Tim Raines baseball cards spent most of their lives chasing the the cardboard version of that other all-time leadoff man who plied his trade during the 1980s and 1990s, and who shall remain nameless (for a few paragraphs, at least).

In many ways, the cards mirrored the men themselves.

But …

Tim Raines was a giant killer, and that was never more evident than at the 1987 Major League Baseball All-Star Game in Oakland

That summer, Andre Dawson was playing for peanuts in Wrigley Field, trying to prove himself after being shunned on the free agent market. He was smashing baseballs like no one since George Foster had 10 years earlier.

In the American League, strapping young Mark McGwire was a rookie first baseman for the hometown A’s. On the heels of teammate Jose Canseco‘s monster rookie season in 1986, McGwire took up the Bash Brother mantle and matched Dawson homer-for-homer throughout the season.

But on that sweltering July 14th night in the Coliseum, two of the most potent lineups in recent memory battled to a 0-0 tie after nine innings. And after 10 innings. And after 11 innings.

And after 12 innings.

Finally, in the top of the 13th, NL catcher Ozzie Virgil led off with a single against Jay Howell. Lee Smith struck out, Hubie Brooks singled, and Willie McGee lined out.

The number-5 hitter in the inning thus strode to the plate with two outs and runners on first and second.

There is more than a little irony in the fact that that hitter was Tim Raines, the Montreal Expos’ speed burner who normally slotted into the leadoff position. On this occasion, though, it was up to Raines to bring home the bacon — and he delivered by smacking a two-run triple that gave the National League a 2-0 lead.

It didn’t matter that Juan Samuel — another burner — lined out to end the inning, because Sid Fernandez set down the AL in order after allowing a leadoff walk to Kevin Seitzer.

For the game, Raines went 3-for-3 and was an easy pick for MVP, besting all the sluggers and lockdown pitchers who had pushed the contest deep into the night.

It was a stellar performance by a superstar at the peak of his game, but it was soon forgotten as baseballs continued to fly out of stadiums faster than Donruss and Fleer wax packs flew off store shelves that year. By October, Raines had amassed 50 stolen bases, 123 runs, and batted .330. He was one of the very best players on the planet but finished a distant seventh in MVP voting, far, far behind Dawson, who won the NL award.

That season was a microcosm of Raines’ career: consistent superlative play with frequent flashes of otherworldly talent.

But he was always overshadowed.

For most of his time in the Majors, it was Rickey Henderson who relegated Raines to an afterthought in the conversation about the best leadoff men in baseball.

Even when Rickey had a rare down season, Raines was mired in the obscurity of Montreal.

And when the Expos finally let him go, four years after Dawson’s escape, Raines landed with the Chicago White Sox and was immediately eclipsed by “Big Hurt” Frank Thomas.

As the speed began to erode, Raines moved to the New York Yankees, where he won titles in 1996 and 1998. Stints in Oakland, Montreal (again), Baltimore, and Florida left the speedster with 2605 hits, 808 stolen bases (against just 146 times caught stealing), and a lifetime batting average of .294.

It was all great stuff, but by that time, Barry Bonds and others were swatting home runs like they were fleas, and the public was hungry for bigger numbers, more gawd, more flash. Raines slid into retirement as an interesting footnote to the pre-Millennium era in baseball.

It was little surprise, then, that he languished on the Hall of Fame ballot for most of his eligibility. It took him six ballots to crack the 50% barrier, and, even in 2015, he languished well below 60%.

But with the backlog of huge all-time names clearing out in recent years and an increased overall appreciation of analytics, Raines took a big leap forward in 2016, being chosen by 69.8%  of voters.

And then finally, in 2017, The Rock got The Call.

After a career that saw him slug .425, get on base at a .385 clip, and score 1571 runs, Tim Raines goes into the Hall of Fame as the eighth greatest left fielder of all time (according to the JAWS metric at Baseball Reference).

What better way to celebrate Rock’s election than with a little vintage cardboard? In that spirit, here are 30 of the best Tim Raines baseball cards ever issued.

Why 30?

Take a look at that uniform number flying around the bases in your diamond memories.

(This is part of a series of posts about the 2017 Hall of Fame inductions. Read them all here.)

1979 TCMA Memphis Chicks (#20)

There’s not much to this card other than the fact that it features a minor leaguer named Tim Raines two year before he’d appear on a “real” baseball card and almost 40 before he’d be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Seems worthy of your consideration, no?

1981 Donruss (#538)

Sure, Fleer may have been the company that ended Topps’ monopoly by winning a famous $1 antitrust lawsuit in 1980, but it was Donruss who really surprised collectors in 1981. After nearly three decades of pumping out non-sports cards, Donruss reached across the collecting aisle with a rush-job baseball set to go head-to-head with the other two giants.

While the cardstock was as flimsy as toilet paper and the photos were generally dark and blurry, Donruss scored a coup as the only manufacturer to issue a single-player Tim Raines rookie card in its base set.

1981 Topps (#479)

Of course, Topps was still king to most collectors in 1981, and their version of Raines’ rookie card has been the standard-bearer since it was issued. Never mind the fact that he has to share his debut with a pair of immortals: Roberto Ramos and Bobby Pate.

