The 1954 Topps Al Kaline rookie card is on many Detroit Tigers collectors wish list, but does it deserve to be in the Baseball Card Hall of Fame?
The Baseball Card Hall of Fame is the brainchild of Ray Fonio, or RayFromPhilly, and like many other collector’s he enjoys watching the Cooperstown induction every year. From this, he was inspired to create the Baseball Card Hall of Fame to give the hobby the ability to show what cards are most important to us.
So, what are the criteria for a card to get in? First, the card must be popular within the community; it must have left its mark on the hobby. Second, the card my be iconic. But what is iconic? It must have an artistic design that makes it unforgettable. Lastly, value. Does the card hold weight within the hobby?
When explaining his criteria Ray did go on to say, “cards considered for induction DO NOT have to be Hall of Famers, it’s not so much the player but the card that is being inducted.”
This year two additional people have been brought into the process by RayFromPhilly to help streamline the process and help creating the classes are cards put up for induction. The first is Mike who is a YouTube content creator and own of the channel This Baseball Card Life on which he shares his hobby of collecting baseball cards. Second is Victor who is the owner/writer of the All-Time Greats Blog “your rookie card resource.” Together these three collectors have made their mission to preserve the hobby and acknowledge the hobby’s excellence to connect with future generations of collectors. Check out this YouTube video for more information.
The inaugural class (2018) of the Baseball Card Hall of Fame contains the following:
1952 Topps Mickey Mantle
T206 Honus Wagner
1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr
1954 Topps Hank Aaron
1951 Bowman Willie Mays
1933 Goudey Babe Ruth #144
1968 Topps Nolan Ryan
1948 Leaf Jackie Robinson
1989 Topps Rickie Henderson
1951 Bowman Mickey Mantle
If you go to vote you will also be able to see the Class of 2019 and 2020 as well.
This year there are 40 cards up for voting and each collector who casts a ballot can select up to 10 cards. Voting began May 11th and will end May 31st (Memorial Day) at 8:30pm est. If you would like to vote click here.
What cards did you vote for? Are there cards that you think should be up for selection?