Best player with no cards during playing days?
Browns1981
Posts: 534 ✭✭✭✭✭
Might have to qualify with post-1900.
Bill Willis didn’t get his first card until 1977, over 20 years after his career was over.
1
Comments
Many FB HOF players didn't get a "RC" until long after. Manyh found in 1955 Topps AA. Also, a few HOF Hockey players didn't get a "RC" until long after and are in the 1960 Topps set.
1948-76 Topps FB Sets
FB & BB HOF Player sets
1948-1993 NY Yankee Team Sets
Interesting question. I can’t imagine there are too many baseball players during the Topps era who were “good” and yet never had a card. Somebody like Dave Schneck of the Mets was on and off the team from 1972-1974 and never had a card. But in those days a solid year of major league service was usually enough to gain inclusion in the next year’s set.
Tony Horton played for six or seven years without ever having a Topps card, but he had a Kelloggs card in 1971. I’m not sure if there’s a reason he never had a Topps card, because he certainly played regularly and well enough from 1964-1970 to deserve one. He had 27 homers and 93 RBI for the Indians in 1969 and still didn’t have a Topps 1970 card.
Just found this little tidbit from a 1985 interview with Sy Berger:
“Much of Sy Berger's life has been spent in baseball clubhouses, a briefcase in one hand, a pen in the other. He goes there to obtain a signed contract that would allow a player's picture to be put on a bubble-gum card. In the beginning, each player received $50 a season. Now the fee is $250, plus royalties that earn a player more than $2,000 a year.
''Only one player ever turned me down,'' he says. ''Tony Horton, a first baseman with the Red Sox and the Indians about 20 years ago. His father and grandfather advised him not to sign.''
Josh Gibson
Always plenty of PSA-graded cards in my ebay store -- https://ebay.com/str/thelumbercompanysportscards
Agree Josh Gibson
Were other Negro League players featured on cards at the time, and he was an outlier?
Many negro leaguers also played in Cuba - that's where many of the contemporary cards were produced. Many negro leaguers. Including HOFers, have contemporary cards - still several [hall of famers] do not. It's really hit or miss. Had Satchel Paige not made it to the majors, he also would have been skipped. It also matters what you include in the definition of "card" as many were featured on postcards.
Always plenty of PSA-graded cards in my ebay store -- https://ebay.com/str/thelumbercompanysportscards
FYI - an MLB Carded episode features the exceptional negro league collection of Al J.
Always plenty of PSA-graded cards in my ebay store -- https://ebay.com/str/thelumbercompanysportscards
He’s got several food issues including Kahn’s and nabisco:
Kiss me twice.....let's party.
Lynn Swann has very few cards.
Terry Bradshaw was AMAZING!!
Ignore list -Basebal21
In the Topps era, Marshall Bridges and Jim Duckworth are the two pitchers with the most innings without a card from any manufacturer. Dave Schneck and Loren Babe are top two batter with the most at bats without a card from any manufacturer.
If the list pre-dated 1900, Jake Stenzel has never had a card (though he did have a button) even though he had a lifetime Batting Average of .338 over 3031 At Bats in his career.
Stan Musial began playing baseball in 1943. His first Topps card is his 1958 Topps All Star card…
…and his first card came in one of those Cuban based sets in 1946…
…that set has a great checklist, the cards were to be glued to an album and it features retired and contemporary stars from many different leagues:
Curious about the rare, mysterious and beautiful 1951 Wheaties Premium Photos?
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/987963/1951-wheaties-premium-photos-set-registry#latest
Musial does have a card in 1947 and Bowman and Leaf in 1948
Those Cubans are ridiculously hard to find. Very Nice collection you have.
1948-76 Topps FB Sets
FB & BB HOF Player sets
1948-1993 NY Yankee Team Sets
Do you mean the hand cut 1947 Sports Exchange? I’ve always liked that one.
Or is there another one?
Thank you for your kind words!
Curious about the rare, mysterious and beautiful 1951 Wheaties Premium Photos?
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/987963/1951-wheaties-premium-photos-set-registry#latest
Reg Carolan (AFL champion and Super Bowl I participant) only card during his playing career - insert and shared by three other players.
Josh Gibson is a good choice. Don Hutson is another. He was on a Wheaties box as an Alabama player, but that's it for solo playing days issues. Guy Chamberlin, Jimmy Conzelman, Joe Guyon, Ed Healey, Fritz Pollard, Duke Slater and George Trafton are football HOFers without playing days issues. The list is MUCH longer for basketball. John Wooden might be the most notable one (he was also inducted as a player).
In the vein of Josh Gibson, there are a scant few contemporary cards of any sort for Oscar Charleston.
Bill Barilko didn't have a regular card issued of him during playing days besides just the "Winning Goal" card
(I don't count the 1949 World Wide Gum wrappers)
He's certainly not the "Best player with no cards during playing days" but he still does come to mind as far as lacking a base card from a set.
Bosox1976
Frank Sinkwich
first card 1955 Topps All American
While many of the Negro League baseball stars prior to integration had hard to find Cuban or Mexican issues during their playing days, Hall of Famer Buck Leonard had no contemporary cards and first listed card was part of the 1974 Laughlin Old Time Black Stars set. This set and the following 1978 Laughlin set contained 7 or 8 other Hall of Famers whose first cards were also in these sets.
If the payout is $2k today for signing a contract to be on a card, I'm surprised that's enough to entice players earning millions a year to bother with it.
Syd Finch?
Don Macek was the Chargers center from 1976-1989. He played in 162 career games and never had a Topps card - only a few regional police issues.