1981 Topps Traded (#816)

Topps used their first full, dedicated Traded set, at least in part, to ameliorate their whiff on featuring Raines on a solo pasteboard in their base set. His #816 is arguably one of his best-looking early issues and sees healthy continued activity on eBay.

1982 Kellogg’s (#53)

You can’t really run down the cards of any even moderately popular player from the late 1970s or early 1980s without breaking out that novelty of novelties — the 3-D card. In Raines’ 1982 Kellogg’s issue, he appears to be searching for lost keys, but it’s still a fun card.

1982 Topps Stolen Base Leaders (’81) — and Rickey Henderson (#164)

Rickey Henderson and Tim Raines appeared together on a slew of these League Leader cards in the 1980s, but this is the only one where Raines actually bested his AL counterpart, 71 to 56 swipes in the strike-shortened 1981 season. Perhaps that failing spurred Rickey on to his record 180 thefts in 1982.

1982 Zellers (#3)

One of my favorite parts about collecting in the 1980s were all of the oddball and regional issues that would wink at me from the pages of Sports Collectors Digest and occasionally make an appearance at a local card show. In the US, the 1982 Zellers Montreal Expos set was a real delicacy since it was issued in Canada. It didn’t hurt any that the Expos were loaded with young talent, and Raines was right there alongside Andre Dawson, Gary Carter, and all the rest.

1982 Perma-Graphics Super Star

The oddball parade continues with Raines’ 1982 Perma-Graphics Super Star issue. Each of these cards was rendered on hard plastic stock which, coupled with its smaller-than-normal size, earned the set the sobriquet of “credit cards.” These were another card-show favorite and a great impulse buy that was nearly impossible to resist.

1983 Topps All-Star (#403)

With its blue star, this card immediately brings to mind that hot summer night in 1987 when Raines bested all of the sluggers to take home the All-Star MVP award. He doesn’t look too happy here, but things would get better.

1983 Topps (#595)

Raines looks like he’s standing in the middle of a meadow, but you just know he’s getting ready to turn on the burners and make some poor pitcher pay for being too slow to the plate. Great design, and a nice full-body shot of the Expos home whites.

1984 Donruss (#299)

The 1984 Donruss set was a landmark in the hobby, combining vastly improved card quality with perceived scarcity. This shot of a peaking Raines is a perfect fit.

1984 Topps (#370)

The design is not quite as strong as the 1983 Topps or 1984 Donruss set, but the visuals for this underrated Tim Raines card are better than its counterpart in those other more ballyhooed sets. Great card that you can find for next to nothing most days.

1984 Topps Nestlè Dream Team (#17)

Topps made two Nestlè sets in 1984 — one 792-card parallel that the chocolate maker released in sheet-only form, and a special “Dream Team” set that was issued in small, cellophane-wrapped groups in the company’s chocolate candy bars. The former is fairly scarce, but this Raines card is a sweet example of the latter and a wonderful period piece for nostalgia lovers.

1987 Fleer (#328)

This was the year that all three major companies unleashed innovative designs, and the 1987 Topps set remains a classic that evokes the essence of the era. It was the other two sets, though, and especially the 1987 Fleer set, that set the hobby abuzz. Early-season scarcity sent collectors scrambling to soak up any product they could locate, and prices spiraled out of control. It may have been the first true new-product frenzy, and if you dared to open a pack, you could have pulled this cherry Raines card.

 1987 Fleer Juan Samuel and — Doubles & Triples (#642)

During the 1980s, Fleer revived a concept that Topps had used to great effect two and three decades earlier — the multi-player “candid” card. By 1987, Juan Samuel had joined Raines and Henderson among the list of legitimate burners, and he added a healthy dose of power to the mix. No wonder he took top billing on this card, but he seems out of place next to a HOFer all these years later.

1988 Donruss Diamond Kings (#2)

This is Raines’ only Diamond Kings card, and it came the year after Andre Dawson left Montreal for the Chicago Cubs. It also came as part of the first set that was perceived as massively overproduced almost the second the first cases came off the truck. No matter though, because it’s still a beautiful combination of colors and baseball.

1989 Topps Rock Raines (#560)

“Rock” looks every bit as powerful as his nickname would suggest as he prepares for his time at-bat on the front of this 1989 Topps card. There are those who would suggest that Topps was taking a dig at Raines for his “extracurricular” activities by using his sobriquet here, but we’ll leave that for the card truthers.

 1990 Baseball Cards Magazine 1969 Topps Replica (#24)

Back when it was still thrilling to go the actual mailbox every day and every envelope might contain an adventure of one sort or another, the best day of each month was the day my copy of Baseball Cards Magazine arrived. The writing was like nothing else going, and the articles were innovative and fun. I felt like I’d found my brethren. Maybe best of all was that the rag came with actual cards, inserted in the middle and featuring then-current players on classic Topps designs. It was heaven, just like this Raines insert.

 1991 Topps Desert Shield (#360)

In early 1991, the US plunged into the first Gulf War. Before we unleashed Desert Storm, though, we tried the more diplomatic Desert Shield. Though that sentiment soon escalated to full-on military offensives, it did give Topps the chance to issue a special run of their 40th-anniversary cards to be sent to our military men and women in the Middle East. Of course, where there was something new in the hobby, there was a way for someone to make money, so the cards quickly found their way to the stateside market. Here, Rock Raines is in full-swing glory beneath the Desert Shield shield.

