In YOUR opinion what constitutes one the best HOF collections?

[Hawaiian BamBam]

hey guys,
got into an interesting debate at the local card shop. we were talking about , if a person wants to have one for the best/better HOF autograph collections in the country,in YOUR opinion, what do you think a person has to have in their HOF collection to be considered one of the "big time" HOF collectors in the country. A few collectors were saying that it was common knowledge among HOF collectors that to even been in the same league as the best in the hobby, you have to have at least 200 of the 306 HOF members on an item (any item) some others were saying to be one of the best, you must have guys like ruth, gehrig, cobb, clemente, wagner, hornsby, jackie robinson. satchel paige. it was a pretty interesting conversation with lots of very different opinions. so, driving home from the shop, i decided i would ask you guys YOUR opinion on this most interesting and debatable topic. thanks guys for your input.

 

[Hawaiian BamBam]

anyone have any thoughts on this? thanks

 

[scottzoe]

I would think that 200 is a "big time" HOF collector. I don't know the numbers offhand, but how many HOF members were inducted after their deaths? I would think a majority of the ***** league players and pioneers anyway. Add that to those who played at the turn of the century through the 20's and there must be a good lot of hard to find autos. Just doing some quick searching on the subject and it seems the are a couple dozen autos that are virtually impossible to find.

Scott

 

[Dilferules]

It probably has to be a combination of both.

If you just happen to have the 200 cheapest autographs and you are missing some of the big names like Ruth and Wagner I don't think the collection can be considered one of the best.

If you just have the biggest names like Ruth, Cobb, Wagner, Clemente...it's really impressive and valuable but you obviously just went after the high-profile stuff and aren't a "true" HOF collector that goes after the difficult to find autographs.

Richard

 

[t.rooster]

For sure, one of the hardest tasks would be acquiring many of the graphs from players who aren't around anymore, w/out naming names, that feat alone would put you up there.....

 

[David K.]

I'm thinking if you have the top 100 HOF in your collection......Ruth, Mantle, Gehrig, Mays, Joe D, etc, etc. Best regards, David

 

[Hawaiian BamBam]

thanks guys for your responses, i appreciate it. i agree with you all. those were some of the main arguments for and against. i think the magic number is 200 of the 306 current members to be considered a "big time hof collector" in my opinion. especially since i think a good at least 30-40 players autographs dont exist or are very rare (turn of the century players, etc).i think that to be one of the best hof collections in the country a collector has to have a ruth, gehrig, cobb, clemente, jackie robinson, cy young etc. thanks for your thoughts, keep them coming!

 

[chaplain11]

I am in agreeance on everything said. However, I would add, to be the best, the autograph samples would also have to be extremely nice quality wise and be on specific items (cards, pictures, baseball related items like balls, etc.) vice just an index card. I would also give a nod to those with actual game used items, particularly if they are autographed.

 

[bonzomoretti]

I have to disagree. First of all, there is no "ranking" to who is a better HOFer than any other HOFer. They are all on the same level, a HOFer is a HOFer no matter what your career stats are. If you are getting into a popularity contest, then you are putting a value on the HOFer.
Secondly, if I had 300 HOF autos, I might take offense to someone saying that a 200 HOF auto collection would be considered "a big collection".

Just my thoughts. I only wish I had a 300 auto collection. I do have about 40....

 

[chaplain11]

I would argue that there are "better" HoF players. George Kelly is no Willie Mays and Jesse Haines is no Warren Spahn. However, I think the bigger issue comes down to supply vs demand for some of the higher end guys vs HoFers of recent memory whose stuff is all over the place. Quantity could have an impact of course. I have over 400 HoF autos and over 300 GU but I still would not consider mine the best because I am missing some key figures in baseball history like Clemente, Walter Johnson, and Ty Cobb. But, then again, the "best" is a matter of opinion so the definition varies depending on who is asked. That is one thing about the thread; it provides a wide range of opinions and goes to show you why our hobby is so interesting.

Dewayne

I have to disagree. First of all, there is no "ranking" to who is a better HOFer than any other HOFer. They are all on the same level, a HOFer is a HOFer no matter what your career stats are. If you are getting into a popularity contest, then you are putting a value on the HOFer.
Secondly, if I had 300 HOF autos, I might take offense to someone saying that a 200 HOF auto collection would be considered "a big collection".

Just my thoughts. I only wish I had a 300 auto collection. I do have about 40....

 

[Hawaiian BamBam]

i agree with the above. i would much rather have a mays auto vs a kelly auto or a spahn auto versus a haines auto. i think i would be more impressed if a collector had one autograph of every hofer versus a collector that has a dozen al kaline or 15 different duke snider or 3-4 bruce sutters and brooks robinson autos. etc..keep the posts coming!

 

[KCLJ520]

I would love to see how unique the items are, rather than just the names....if someone had a Babe Ruth baseball, that would be cool, but if someone had Babe Ruth sign a program from a milestone game, THAT would be really unique. I would say number of signatures doesnt make the collection, but the variety and uniqueness of items does!

God Bless,

Kevin Mc

 

[Hawaiian BamBam]

i totally agree with you. I would be more impressed lets say with a collector that only has 10 autographs in his or her collection, but those ten autographs are ruth, gehrig, mantle, cobb,wagner, clemente, robinson, cy young, etc versus a collector that has lets say 500 autographs, but are the basic guys like doerr, kaline, brooks robinson, lan ryan, andre dawson, wade boggs, etc. thanks

 

[KCLJ520]

i totally agree with you. I would be more impressed lets say with a collector that only has 10 autographs in his or her collection, but those ten autographs are ruth, gehrig, mantle, cobb,wagner, clemente, robinson, cy young, etc versus a collector that has lets say 500 autographs, but are the basic guys like doerr, kaline, brooks robinson, lan ryan, andre dawson, wade boggs, etc. thanks

And as was posted earlier, some HOFers dont have much out there on the market at all. I know Siksyko has a Perez Steele collection, most are PSA DNA slabbed and graded, and there are some guys on there I have never heard of that are HOFers, so it is interesting to see those kind of items that are out there, but not always in one place!

Just wondered, does anyone have anything HOF related that is out of the ordinary they could post here?

 

[Hawaiian BamBam]

i know some collectors on other sites that have a babe ruth AND a lou gehrig in their collections, must be nice!