3 Newest Hall of Famers with a 71 Topps link

Most people have heard about the three newest Baseball Hall of Famers, the much deserving Bobby Cox, Tony La Russa and Joe Torre so I won't really go into that. The thing that I found interesting as a fan of the 1971 Topps set, a set that partially let me to start blogging in the first place, is that with Joe Torre's addition in 2014, there are now 46 Hall of Famers with cards in the black-bordered masterpiece that is 1971 Topps. I have no idea if that is close to a record for base cards of then current players, but something I thought was worth noting.

To save typing them all out I found a Sporcle quiz, a pretty fun way to test your knowledge.

http://www.sporcle.com/games/jaysee/1971thof

edit: After seeing CaptKirk42's comment I looked and Night Owl did start on a "Most Hall of Famers" project, his links are below. It looks like 1971 might have the lead with 1969 second at 44.

http://nightowlcards.blogspot.ca/2013/04/the-most-hall-of-famers.html
http://nightowlcards.blogspot.ca/2013/05/the-most-hall-of-famers-update-1.html
http://nightowlcards.blogspot.ca/2013/07/the-most-hall-of-famers-update-2.html

Custom Card: 1991 Enor NFL Hall of Fame Dave Robinson

One of the newest members of the Hall of Fame, Dave Robinson is best known for his seasons in Green Bay, but Robinson did end his career with two seasons with the Redskins under Hall of Fame coach George Allen. Robinson did get two cards with Washington including a 1975 Topps card that is among my favorite vintage Redskins cards.

I was always a fan of this set and wish they would bring it back or at least update the new players every year. A very simple classy design that I have wanted to make a custom of for a while and now found an excuse.

Colorado Rockies and the Hall of Fame

The names on the 2013 Hall of Fame ballot are out and the big story is going to be the "steroid era" superstars like Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens on their first ballots and guys like Mike Piazza who were thought to be "clean" but who really knows. Though for this Rockies fan, the story is if this will be the year a Colorado Rockie gets into the Hall of Fame. Colorado remains the only active franchise to never have a Hall of Famer suit up for them, the expansion cousin Marlins had Andre Dawson in 1995 and 1996 and the younger Diamondbacks had Roberto Alomar for 38 games in 2004 and Tampa Bay had Wade Boggs in 1998 and 1999. The Nationals have only had manager Frank Robinson as Hall of Famer, but I am counting the Expos with Gary Carter, Andre Dawson and Tony Perez. There are eight former Rockies on the ballot this year with 6 new players and Larry Walker probably having the best chance, but only getting 22.9% of the vote last year.

Gary Carter and the Start of a New Project

This recently acquired Gary Carter bat card marks the first step in a new collecting goal, getting bat cards of the top home run hitting catchers of all time. Carter sits at 7th on the home runs by a catcher list with 298, he did have 324 career, but I am going by home runs hit while playing catcher, so my list doesn't include time spend at DH, pinch hitting or playing anywhere else. Of the 13 players with over 200 home runs as a catcher only Gabby Hartnett doesn't have a bat card and the other 12 are fairly easy to find, so this isn't a huge goal, but the tricky part is going to find the photo on the card showing them catching which is what I prefer. This Carter card fits all my criteria and is on what looks like a buyback 1987, and I love the '87 design and the Carter card is one of the nicer cards in the set. From what I can find in Beckett this should be a 2005 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites Originals Relics #GC Gary Carter Bat Card numbered to 50, from what I can tell this is a "buyback" set in that Topps used old cards, die cut one and sandwiched them to create a mem card. Back of card after the jump.

Cardboard Tribute to Gary Carter

Not much really to say, 11x All-Star, 3x Gold Glove and Hall of Famer, just wanted to share some of my favorite Gary Carter cards.

1975 Topps Rookie Card

1976 Topps First solo card w/ Rookie Cup

1978 Topps

1985 Donrus

2011 Topps Update 195B Larry Walker (w/ 2012 HOF commentary)

Growing up in Canada and being a baseball fan I was always a big Larry Walker fan, and still am. His move to Denver in 1995 and the fact that we could watch Rockies games on the satellite but could not find Expos games is what made me a Rockies fan. For my birthday this year I received a sweet Larry Walker powder blue replica jersey like the one pictured on the card to the right, a short print retired variant from this years Topps update (I miss the Expos). So obviously I was very disappointed, but not surprised when Mr. Walker was not selected to the Hall of Fame this year. This brings up a conflicting idea for me, I like the fact the Baseball HOF is hard to get in to, but dislike it when deserving players get overlooked. The most disappointing part is how overlooked Larry Walker was.

1986 Topps #530 Goose Gossage

I brought my old baseball collection back from the closet in my parents house to my house over the holidays and have been busy revisiting my youth through cardboard. This card jumped out at me as one of my favorite cards of all time that I had completely forgot even existed. Gossage was at the end of his career when I started collecting, but his awesomeness was easy to recognize. The aviator shades with the handlebar make this one of the most bad ass cards of all time. The only improvement would be if he was credited as Goose instead of Rich. A 9 nine time All-Star who saved over 300 games when that was still an impressive milestone and a 2008 Hall of Fame inductee

CotD: 1971 Ron Santo #220

Former Cubs third baseman Ron Santo was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Golden Era Committee, making him the newest member of baseball's most illustrious club. The news is somewhat bittersweet as Santo passed away almost exactly one year ago, and makes the Hall on his 19th attempt. A 9 time All-Star finished his career with 342 home runs, 1,331 RBI, a .277 lifetime batting average and five Gold Gloves during a 15 year playing career. Random fact: Ron Santo's induction brings the total amount of Hall of Famers in the 1971 Topps set to 45.