1991 Upper Deck (#773)

After the 1990 season, Raines bid adieu to Montreal and landed with the Chicago White Sox. While base sets that year still pictured him in Expos togs, the updates caught him in his ChiSox uniform. As a first card with his new team, it’s hard to beat this 1991 Upper Deck high number offering, featuring a clean design and a crisp action shot.

 1992 Topps (#426)

After years of almost outright begging by collectors, Topps finally capitulated and ditched their long-standing love of soft, drab brown card stock in 1992. The new white stock complemented the crisp new design, and this Raines action shot is a perfect example of a card done right.

 1993 Stadium Club White Sox (#5)

Topps Stadium Club was one of a handful of super premium sets that lit the hobby on fire during the early 1990s. It was the darling of 1991 that had lost a bit of luster by ’93. In an attempt to regain some of that sheen, Topps issued 16 team-specific, factory-sealed sets, each containing 30 cards. This Raines offering is typical of the artsy photography and glitzy design elements of the era.

 1994 Donruss Triple Play (#268)

Full-bleed images, garish product logos, and a set name that makes it impossible to distinguish from 20 other issues of the same time period? Yeah, 1994 Donruss Triple Play checks all those boxes for being a poster boy of the overproduction era, but this Tim Raines card looks pretty darn good anyway.

1995 Topps (#77)

This must have been what opposing pitchers saw in their nightmares as they prepared to face Raines — Rock waving goodbye on his way to second base. Topps designs and quality came a long way between 1990 and 1995, huh?

1996 Pacific (#284)

There were just so many sets from so many manufacturers in the 1990s — does anyone even remember Pacific? We do, right here, right now, with this solid action shot of Raines coming out of the batter’s box.

1997 Topps (#334)

Any pinstripes card from the mid-1990s just looks regal, and especially if it’s coupled with a solid Topps design. Add in Tim Raines, and you have a triple-whammy that stands out in any commons bin.

1999 Plumbers Union (#30)

Thanks to the Plumbers Steamfitters Refrigeration Local Union 342, we get this team-color-coded card of a tough-looking Raines, ready to hack a baseball or maybe cut down a tree (yes, I know that’s not in the typical job description for steamfitters).

Cool oddball all the way around

2001 Fleer Platinum (#308)

Fleer may have missed out on issuing a Raines rookie card in their first set in 1981, but they got their chance to make up for that with their 2001 Platinum edition. Great to see an old design upgraded with better print quality and image crispness.

2002 Fleer Tradition (#87)

Tim Raines on a modern-day Goudey card? No way this one could have missed the list, even if Raines in Orioles gear looks almost as strange as Eric Davis would have.

Oh.

Right.

2003 Donruss (#285)

If you had told me that Tim Raines finished his career with the Florida Marlins, I wouldn’t have believed it. But this Donruss pasteboard proves me wrong and serves as a capper card that shows his entire MLB record. Still looks strange, but it is, indeed, a wrap.

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When Ivan Rodriguez first came on the scene in the very early 1990s, he brought a lot of hype with him.

Of course, many hotshot rookies have similar stories — they’re the next Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron, Rickey Henderson, or Steve Carlton.

But Rodriguez’s advance billing came with a grain of salt.

Sure, he was a great defensive catcher, but no one was quite sure if his bat could stand up to Major League pitching.

Unlike most young players, though, Rodriguez lived up to his promise and then some.

Not only did he develop into one of the best catchers ever behind the plate, he also built himself into a force at the plate.

Thanks to those efforts, Pudge will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY, during the summer of 2017.

For longtime collectors, Rodriguez’s enshrinement brings back great memories of our hobby before the bust. He’s one of the last players from our youth who will make it to Cooperstown through the writer’s ballot — most of the rest will need help from the Veterans Committee.

To help you get in the mood for some old-time collecting with a Pudge-y flair, here are seven (in honor of Pudge’s uniform number) great Ivan Rodriguez cards from the early days of his career.

1989 Procards Gastonia Rangers Ivan Rodriguez

Back in the late 1980s, dedicated minor league cards staked their claim to the pre-rookie market much as Bowman would do a few years later.

When Rodriguez made his minor league debut for the Gastonia Rangers in 1989, both the Star Company and ProCards were there to chronicle the event on cardboard.

If you want a pure 1980s Pudge card complete with a back that looks like it came straight off your high school typewriter, though, the ProCards issue is the one you need.

And it can be yours for less than $50 most of the time, and occasionally less than twenty, with PSA 10 copies pushing toward $75 or more.

1991 Bowman Ivan Rodriguez

In 1991, Topps was still trying to figure out what to do with the resurrected Bowman line.

The set had debuted two years earlier as an oversized nod to the hobby’s past but, while collectors enjoyed the large and colorful photos, we were less enthused by the cards’ refusal to play nice with the rest of our 2-1/2″ X 3-1/2″ treasures.

The Bowmans were too big!

Topps trimmed the cards down to a standard size in 1990 and, in 1991 hit on the formula that would carry the set so far in subsequent years: rookie cards!

Among the 150 or so first-year cards in that 1991 set are standouts such as Jim Thome, Chipper Jones, Jeff Bagwell, Luis Gonzalez, and Kenny Lofton.

And, of course, Pudge Rodriguez.

