Notoriously Tough PostWar HOFer Cards

[MattyC]

Love to discuss cards that are routinely tough to find with much eye appeal. Over the years I've found these to be very hard, based on who/what I collect. Will limit my list to 15...

1. 51 Mantle (so few offered with solid centering)
2. 52 Mantle (same; it seems the ones for sale in lower grade are all rough)
3. 57 Mantle (centering, centering, centering)
4. 1964 Pete Rose (print issues and centering)
5. 1976 Brett (centering, print smudges)
6. 1978 Eddie Murray (tilt, print issues, centering)
7. 1969 Ryan (always OC, many have broken border)
8. 1967 Carew (brutal centering is the norm on this one, too)
9. 1980 Bird Magic (the black line, the smudge in Magic panel, tilt)
10. 1978 Brett (print issues, broken border)
11. 1952 Berra
12. 1954 Mantle
13. 1958 Maris
14. 1968 Ryan (so tough to find one without print dots anywhere or tilt)
15. 1971 Munson (or I'd imagine any 1971 HOFer fits the bill)

[Bestdj777]

It seems like the 53 Topps Mantle is almost always horribly off center.

[MattyC]

I just finished my 50's Mantle run (I mean baseball cards are practically synonymous with Mantle!!!) and several were probably among the tougher post war cards to find with great centering. Especially when one considers how expensive Micks get with even a modicum of eye appeal. Sellers with a good one know they can ask high and eventually a collector who wants eye appeal and has scoured the globe for a good example. I just paid more than double VCP for my 57 because I needed one centered!

[savedfrommyspokes]

The 69 Brock has always been elusive for me in nice shape and centered.

[Republicaninmass]

The 52 Mathews, the sleeper of the set. Usually found L/R, mine a hint T/B

[CW]

Originally Posted by Republicaninmass

The 52 Mathews, the sleeper of the set. Usually found L/R, mine a hint T/B

Nice '52 Mathews! Does not get much better than that!

Originally Posted by Bestdj777

It seems like the 53 Topps Mantle is almost always horribly off center.

Definitely. I'd also add the '53T Jackie Robinson to the list. Nicely centered examples are tough to come by.

You could also include any Wilson Franks or Dan Dee Potato Chips HOFer on the list.

This '53 Mick would probably be better graded as a "4.5" with these corners, but the centering was what grabbed my attention...

[tedzan]

This card (in any condition) is one of the toughest HOFer cards in the post-WWII era......trust me.



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TED Z
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[3-2-count]

I would add to the list both the Bob Gibson and Eddie Mathews card from the 1959 Topps set. Both are super tough to find perfectly centered.

[pawpawdiv9]

it took me a while to find a nice centered one that suited me.
But add the 54 Hank Aaron RC

[CW]

Ah, good call on the '49 Leaf Paige, Ted. Great card! Love the writeup on the back, too ("...Should sizzle into his old stride this year.").

[tedzan]

Originally Posted by CW

Ah, good call on the '49 Leaf Paige, Ted. Great card! Love the writeup on the back, too ("...Should sizzle into his old stride this year.").

Thanx Chuck

I acquired my Leaf Paige in 1982....and, I have looked for more of them these past 31 years. But, I have not seen more than 4 of them.

We know Leaf issued them in their 2nd (Single-Print) series in the Summer of '49. But, the Paige card in this scarce series is even tougher than the other 48 cards
in that same series.

There was a 1949 Leaf Unopened Wax pack boxes find back in the late 1980's. The packs were opened and yielded 576 assorted cards from this Single Print series.
These 576 cards were a true random yield (11-12 cards of each player)....except for the Paige cards, of which there were only 3.

I would say that find suggests that the Paige card (for whatever reasons) did not get distributed equally as the other cards in that series.


TED Z

[midwaylandscaping]

Obviously these can be found in high grade being more modern but here's some 70's and 80's cards:
Baseball:
78 Molitor/Trammell in high grades. Smudge alert.
84 Mattingly Donruss. Centering, print spots.
84 Joe Carter Donruss. Centering, print spots.
77 Topps Dale Murphy. Centering, tilt.
79 Topps Ozzie Smith. Tilt, centering, spots, focus, everything

a few from other sports off the top of my head:

86 Topps football Steve Young. Centering.
84/85 Star Co. Michael Jordan XRC. I don't think a real one that's centered exists.
78 OPC Hockey Mike Bossy. Centering nightmare.
81 OPC Hockey Paul Coffey. Centering, tilt, miscuts, snow. Majority have one or more of those issues.

edit: Joe Carter , Don Mattingly and Dale Murphy are not a HOFers, my bad...LOL

Those are a few I've dealt with through the years that stand out.

