and had a card in a set I considered that I needed that (so for example, Bill Dickey in the 1952 Topps set).

3. And what do consider as "cards" for your set? Does it have to be true cards, or can it be an Exhibit card, Post Card, pins, buttons, team cards or pictures, how about some type of premium or insert, or anything else for that matter?

I used to be quite fussy about this, but some of my favorite cards are post cards, like Novelty Cutlery and PC796. I also have quite a few exhibits. I don't count pins, buttons or team cards.

4. And what about someone who got into the HOF not for when they actually played, but for their managerial or other baseball work after they were done playing? Do you still have to have a card from their playing days, or wouldn't it be more appropriate to have a contempary card while they were actually involved in what really got them into the HOF? (Connie Mack immediately comes to mind for this question.)

I collect managers, umpires and executives. One of the hardest cards, for some reason, was Joe McCarthy. I had him with Dimaggio, but was not satisfied until I got him on the 1936 Canadian Goudey. There are plenty of cards of commissioners and managers. Not so many of Hall of Fame executives, particularly when they were active. I have the Branch Rickey CJ and a St Louis Cardinals issue. I have Comiskey as a player. There is a Barney Dreyfus 1910 Tip Top I always get outbid on. But there are others that I don't think have a card. The majority of umpires do have a card and I collect them.

I agree with your observation about Connie Mack and the same goes for John McGraw, Leo Durocher, Billy Southwroth, Joe Torre and others.

5. Are you also including HOF managers, umpires, and baseball exutives who may have never actually played in the majors, but did have cards (or other items) issued with them on it?

Yep, see the answer to 4.

6. And when you say HOFer, does it specifically have to be Cooperstown? What about Canton? Jim Thorpe, Earle'Greasy' Neale, and George Halas iimediately come to mind from the pre-war days.

I have cards of Greasy Neale for that reason. I would buy a Thorpe if it was affordable. I also collect hall of fame football autographs and have a Halas Grand Slam card and a Thorpe photo signed.

Always wanted to ask a HOF collector questions like this. Hope you don't mind. (This would probably be a good separate thread itself, but guessing it may have already been done before.)

Happy to answer the questions. The whole thread has been fun to read.