For just a few bucks, you can have the first widely distributed Major League card of a Hall of Fame catcher … what could be better than that?

(PSA 10 copies sell for $150-200.)

1991 Topps Traded Tiffany Ivan Rodriguez

The more you look at the 1991 Topps base set, the more you realize it could have been a Bowman issue from the same era.

For their 40th anniversary set, Topps dropped all the garish borders and wild colors of the 1980s and went with a simple design that emphasized the player photo — and the company’s own celebratory logo.

Rodriguez didn’t appear in the full set, but T.C.G. made sure to include the rookie in their year-end Traded set.

Today, even the glossy “Tiffany” version won’t set you back more than $10 raw, though if you opt for a PSA 10 you’re looking at several hundred dollars.

1991 Fleer Ultra Update Ivan Rodriguez

Fleer helped kick off the era of “ultra premium” baseball cards with their 1991 issue named, appropriately enough, “Ultra.”

The hype around Ultra was soon surpassed by the glare of Topps Stadium Club, and the continued build-up of 1990 Leaf as Frank Thomas and Sammy Sosa launched their monster careers.

After a few years, it became apparent that Ultra was not really very limited, but this Pudge card is still one of his rookies and represents a piece of hobby history — the first card of a Hall of Famer in a  groundbreaking set.

Even if it is just an “Update.”

Today, this card can be yours for less than $30 in even the highest grades.

1992 Fleer Rookie Sensations Ivan Rodriguez

In 1992, Fleer caused a hobby “sensation” by issuing one of 20 “Rookie Sensations” cards in each of its jumbo packs of 35 cards.

Featuring big names like Jeff Bagwell and Frank Thomas, Sensations also offered up the first card of slugger Phil Plantier.

The cards were thick and shiny, and pretty limited, at least compared to most of the other material being pushed out by the millions that summer.

As the buzz around Plantier continued to grow, he pulled Sensations along with him, and they were the hit of the hobby most of that season.

While the Rodriguez card never got the kind of love that Plantier’s did, it’s still a solid early-career issue that you can buy for a few bucks or so on eBay, with PSA 9 copies hitting $100 or more and PSA 10s pretty much nonexistent.

1993 Upper Deck Ivan Rodriguez

This one is all about aesthetics.

By 1993, virtually every card was being produced in quantities large enough to paper your office walls, and you can pick this one up for less than a dollar these days.

But when it comes to a striking visual of a modern catching great, this one is hard to beat.

You can’t see much of Rodriguez’s face on this card, but you do get his intense eyes and a hint of teeth. Is he going to catch the ball with his mouth? Bite the batter?

Whatever Pudge has in mind, I wouldn’t want to cross him.

1994 Topps Stadium Club Ivan Rodriguez

Like the ’93 Upper Deck above, this Stadium Club issue won’t break your bank and it won’t give you much return on your investment down the line.

But, also like the UD card, Topps gave us an awesome glimpse into the on-the-field life of one of the game’s great catchers with this beauty.

Someone has just popped up, and Rodriguez is blasting out of his crouch to give chase.

If I had to bet, my money would be on this play ending in an out.

Another Rodriguez play — and card — worthy of the Hall of Fame.

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As the 2017 Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremonies drew near, fans everywhere were doing what fans do best — talking about the big event, second-guessing the HOF voters, and thinking about what might come next.

And when it comes to overall knowledge and strong opinions, few groups are as ardent as baseball card collectors.

After all, we’ve spent hundreds of hours over years and years pouring through our cards, memorizing every wrinkle and errant print dot on card fronts, and devouring the statistics on card backs.

So who better to chime in all things Cooperstown-related than a bunch of fellow collectors?

No one, I say.

Over the course of a couple of weeks leading up to Hall of Fame weekend (July 28-30), I posed a series of questions on Twitter, and — as you might expect — hobbyists told me exactly what they think.

Here, then, are the results of nine Hall of Fame polls, as told by our collective baseball card consciousness.

The Snubs, Hitter Division

Which of these eligible superstars who retired before 1994 and currently NOT in the #HallOfFame is most deserving of a Cooperstown plaque?

— Wax Pack Gods (@WaxPackGods) July 15, 2017

This one sparked some good debate as the underrated Bobby Grich continued to be underrated here and his supporters reminded us of his statistical record (7th best second baseman of all time according to Baseball Reference.

This question also generated several write-in candidates, which led to …

The Snubs, Hitter Division – Round 2

First #HallOfFame poll was fun & yielded more intriguing names. So which of THESE players is most deserving of a Cooperstown plaque?

— Wax Pack Gods (@WaxPackGods) July 16, 2017

This question really illustrated the classic conundrum of “famous good” players v. “SABR good” players.

Most of us who were fans during the 1980s remember Dale Murphy and Dave Parker as superstars, but the new breed of statistics like OPS+ and WAR favor Ted Simmons and Dick Allen.

For this poll, at least, old-school stars won out, but there was plenty of discussion.

We still had some leftover hitters, so it was on to …

The Snubs, Hitter Division – Round 3

One more round of pre-1994 retirees to pick up other hitters mentioned in previous runs. Which of these most deserves a #HallOfFame plaque?

— Wax Pack Gods (@WaxPackGods) July 17, 2017

Steve Garvey won this ballot in a landslide over Al Oliver, which only served to fuel the fire of the stats v. fame discussions.

