Notoriously Tough PostWar HOFer Cards

[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.

[quitcrab]

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