Who was your first pre-war HOFer?

[nolemmings]

I honestly can't remember for sure, but I think the first pre-war Hall of Famer I acquired was a T206 Elmer Flick. Nothing overly exceptional about either the player or the card, but I can't seem to part with it, even though I now own fewer than a dozen T206. I loved the name--it rolls off the tongue--and the card has just the perfect amount of wear to ooze genuineness and dead ball era. As I pay homage to 'ol Elmer, who was the first HOFer in your collection?

[AMBST95]

T206 John McGraw Portrait, No Cap

[4815162342]

T206 Frank "Home Run" Baker

[jimivintage]

T205 Cobb SGC 50....which became the first prewar card I sold.....and then used that cash to go to my first National in 2005.

[HRBAKER]

'39 PB Gehringer bought from Kevin Savage

[ullmandds]

t206 matty white cap beater...still have it...paid $2 for it.

[joeadcock]

T206 Nap Lajoie, early 1970's at a Flea Market for $1(my dad paid). I was a kid less than 10 or so.

Still have it also.

[atx840]

This was my third or fourth T206, one of my favorites.

[Runscott]

Mine was a T205 Matty for $125. He was missing a tiny piece of paper on the bridge of his nose, which bugged me to no end.

[tonyo]

1933 goudey Travis Jackson August 20, 2009

[srs1a]

Mine was the WaJo portrait below, and it's still one of my favorites.

[deadballera]

mine was the 1934 Goudey Lou Gehrig portrait. Back in the early 90's after watching Pride of the Yankees.

I was hooked !

[Cardboard Junkie]

Bought a stack of T cards (all kinds) from Charlie Conlon in the 70's for 100 bucks......loaded with HOFs, including t206 Cobb red and green portraits.
Sure was a lot more fun when cards weren't worth a lot of money. One hundred dollars was about 2 weeks full time work for me as stock boy at S. S. Kresge Co. My dad thought I had lost my mind.

[triwak]

Purchased in May, 2004. First time I'd ever paid more than $10 for a card. Damn, that seems like a long time ago, ha! Still have Mr. Tinker.

[abothebear]

Three years ago I was just getting back into cards (60s, 70s, and 80s mostly), scouring ebay auctions as they wound down near close. I don't remember exactly how it played out, but I saw a National Game card, Runner Sliding Umpire Behind referencing Ty Cobb as the runner. At the same time I saw an identical card without referencing Cobb. The "Cobb" card closed at $75, so I made a move and was able to win the no "Cobb' in title at half the price. That is when i realized that I could find 100 year old HOFers in my budget if I worked at it. I add only a few a year, but the game of it is more than half the fun.

[tbob]

Joe Tinker bat on shoulder exmt purchased from Bill Mastro in 1981.

[Bosox Blair]

Bought this one raw in the 1990s and sent it in for grading to the old SGC...still mine:

[itjclarke]

T206 Tim Jordan portrait I got as a kid (circa 1989) for about $4. I had no idea who he was till I got home, but got really fired up when I saw he'd been a league leading HR hitter. I put it in my hands, smelled it and then hung it on my wall... and I reveled at the thought that the guy who'd originally pulled it from a cigarette pack was probably long since gone.

[Shoele$$]

1933 Goudey Babe Ruth #144 back in the mid to late 90's......paid $350 for it raw. If I would have had it graded, it probably would have been a 4.

[DeanH3]

33 Goudey Gehrig #92 PSA 8. Back in 2000 I traded a bunch of 50's PSA 8's of Mays, Aaron, Williams, Clemente and Koufax for the PSA 8 Gehrig. I soon realized I could not afford to collect pre-war 8's so I sold it and bought a bunch of mid-grade pre-war HOF'ers.

[paul]

I think mine was a 33 Goudey Bill Terry (portrait), probably purchased from Paul E. Marchant.

[Tyler]

Originally Posted by AMBST95

T206 John McGraw Portrait, No Cap

Me too!

[ethicsprof]

mine was a T206 matty dark cap in '84---around 15 bucks.
all the best,
barry

[deadballfreaK]

Bought a group of about 10 1933 Goudeys that had been pasted in a scrapbook around 1974. They all cleaned up pretty well. Maybe 5% paper loss. Included Ruth, Speaker, Bottomley, Cuyler, Lazzeri, and Pepper Martin. Paid $10 for the Ruth. Still have them all and no desire to upgrade. Luv em despite their flaws!

[DerekMichael]

T206 Cy Young portrait ... I won it on Easter Sunday a few years ago.

Awesome

[darwinbulldog]

1933 Goudey Rabbit Maranville. I assumed pre-war cards were going to be well out of my price range but had recently read an article citing Maranville as the least deserving Hall of Famer, so I thought I'd see if I could at least afford one of his cards. Overpaid with a BIN on Ebay.