Garvey and Oliver trounced Graig Nettles and Reggie Smith here, even though the latter two are way out front in terms of career WAR:

• Graig Nettles – 68.0 WAR
• Reggie Smith – 64.5 WAR
• Al Oliver – 43.3 WAR
• Steve Garvey – 37.7 WAR

This wrapped up our trip through the hitters on the outside looking in, at least momentarily, but there was still the matter of …

The Snubs, Starting Pitcher Division

We went deep w/hitters; you knew we had to do THIS. Which pitcher is most deserving of a #HallOfFame plaque? (One is not like the others.)

— Wax Pack Gods (@WaxPackGods) July 18, 2017

It’s probably not too surprising that the ever-popular Jack Morris ran away with this one, or that Sabermetrics fans in the group were fairly disillusioned with the results.

Regardless of who your pitcher is, though, he can’t pitch a complete game every time.

That’s why we had to move on to …

The Snubs, Relief Pitcher Division

By request, which of these Modern Era reliever is most deserving of #HallOfFame induction? Any?

— Wax Pack Gods (@WaxPackGods) July 20, 2017

Folks weren’t necessarily enthusiastic about this group but still chose Lee Smith by a wide margin over the late Dan Quisenberry. Still, the overarching sentiment of a large swath of the group was that these relievers were underwhelming on the whole.

Having covered most of the (maybe) overlooked candidates who played during the 1970s and 1980s, we moved on to …

The Supersnubs

It's one thing to not get elected to the #HallOfFame, but another to only get 1 try. Which of these 1-and-dones was most surprising?

— Wax Pack Gods (@WaxPackGods) July 23, 2017

These guys were all superstars at some point during their careers, yet they all fell off the Hall of Fame ballot after just try. Lou Whitaker won this one in a romp, but Kenny Lofton received fairly vocal support among more recent snubs.

Of course, not all HOF debate centers around the guys who were left out.

Indeed, even the players already enshrined are not safe from fan scrutiny, so we joined that fray with …

The Overrated

Slightly darker #HallOfFame poll … which of these HOF players who appeared in the 1970s least deserves his Cooperstown plaque?

— Wax Pack Gods (@WaxPackGods) July 25, 2017

Bill Mazeroski “won” this title with ease, but Jim Rice had plenty of “support,” too. He also had plenty of real support from collectors who couldn’t believe we’d even include him in this list.

Continuing with the theme of enshrined players who may or may not actually belong in Cooperstown, we turned to ..

The Firemen

(Or … Do We HAVE to Have a Reliever?)

You're building a team full of #HallOfFame players & have room for only 1 reliever, who can be used ONLY as a reliever. Who do you pick?

— Wax Pack Gods (@WaxPackGods) July 26, 2017

As with the snubbed reliever poll above, enthusiasm for this group of HOF hurlers was lukewarm at best.

In the end, Rich Gossage narrowly edged out Rollie Fingers and Bruce Sutter.

We wrapped up our consideration of Hall of Fame specialists with …

The Old Sluggers

Your #HallOfFame team is in a DH league. Which of these HOF players who saw significant DH time in the 80s and/or 90s is your guy?

— Wax Pack Gods (@WaxPackGods) July 27, 2017

Collectors dig the long ball … but we picked the least-accomplished home run smasher among this group as our HOF designated hitter.

In the end, Paul Molitor edged out Reggie Jackson as the DH on our hypothetical Hall of Fame club thanks to his overall hitting excellence and maybe also because he played much more recently.

Also taking the field not all that long ago were …

The Forgotten Sluggers

There were 4 hitters on 2017 Today's Game Era #HallOfFame ballot. Which, if any. is most deserving of Cooperstown enshrinement? (0 got in).

— Wax Pack Gods (@WaxPackGods) July 28, 2017

Mark McGwire won this poll by a Big-Mac-Sized margin, but there were also fewer votes here than in any of our other surveys. Voter fatigue or a no-vote for all those listed?

Could go either way, but McGwire is clearly not a complete pariah among collectors at this point.

Lessons Learned

So what did we learn from all these Hall of Fame polls?

Well, for one thing, we learned that collectors hold onto their childhood affinities well into adulthood and have plenty to say when it comes to their diamond heroes.

We also learned that, as a group, we’re not blind to the statistical advances of the past couple of decades.

As mentioned above, there was plenty of discussion on both sides of the fame v. stats debate, and most had there merits. Here’s one of my favorite comments, from a collector firmly in the Sabermetrics camp:

HOF poll voters on @WaxPackGods think Willie Hernandez deserved the MVP in 1984. 😉 pic.twitter.com/pQtma79qMX

— IDrawBaseballCards (@mosley_mark) July 27, 2017

It sums up in one quick shot the light-hearted tensions of long-time fans and collectors struggling to reconcile what we saw on the field 35 years ago with what we see in the record book todya.

What we really learned, or reinforced, was that baseball and baseball cards are fun.

More fun than ever, if you let them be.

We may lament the passing of the local card shop or real (hard) gum in wax packs, but we’ve never had such a huge and vibrant community of fellow collectors at our fingertips, 24-hours a day, as we do now.

Enjoy the ride like it’s 1984, guys!

What’s Next?

Where do we go from here?

More baseball cards, and more talk about baseball cards, naturally!

And, probably, more polls and good-natured group self reflection.

