rollie fingers is in my hall of famer collection

i would guess that many people, when asked about rollie fingers, quickly think of the mustache.  for me, it's that and then pac-man elbow. my first awareness of the man and the 'stache came courtesy of his 1978 topps card.  that's why i am super excited that his entry in my hall of famer collection is this card:

that's a 2018 topps archives signature series 1978 topps buyback card, numbered 1/3.  here's the back:

i have a 2000 upper deck legends legendary signatures card of fingers that i pulled from a pack that had originally been in the collection, but when i saw this beauty, i pounced.  truth be told, any autographed card of fingers would have worked, as i remember him as a padre and a brewer, and also think of him as a member of the a's thanks to my brief dalliance with a's fandom during the height of 'billy ball'.  

during that time, i began collecting topps a's cards back to 1965 (thanks to another favorite, jim hunter).  as a result, i eventually had a full run of fingers' topps cards through 1982. that included his 1969 rookie card (no mustache!) which was the first or second vintage (eventual) hall of famer rookie card i owned. fast forward to the fall of 1984, my freshman year in high school. a neighborhood friend who i used to ride bikes to the local card shop with tells me about a teacher at his high school that collected cards.  my friend told his teacher about me and that i had a good collection, and so his teacher offered to buy some cards from me. 

i packaged up some cards that i thought the guy would be interested in buying, including my rollie fingers collection, and sent them with my friend. a week or two later, he gave me some of my cards back - no fingers rookie - but claimed that the teacher didn't take any so he didn't have any cash for me. that may well have been the last time that i ever saw or talked to that friend. oh well, he had given me his small collection back in 1980 when he moved out of my neighborhood, which i remember included a few eddie murray second year cards.

as for fingers, i remember feeling some solidarity with him when he was injured during the 1982 season. i swear that it was reported as 'pac-man elbow', but in writing this post i could find no reference to that diagnosis. maybe my dad made a joke at the time, since my brother and i were always playing pac-man at home on our atari 800.  either way, i've known rollie fingers was a cool dude for a long time.

here's my hall of famer collection as its been documented so far:

babe ruth - 2003 topps tribute world series edition world series tribute relic 351/425

honus wagner - 2001 topps tribute relics

bob feller - 2001 topps archives

jackie robinson - 2004 topps clubhouse collection clubhouse relics

roberto clemente - 2005 donruss greats hall of fame souvenirs relic

warren spahn - 1999 upper deck century legends epic signatures

mickey mantle - 2000 upper deck legends legendary game jerseys relic

willie mays - 1997 topps willie mays reprints autograph

al kaline - 2001 fleer greats of the game autographs

duke snider - 2003 upper deck sp authentic chirography hall of famers 144/250

hank aaron - 2004 topps originals 1979 topps all-time record holders rbi 03/32

harmon killebrew - 2000 upper deck legends legendary signatures

rollie fingers - 2018 topps archives signature series 1978 topps buyback 1/3

reggie jackson - 2018 topps tier one tier one talent autographs 19/60

steve carlton - 2018 topps five star career year autographs

mike schmidt - 2002 topps archives autoproof 1980 topps buyback

bruce sutter - 2003 topps all-time fan favorites

jim rice - 2005 upper deck past time pennants

pete rose* - 2018 panini flawless legendary signatures 15/25

barry bonds* - 2001 bowman heritage autographs

you can find the full list of hall of famers (and some not - yet) that i aim to include in this collection at my want list site.

*not currently a member of the hall of fame

the major league hero i needed

for those of you who know about the 11 card set that was distributed to some folks who turned out for the filming of "major league" in milwaukee,  you know that they are scarce and expensive and rarely come up for sale. when they do, they are almost always offered as complete, sealed, sets.

i first noticed the set when i refined my steve yeager want list. yeager played duke temple in the movie (while also serving as a tutor of sorts to tom berenger who played the catcher), and so he was featured in the set on a couple of cards.

a few months ago, a saved ebay search revealed that someone had broken up a set and was selling singles, including this beauty that i was able to land:

this particular seller was the hero i needed to be able to add this elusive card to my steve yeager collection.  unfortunately, i did not see the other card picturing yeager (along with andy romano and james gannon) among those for sale. still, this is a great add to my collection!

reggie jackson is in my hall of famer collection

the 2019 world series begins tonight, so it seems appropriate to post a card of mr. october.  learning about and following baseball during the late 1970's meant a healthy dose of the yankees and reggie jackson.  he's in my hall of famer collection with this 2018 topps tier one tier one talent autograph card numbered 19/60:

here's the back:

game 6 of the 1977 world series is seared in to my brain. three home runs to end the dodgers' season, on three consecutive pitches, no less.  it was pretty impressive, even to a six-year old.  i told reggie as much when i met him in person a few years ago. he was kind and thanked me and shook my hand. i also told him that he broke my heart two years in a row.  the image of reggie as a yankee is how i remember him, so this card is perfect for my collection.