[bwbc917]

Got a t-206 Joss in the late 70's. Later had it graded and it got a PSA 6. Still is a cornerstone of my Cleveland collection.

[T206Collector]

Bought a 1933 Goudey Vernon "Lefty" Gomez for fifty cents in a junk box at the local card shop circa 1988. Sold it a few years later for $15. Should've held on to it for posterity.

[Seiklis]

A E120 of Stan Coveleski

[cliftons8]

T202 Just Before the Battle: Meyers/ Mathewson. Bought at my first National, 1992 Atlanta.

[insccollectibles]

T206 Miller Huggins Hands at Mouth Cycle PSA

[Harford20]

A T206 Nap Lajoie, Throwing, Pied 150

I purchased it at a local auction in the D.C. area in the early 90's. I had it graded in 2007, a PSA 5. I have considered selling it several times since I have another Pied 150 PSA 3 that closer fits my collecting style (my T206 HOF collection is almost exclusively PSA/SGC 2-3), but that "first card" pull is strong.
Dave

[cardaholic]

'41 Play Ball Arky Vaughan, purchased as a kid in the early '80s. Big tape stain across the upper front, but otherwise fairly nice. Still have it.

[Paul S]

Got it mid/late sixties. $5. When most others were thinking Thai, I thought Ty. Still got it. Here. Thai came later...bat off version.

[RCMcKenzie]

I bought a 33 Goudey Goslin port and Hornsby #119 around 1979 from an ad in a baseball publication. I think the Goslin was $40 and the Hornsby $70. I probably paid way too much on account of the cost of the ad. Here is the Goslin. It is still in one of my early vintage binders shown here front/back. I traded the Hornsby a long time ago. Cheers.

goudeygoslin063.jpg

earlyvintagebinder1157.jpg

earlyvintagebinder1b158.jpg

[cyseymour]

Jim O'Rourke

Got this 30 years ago

[JeremyW]

Thirty years ago, these were much more affordable. I still have the card & credit it for drawing me back into the hobby in 2006, after a nearly 20 year hiatus.

[Bosox Blair]

Originally Posted by itjclarke

T206 Tim Jordan portrait I got as a kid (circa 1989) for about $4. I had no idea who he was till I got home, but got really fired up when I saw he'd been a league leading HR hitter. I put it in my hands, smelled it and then hung it on my wall... and I reveled at the thought that the guy who'd originally pulled it from a cigarette pack was probably long since gone.

Tim Jordan is in HOF now?

Cheers,
Blair

[Shoele$$]

Originally Posted by JeremyW

Thirty years ago, these were much more affordable. I still have the card & credit it for drawing me back into the hobby in 2006, after a nearly 20 year hiatus.

Very nice! Looks like my first HOF card

[mattsey9]

The man who won the greatest game ever played. Mordecai Brown - T206.

[DoubleJ]

1933 World Wide Gum Ruth I purchased in 1992. Still my favourite card.

Josh

[bbsports]

T206 Ty Cobb Red Portrait. I bought it in a The Traders Speaks magazine auction in the early 70's from Fred Copp in Detroit, Michigan for $5.00 in near mint condition.

[steve B]

T206 Jake Beckley. Polar bear back, with a load of really bad creases. First prewar Hof, and first prewar card. And only 20 cents

I still have it.

Steve B

[Jlighter]

Originally Posted by mattsey9

The man who won the greatest game ever played. Mordecai Brown - T206.

Mordecai Brown played in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS?

[Sean]

Originally Posted by Jlighter

Mordecai Brown played in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS?

Jake, you must be a Yankee fan to think that that game was better than Game 7 of the 2001 World Series.

And a young fan as well to think that it's better than the 1978 AL playoff (ie. the Bucky Dent game).

[calvindog]

[Julz24]

T206 Cobb bat off. I saw it in an auction on eBay and I put a bunch of money down -expecting to be outbid eventually. 5 days later, the bidding still hadn't caught up and I instantly became a pre war card collector!

[albrshbr]

Not quite sure,,,they were within a few days of each other, but either a T205 McGraw (Polar Bear back) or an E135 - type blank back Sam Crawford

[Jlighter]

Originally Posted by Sean

Jake, you must be a Yankee fan to think that that game was better than Game 7 of the 2001 World Series.

And a young fan as well to think that it's better than the 1978 AL playoff (ie. the Bucky Dent game).

Yankee Fan? Check!

I wasn't alive during the Playoff, I'm sure there was much excitement with rivals playing in a Win or Go Home Tiebreak. Always gotta go with the Extra Inning Walk-Off though.