Thanks to all those who have participated so far — it’s been a lot of fun!

And let me know if you have ideas for other topics we ought to tackle.

I can almost guarantee we’ll have strong opinions and a good time hashing through them.

The Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2017 is chock full of greatness. Set to take their rightful place among the other legends in Cooperstown are …

• One of the top 5 catchers of all time (Ivan Rodriguez) …
• One of the top 10 first basemen of all time (Jeff Bagwell) …
• One of the top handful of leadoff men and overall spark plugs of all time (Tim Raines) …
• One of the most successful team architects in history (John Schuerholz) …

… and Bud Selig.

As David Schoenfield writes at ESPN, it’s no surprise that Commissioner Bud got in considering that about half of all baseball commishes eventually do.

That’s not to say Selig is without his own merits, though.

A Distinguished Baseball Career

After all, consider Selig’s accomplishments in the game:

• Instrumental in bringing revenue sharing to baseball
• Helped rework division and league structures
• Pushed interleague play
• Expanded the playoffs
• Played key role in establishing World Baseball Classic
• Largely ineffective leader during strike that wiped out parts of two seasons and the 1994 World Series (sorry about that, Montreal Expos)
• Conspired, through his inaction, to bring PEDs to prominence in baseball
• Helped make sure Pete Rose would not get elected to the Hall of Fame
• Mastered the knee-jerk reaction, especially when it came to All-Star ties and steroids
• Lobbied (whined) for improved competitive balance
• Graciously transferred ownership of the Milwaukee Brewers — to his daughter — when he became Commissioner
• Graciously worked to vote out Commissioner Fay Vincent, who had suggested Selig and other owners colluded against free agents in 1987
• Nobly served as interim Commissioner until a permanent replacement for Vincent could be found
• Mercifully accepted the role of full-time Commissioner when he was deemed the best candidate

It’s an overwhelming record of service and commitment to baseball that few can match.

Indeed, Brutus … er … Bud is an honorable man.

And like most honorable diamond men, Selig eventually found his way to our cardboard realm.

First, you can find him in full (sometimes) autographed glory in the 2013 Topps Allen & Ginter’s set:

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You can usually land this baby without signature for under $5, and even the signed variety will set you back less than $40 most of the time.

Then, just as the nation was trying to salve our wounds after Selig abdicated to Rob Manfred, Topps treated us to this 2016 First Pitch dandy:

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Like the Allen & Ginter’s, you can get your copy for just a few bucks.

All in all, a couple of great Hall of Fame cards for a great Hall of Fame commissioner.

Hard to say how we ever got by without any of them.

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If you were looking for a superstar face for the conundrum of the so-called Steroid Era in Major League Baseball, you couldn’t do much better than Jeff Bagwell.

Here was a player who looked like a good bet to someday land a roster spot with the Boston Red Sox until they traded him to the Houston Astros for — guh — Larry Andersen at the 1990 trade deadline.

At that point, Bagwell had never hit more than four homers in a minor league season, though he did smack 34 doubles for the New Britain Red Sox while recording a .333 average.

Despite the questions about his power, Bagwell opened the 1991 season as Houston’s starting first baseman and never looked back. He was named National League Rookie of the Year after an opening campaign that saw him hit .294 with 79 runs and 82 RBI.

Power Surge

What was really surprising, though, was his power stroke — good enough for 15 dingers.

His muscle continued to ratchet up over the next few years, peaking with a monster 1994 that saw him hit 39 homers with 104 runs, 116 RBI, 15 stolen base, all backed by a gaudy .368 batting average.

And he did all that in the span of just 110 games during a strike-ruined season.

Bagwell had established himself as a legitimate and consistent power source, because after the boys of summer resumed their fairy tale story in 1995, Bags reeled off eight straight 30-homer seasons from 1996-2003. Three times during that span, he topped 40 homers and narrowly missed on two other occasions.

But, as we know now, that was the heart of the steroid era.

And Bagwell had built himself from a so-so power source in the minors to an outright slugger in the Majors.

And Bagwell had admitted to using androstenedione back in 1998.

In case you don’t remember, androstenedione was the substance that reporters spied in Mark McGwire‘s locker as he chased down Roger Maris that same summer, and it was in many ways the beginning of the scrutiny that led to the villainization of power hitters throughout the game.

While Bagwell never admitted to taking anything stronger, and while there have been scant few whispers about him and the use of performance-enhancing drugs (PED) — aside from Jose Canseco’s rants — Bagwell has nevertheless paid a price for the era in which he played and the shape of his career.

Delayed Rewards

Consider that Bagwell it 449 home runs with a .297 average and 202 stolen bases over his 15-year career, all with the Astros.

Or that his Sabermetrics super scores – WAR (79.6) and JAWS (63.9) — rank him as the sixth greatest first basemen of all time. The only guy ahead of him who has seen the inside of a baseball stadium during the last 50 years is Albert Pujols.

Wouldn’t you expect the sixth best first baseman ever and the best to come up for election in at least 60 years to sail into the Hall of Fame?

You might, but Bagwell didn’t.

In fact, he received only 41.7% of the vote on his first ballot in 2011. That year was right in the heart of the PED outrage that gripped the game by the throat, and even the hint of extra muscle on your frame could buy you a heap of scrutiny.