i don't recall seeing reggie play in person. i know i never saw him as a visiting player to the big a, but i do know i saw a game in anaheim that was most likely during the 1982 season. that game experience has more to do with my memory of rickey henderson and billy martin, and while i definitely saw reggie play (if in fact my memory is correct about that game being in 1982), i don't recall the details of reggie's exploits that night.  still, i saw enough of him on tv in october.

i was actually rooting for him (and don sutton) in october of 1986 when the angels were so close to reaching the world series for the first time.  i remember that he was on the top step of the dugout, sans his glasses, ready to run out on to the field to celebrate at the end of game 5, but the red sox took the lead in the top of the 9th on dave henderson's home run, and even though the angels forced extra innings, they never really recovered.  i was hoping for some reggie october magic in the bottom of the 10th, but mr. october struck out to start the inning.  i thought for sure that gary pettis had won the game a few batters later, but his fly ball was caught near the outfield fence and the red sox won it in the 11th.  as a result, reggie's angels tenure is best remembered for him being programmed to kill the queen.

here's my hall of famer collection as its been documented so far:

babe ruth - 2003 topps tribute world series edition world series tribute relic 351/425

honus wagner - 2001 topps tribute relics

bob feller - 2001 topps archives

jackie robinson - 2004 topps clubhouse collection clubhouse relics

roberto clemente - 2005 donruss greats hall of fame souvenirs relic

warren spahn - 1999 upper deck century legends epic signatures

mickey mantle - 2000 upper deck legends legendary game jerseys relic

willie mays - 1997 topps willie mays reprints autograph

al kaline - 2001 fleer greats of the game autographs

duke snider - 2003 upper deck sp authentic chirography hall of famers 144/250

hank aaron - 2004 topps originals 1979 topps all-time record holders rbi 03/32

harmon killebrew - 2000 upper deck legends legendary signatures

reggie jackson - 2018 topps tier one tier one talent autographs 19/60

steve carlton - 2018 topps five star career year autographs

mike schmidt - 2002 topps archives autoproof 1980 topps buyback 048/147

bruce sutter - 2003 topps all-time fan favorites

jim rice - 2005 upper deck past time pennants

pete rose* - 2018 panini flawless legendary signatures 15/25

barry bonds* - 2001 bowman heritage autographs

you can find the full list of hall of famers (and some not - yet) that i aim to include in this collection at my want list site.

*not currently a member of the hall of fame

what if i told you to avert your eyes?

you wouldn't, would you?

for those of you who couldn't look away, yes, i picked up another tristar signa cuts card for my collection. this one is a mutilated 1969 topps don sutton card that had been previously signed by the hall of famer. this is the last one. most likely.

honus wagner is in my hall of famer collection

honus wagner was a member of the first hall of fame class, elected in 1936.  here's the card that represents his membership in my hall of famer collection:

it's a bat relic card from 2001 topps tribute.  here's the back:

 

this is another card that i pulled from a pack and have held on to for 18 years or so even though it didn't really have a spot in my collection.

my first understanding of honus wagner came from 'the card'. at some point early on in my collecting i learned of the 1909 honus wagner t206 card. my dad bought me the book of 1977 dover reprints for christmas in 1978, and i learned about goudey and delong and the old tobacco cards.  included in that book of perforated reprints was the wagner card.  i recall separating it and trying to age it a bit.  i wound up trading it to a neighbor (he was fully aware that it was a reprint) but have since found another set of the dover reprints in my collection (maybe my brother's?).  so, i still own a reprint of the most famous card ever produced.

as for wagner's career, he was the second man to reach the 3,000 hit milestone, and retired as the all-time leader in hits (ty cobb would pass him in 1921). he is still 8th all-time in hits, to go along with his status of being 10th all-time in doubles, 3rd all-time in triples, 10th all-time in stolen bases, and 23rd all-time in rbi.  he was also a member of the class of 1936 - the first hall of fame inductees. not a bad career!

here's my hall of famer collection as its been documented so far:

babe ruth - 2003 topps tribute world series edition world series tribute relic 351/425

honus wagner - 2001 topps tribute relics

bob feller - 2001 topps archives

jackie robinson - 2004 topps clubhouse collection clubhouse relics

roberto clemente - 2005 donruss greats hall of fame souvenirs relic

warren spahn - 1999 upper deck century legends epic signatures

mickey mantle - 2000 upper deck legends legendary game jerseys relic

willie mays - 1997 topps willie mays reprints autograph

al kaline - 2001 fleer greats of the game autographs

duke snider - 2003 upper deck sp authentic chirography hall of famers 144/250

hank aaron - 2004 topps originals 1979 topps all-time record holders rbi 03/32

harmon killebrew - 2000 upper deck legends legendary signatures

steve carlton - 2018 topps five star career year autographs

mike schmidt - 2002 topps archives autoproof 1980 topps buyback

bruce sutter - 2003 topps all-time fan favorites

jim rice - 2005 upper deck past time pennants

pete rose* - 2018 panini flawless legendary signatures 15/25

barry bonds* - 2001 bowman heritage autographs

you can find the full list of hall of famers (and some not - yet) that i aim to include in this collection at my want list site.

*not currently a member of the hall of fame