[MBMiller25]

A few RC's off the top of my head that I have had trouble with over the years:

1958 Orlando Cepeda- Tough Centering (find one 50/50)

1948 Leaf Hal Newhouser-Tough card to find in any condition

1948 Leaf Larry Doby-Same as Above

[Exhibitman]

I've heard this one presents a centering challenge:

[JollyElm]

It's so nice to finally see people posting about cards other than Mantles. What a welcome relief!!! Every list that appears on this site has people stumbling over each other talking about Mantles, as if no other baseball cards were ever produced. It gets frickin' frustrating!!!

[quitcrab]

1968 Willie Mays and 1972 Aaron in action .... Centering is awful. Nothing on the left a lot on the right,

[JollyElm]

Originally Posted by quitcrab

1968 Willie Mays and 1972 Aaron in action .... Centering is awful. Nothing on the left a lot on the right,

Hey, check out the December pickups thread to see the Mays IA I got my hands on recently. Actually, there's two of them there, but the second one is what I'm referring to.

[judsonhamlin]

I had a heck of a time finding a 53 Bowman Eddie Mathews that wasn't really off center top to bottom. Finally got a nice Ex+ one that wasn't overpriced this summer.

[Brianruns10]

Any centered HOFers from the '52 Topps set can be a tough proposition. The Berra and the Mays, I've almost NEVER seen centered. I once saw a Berra on ebay that was dead centered, and I swear it went for more than double the PSA SMR value.

But the sleeper, I think, is the Matthews card. For all the pomp and circumstance of the Mantle, he was a double print, and already well known enough that his card was more likely to be saved.

The Matthews, meanwhile, is a perfect storm of rarity: single print, part of the toughest high series in all post war card sets, the last card in the set and prone to the same problems as the Pafko, and his card come with some of the worst centering I've ever seen. And it's his one, TRUE Rookie card.

I bought a PSA 5 Matthews in 2011, dead centered. I mean perfect. I paid a fair amount over SMR, and I have no regrets because I've NEVER seen another one like it come up on ebay.

[tedzan]

Originally Posted by judsonhamlin

I had a heck of a time finding a 53 Bowman Eddie Mathews that wasn't really off center top to bottom. Finally got a nice Ex+ one that wasn't overpriced this summer.

Judson

DITTO....for the 1953 BOWMAN (color) Yogi Berra.

Both Berra (#121) and Mathews (#97) were the 1st corner cards on their respective 32-card sheets; therefore, very tough to find centered.

Incidently......how was the recent Valley Forge show for you ?


TED Z

[MattyC]

So many awesomely tuff cards mentioned here, fellas. That 52 Mathews, along with the Berra, I've seen routinely brutally centered.

That 69 Reggie is almost impossible, too. Right up there with his 64.

Here's a random one I noticed today looking at cards with my pops: 1958 Elston Howard. I checked VCP scans of sold cards, and it seems none have perfect centering and are print-dot free.

Reminds me of the 1975 Mini Claudell Washington and Frank Tanana cards. Both of those are just mangled right out of the pack...every damn time!

[brian1961]

Sorry JollyElm, here comes another mention of Mickey Mantle!

The last year of my youth where I seriously attempted to complete a Topps set was 1969. With Mick retiring in the spring, I was thrilled there was going to be "one more for the road". I bought as many nickel packs as I could of that series in what would be the last year for the five-cent pack.

I wound up pulling two Mickey Mantles, but both of them were so off-center side to side that in my mind each was only a few microns away from being mis-cut.

Soon, time ran out for that series, and I had to be content with at least having Mantle. That's such a swell pose of Mick, with the overcast background symbolizing to me the end of the line of Mickey Mantle's playing career. I should have tried writing to The Trading Card Company in Farmington Hills, Michigan that fall and see if they had any well-centered copies of Mick. They came through for me on a lot of other occasions, though.

COULD OF, SHOULD OF, but I unwisely assumed all '69 Topps Mickey Mantles were severely off-center. So untrue, but that's what we got in Arlington Heights, Illinois where I lived back then. Also, that was a typical way for a 15-year old to reason a situation out.

Oh well. In 1969, Lou Brock was another one that I also recall being "impossible" to find decently centered. No news on that well-known toughie.

Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukkah. Cheers--Brian Powell

[the 'stache]

1977 Topps Robin Yount is a major pain in the rear to get in high condition. Only 34 of the 397 that have been submitted to PSA grade at a 9, and only 1 10. All sorts of centering/tilting issues with this card. And trying to find one with a nice white, clean surface AND centering? Good luck.

[Volod]

I know - it's impossible, so should not be mentioned, but someone has one out there, so if we're talking really tough to find postwar HOF'er...

[MattyC]

Stache,

I blame you for making me purchase the 77 Yount! Awesome photo in that card.

Been doing some homework on some of those mentioned, and it seems that 52 Mathews and 48 Leaf Paige are outright BEASTS as has been said. That would be a real Registry feat, getting consensus on a Top 100 routinely OC cards, then saying screw the grade and looking for purely the best centered freak examples.

[the 'stache]

You bought that 9 on Ebay?
Edit: nm, you did.