But without any real beef against him, Bagwell made a steady climb up the HOF ladder in subsequent years until he finally broke through in January 2017.

It took him seven ballots, but Jeff Bagwell finally did sail into Cooperstown, being named on 86.2% of ballots.

So, regardless of what the whispers may have said about this legend over the last 15 years, and regardless of how long it took him to claim his spot, Bagwell has landed where he belonged all along.

A Flood of Baggy Cardboard

All that’s left for us now as collectors is to dust off his old cardboard, or go buy some, and enjoy the magnificent player that he was.

If you had designs on building a complete Bagwell master set, well, you can probably forget about that. PSA lists 859 items on the complete checklist, and even the most ardent of Bagwell collectors is only a little over a third of the way there.

But Bagwell began his career back in our day, during the boom years of the hobby.

That means there aren’t that many different early cards to consider, and most of them are still available in goodly quantities.

With that in mind, here is is a rundown of Jeff Bagwell’s rookie cards, all of which you can pick up on the cheap.

And who doesn’t love a good deal on Hall of Fame rookies?

1991 Bowman

By 1991, Topps had already issued two Bowman sets with middling success. While collectors enjoyed the retro feel of the issue, the 1989 cards were too big to fit in standard sheets and holders.

And the 1990 set was just sorta … boring.

But in 1991, Topps hit on the formula that would make Bowman a staple to this day: rookies!

Lots and lots of rookies … and pre-rookies, too.

Had Bowman made this switch a year earlier, we probably would have a major card with Bagwell card in his New Britain Red Sox uniform. As it is, we have an early Astros card that pays homage to his 1990 Eastern League MVP trophy with a foil stamp in the upper left-hand corner.

It’s a solid first-year card of a Hall of Famer that you can buy for under $5 in nice raw condition.

1991 Donruss “The Rookies”

When Donruss debuted “The Rookies” in 1986, baseball cards were like paper gold and rookie cards, in particular, were seen as can’t-miss investment vehicles.

By 1991, it was pretty clear that everything printed after about 1981 was scarce as dirt, but we all still loved our rookie cards enough to make “The Rookies” an annual favorite.

They were like your lame cousins lame birthday party that the whole family goes every year even though they know nothing exciting will happen. It’s the possibility and the family obligation that keeps you coming back.

In 1991, at least, Donruss gave us future Hall of Famers in Bagwell and Ivan Rodriguez, as well as several other stars of the generation, including Luis Gonzalez, Chuck Knoblauch, and Darryl Kile.

And Kirk Dressendorfer, of course.

These days, the whole shebang will set you back less the $5, and Bagwell himself comes in under two.

1991 Fleer Update

Bagwell collectors of the day were probably relieved when their guy didn’t appear in the 1991 Fleer base set — he had avoided the Yellow Borders of Death!

Any associated smugness evaporated that fall, though, as Fleer made sure to include the up-and-comer in its year-end Update set, replete with canary borders.

While this card is as ugly as it wants to be, it’s still a first-year Bags issue that you can snag all day long for less than a buck.

1991 Fleer Ultra Update

What their yellow horror lacked in collector appeal, Fleer attempted to recoup with the premier of their premium set in the summer of 1991

Fleer Ultra was positioned to take aim at Leaf and (later) Stadium Club, and it’s an attractive offering that was really attractive at the time. Still, like pretty much every other set of the era, Ultra was grossly overproduced.

The late-season Ultra Update may exist in slightly fewer quantities, but you can still find Bagwell for a few dollars in nice ungraded condition.

1991 Leaf Gold Rookies

Bagwell didn’t benefit from the rarefied air of the 1990 Leaf set, and he wasn’t included in the follow-up base issue in 1991.

Leaf did think enough of the young first-sacker to include him in their 1991 Leaf Gold Rookies set, though.

These cards were randomly inserted into Series 1 and Series 2 packs of the “normal” Leaf cards and featured 24 promising rookies — guys like Wil Cordero, Arthur Rhodes, Mo Vaughn, Reggie Sanders.

Leaf also shoe-horned highlight cards for Nolan Ryan and Rickey Henderson into Series 2 packs.

Today you can find raw Bagwells for a buck or two each, and even PSA 10 copies only fetch $20 or so.

1991 Leaf Studio

In 1991, Donruss decided that we needed to see the … um … flirtatious (?) sides of our favorite baseball stars.

To accommodate that mandate, they created Leaf Studio, featuring black-and-white photos of 264 players in various “studio” poses, many with a sort of candlelit feel.

Bagwell’s entry fits that general description, as we find the young, hatless Astro half-smiling at us over his bat barrel while arching an eyebrow in our direction.

Are we buddies?

Does he want to sell us the bat?

Is he going to ask us out for coffee?

It’s always open for interpretation with Studio, but this enigma can be your own for about a dollar.

1991 Score Rookie and Traded

Score was another company who missed out on Bagwell with their 1991 base set but made up for it later in the year.

There is nothing really remarkable about Bags’ Rookie and Traded card, other than maybe that big, powerful uppercut swing that we see just past the point of full extension.

If you like this card, you can probably own one for about $2.

1991 Topps Stadium Club

What Leaf was in 1990, Stadium Club was in 1991.

That is to say, Stadium Club was the summer sensation that sent collectors scurrying for their own copies, enticed dealers to hoard whatever boxes and cases they could find, and rocked prices through the stratosphere.

