harold baines is in my hall of famer collection

continuing a theme here at cards as i see them this week with another post welcoming someone to my hall of famer collection. this time, it's harold baines with this card as his entry:

that card comes from 2003 topps retired signature. here's the back:

not a lot of italicized red on the back there, which indicates what many (most?) baseball fans believed for a long time - harold baines was just very good.

it was certainly a surprise to me when baines was elected by one of the era committees, but he does have some big numbers that fell just short of typical milestones needed for induction. he had just 384 home runs - fewer than his contemporary joe carter - but his 2,866 hits and rbi total of 1,628 show well against other hall of famers classified as right fielders. baines, of course, was a designated hitter for the last two-thirds or so of his career, so that's not necessarily the best comparison.

the only time i saw baines play in person was on july 6, 1999. it was my first (and so far only) visit to camden yards, and the blue jays were playing the orioles. baines had one hit - a double - but it resulted in a game tying rbi. the jays wound up winning the game, and the highlight for me was seeing cal ripken play during his streak and shawn green hitting a home run.

i decided to add baines to my collection sometime last year. he is an official hall of famer, after all, and i saw him play in person. couple those facts with an inexpensive autograph and in to the collection he went. a reminder - you can see all of the players and their cards that comprise my hall of famer collection here. 

with baines' induction, the door seems wide open to a litany of other "hall of very good" players such as al oliver, dale murphy, dave parker, bobby grich, dwight evans, and dare i dream, steve garvey. i hope it happens!