Football Hall of Fame Rookie Cards Collection

[TanksAndSpartans]

I really like this set:http://www.psacard.com/PSASetRegistr...on.aspx?c=3658 for a much easier challenge that still includes a bunch of great players. And only the Hutson and Hein are.... "contrived" rookies.

So who would be the tough HOFers in a real earliest item HOF set? And the set wouldn't be all cards, right? Probably about 20 matchbooks? And how many photos? Would anyone be impossible? George Trafton?

[jefferyepayne]

There are seven HOFers I haven't been able to identify a card/matchbook/premium for:

Guy Chamberlain
Jimmy Conzelman
Joe Guyon
Ed Healey
Tuffy Leemans
Fritz Pollard
George Trafton

I have team photos that have these players on them but no individual items. You can find vintage photos of these players, though.

jeff

Originally Posted by DezHood

I really like this set:http://www.psacard.com/PSASetRegistr...on.aspx?c=3658 for a much easier challenge that still includes a bunch of great players. And only the Hutson and Hein are.... "contrived" rookies.

So who would be the tough HOFers in a real earliest item HOF set? And the set wouldn't be all cards, right? Probably about 20 matchbooks? And how many photos? Would anyone be impossible? George Trafton?

[spec]

Originally Posted by jefferyepayne

There are seven HOFers I haven't been able to identify a card/matchbook/premium for:

Guy Chamberlain
Jimmy Conzelman
Joe Guyon
Ed Healey
Tuffy Leemans
Fritz Pollard
George Trafton

I have team photos that have these players on them but no individual items. You can find vintage photos of these players, though.

jeff

Jeff,
Leemans is in an obscure Wheaties premium set issued c. 1941.
Bo.b Rich.ardson

[revmoran]

Never saw that Wheaties premium before - who else is in the set?

For your list, Jeff, I've collected programs and autographs - Pollard is the toughest autograph of that group - I picked up a notarized cemetery deed and this postcard he sent to his son from Italy

[TanksAndSpartans]

Thanks guys! Down to 6 - not bad.

Mike, I actually looked up Pollard recently - I was actually just digging into the 1920 season and Pollard's team won the title - of course there was no MVP, but he arguably may have been. At around the 6 minute mark in this video: http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap200...en-trailblazer you can see #1 returning a kick, but disappointingly they really don't tell you what they are showing.... I didn't think they had much video from the 20s....

[jefferyepayne]

Originally Posted by revmoran

Never saw that Wheaties premium before - who else is in the set?

For your list, Jeff, I've collected programs and autographs - Pollard is the toughest autograph of that group - I picked up a notarized cemetery deed and this postcard he sent to his son from Italy

Great stuff, Mike! I'm still kicking myself for not going harder after the signed Pollard cabinet that came up a while ago. You mention Pollard and Robeson. Here are a couple of photos of have:

Pollard (far right) with son's football team.



Paul Robeson.



jeff

[TanksAndSpartans]

Jeff, probably a stupid question, but what's the difference between a cabinet, a photo, and a premium? My guess is they are all photos, but when we say premium, it means a photo issued by a company for collectors. Cabinet I have no idea....

[davemri]

Nice list guys. Ive nevers seen the Leemans card either. Very nice.

Here is a virtual collection of some of the pre rookies being discussed.

http://imageevent.com/davemri/footba...rookiefootball

[jefferyepayne]

Originally Posted by DezHood

Jeff, probably a stupid question, but what's the difference between a cabinet, a photo, and a premium? My guess is they are all photos, but when we say premium, it means a photo issued by a company for collectors. Cabinet I have no idea....

Here is a great reference that discusses various types of early photographs.

http://www.cycleback.com/photoguide/mounted.htm

Essentially a cabinet is a photo mounted on a cardboard backing that was popular in the late 1800s/early 1900s. A cabinet card has a certain size photo (4 1/2 x 6 1/2). Larger sized mounted cabinets are called imperial cabinets. Cabinets replaced the smaller cartes de visite (CDVs) that were popular in the 1850s-1870s.

Cabinets often have the name of the photographer on the front or back.

Some examples:









jeff

[spec]

Rev,
The Wheaties premium set consists of 12 5x7 B&W photos and includes only one other football subject: coach Bernie Bierman. There are 5 baseball players (J. DiMaggio, Feller, Mize, Reiser, Williams), golfer Patty Berg and 4 of the Wheaties family (Jack Armstrong, Betty, Betty, Billy and Jim Fairfield).

[jefferyepayne]

Sweet! Thanks for the info and posting this, Bob. I've never seen that one before. Down to six:

Guy Chamberlain
Jimmy Conzelman
Joe Guyon
Ed Healey
Fritz Pollard
George Trafton

Anybody else see something out there for these guys?

jeff