A super premium issue from the most staid of companies — Topps — Stadium Club reset our expectations for baseball card quality and new-card prices.

Alas, as was ultimately the case with almost every issue of the era, Stadium Club turned out to be as common as Sunday-night dread.

Not even Jeff Bagwell was immune to the subsequent deflation, and you can buy this HOF rookie card for a couple dollars on eBay and elsewhere.

1991 Topps Stadium Club Members Only

Topps wasn’t content in 1991 to make the most slam-boom-crash sparkling opulent baseball cards of all time.

Nope, they wanted to turn Stadium Club into an actual club — and so they did.

For an annual fee, you could join the Members Only club, a commitment which netted you a neat little package that included:

• A subscription to Topps’ magazine (really!)
• A Stadium Club key chain
• A “bronze ingot” of Nolan Ryan
• A four-sport, 50-card Members Only boxed set

If you’ve read this far, you won’t be surprised to learn that Bagwell made the cut for the Members Only issue and today joins the rest of the cards in that set as some of the rarest, most valuable …

Oh, wait.

You can buy the Bagwell for, like, belly button lint today. Still a cool card, though.

1991 Topps Traded

Topps didn’t do any better than its contemporaries when it came to having the foresight to include Bagwell in their base 1991 set.

But, also like the others, The Old Gum Company saw fit to issue a Bags card in their year-end Traded Set.

Bagwell looks a bit, um, uncomfortable in this shot and certainly nowhere near as inviting as on, say, his Studio card.

Still, this is the first official Topps (non-Stadium Club division) card of a bona fide Hall of Famer, and it can usually be yours for about a dollar.

1991 Upper Deck

Sitting here in the late 2010s, you might be tempted to conclude that Upper Deck beat their competition to the punch when it came to Jeff Bagwell rookie cards.

After all, Bags made it into the “Upper Deck” set, not the “Upper Deck Rookies and Traded Update Opening Day We’re Catching Up” set.

Only … Bagwell sits at #755, which means he was part of the high-number 100-card series issued later in the season.

So, when you plunk down your 99 cents for this Bagwell rookie, you really are buying an “Upper Deck Rookies and Traded Update Opening Day We’re Catching Up” card.

Don’t let that sap your enjoyment, though, because it’s still a great RC.

1991 Upper Deck Rookie Threats

Man, I’ll tell you what …

Upper Deck did everything better than their competition, didn’t they?

I mean, first it was the Mylar packs and the card-back photos and the card-back holograms … then it was the Reggie Jackson chase cards … then it was the revolutionizing of multi-player rookie cards.

OK, so maybe revolutionizing is an exaggeration (and feels like it’s possibly not even a real word), but this “Rookie Threats” card is a thousand times better than Topps’ old four-heads-in-a-grid layout, isn’t it?

Depends on what you mean by better, I suppose.

Aesthetically, it’s great.

Value-wise? About a buck.

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When it comes to glamorous baseball cards, baseball executives usually don’t move the needle.

After all, would you rather have a rookie card of a potential 500-home-run slugger or a suit-and-tie shot of some Ivy League whippersnapper who wants to become the next Theo Epstein or Jed Hoyer?

But if there is one modern diamond chief who can buck that trend, it’s John Schuerholz, who will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in July or 2017.

Consider his record:

• Began baseball career in 1967 as an administrative assistant to minor league clubs in the Baltimore Orioles‘ organization
• Became Kansas City Royals farm director in 1976
• Served as Royals’ scouting director from 1977-80
• Promoted to assistant general manager in KC in 1981
• Installed as GM of the Royals in 1982, a post he held until 1990
• Led Atlanta Braves as GM from 1990 to 2007

In case you didn’t notice, the years Schuerholz spent as farm and scouting director for the Royals were the same years during which KC was building the team that would compete through the mid-1980s.

You can chalk up their 1985 World Series title, in large part, to the work Schuerholz did in constructing the club.

And then, of course, he was at the helm when the Braves returned to the World Series year after year in the 90s, including a win in the 1995 Fall Classic (over the Cleveland Indians).

Lucky for us, the baseball card gods saw fit to fill our coffers with a wide variety of Schuerholz pasteboards.

First came the team-issued 1982 Kansas City Royals Photocards “rookie card”:

Next up was the 1983 Kansas City Royals Photocards issue:

That gem was followed up closely by the 1984 Kansas City Royals Photocards card:

Finally, Schuerholz capped off his cardboard career on the 1985 Kansas City Royals Photocards issue:

Man, what a cornucopia of color and amazing baseball card designs. Truly a master set fitting of the Hall of Fame.

Don’t you think?

(Thanks to The Trading Card Database for their Schuerholz listings.)

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The 2017 Hall of Fame induction ceremonies in Cooperstown, NY, are coming up during the weekend of July 28-30.

By now, you know that the writers selected three men for enshrinement: Jeff Bagwell, Tim Raines, and Ivan Rodriguez.

But are those the right choices?

We thought it would be fun to get the perspective of fellow card collectors — we’re the ones who have poured through these guys’ cards for decades, after all!

So cast your ballot below, choosing up to 10 men who you think deserve a plaque in Cooperstown.  (Poll closes at 11:59:59 pm on July 31).

[yop_poll id=”1″]