Chipper Jones rookie cards have been hot commodities since well before the former Atlanta Braves third baseman ever stepped foot on a Major League diamond.

Part of that is due to his timing — Jones was the first overall pick in the 1990 draft, right in the middle of the rookie card craze.

That combination came with some crazy expectations, both on the field and in the hobby.

And, although Chipper didn’t make his Big League debut until 1993, he made his cardboard debut in 1991 (if you don’t count a spate of minor league cards in both 1990 and 1991).

The heck of it all, though, is that Jones pretty much lived up to the hype.

Over a 19-year career, he collected 2726 hits, 468 home runs, and a .303 batting average, numbers that make him something like the fifth or sixth greatest hot corner man ever.

When you add in all those World Series appearances with the Braves, his 1999 National League MVP award, and his 2018 Hall of Fame election, it’s little wonder that Jones’ baseball cards still cause a stir after all these years.

So …

As a mini (micro?) celebration of one of the great players of the Junk Wax Era, here is a quick rundown of each Chipper Jones rookie card.

(Affiliate links to Amazon and eBay are included in the price checks below.)

1991 Bowman Chipper Jones (#569)

This was the third year of the resurrected Bowman line, which Topps brought back in an oversized format in 1989. They clipped the card size to the standard dimensions (2-1/2″ x 3-1/2″) in 1990 and beefed up the rookie card content to almost obscene levels. Of course, that trend has only continued over the years, with Bowman becoming the place to go for rookies and pre-rookies.

In 1991, Topps made sure to capitalize on the still-booming rookie craze by not only jamming their Bowman full of first-year cars but also peppering the U.S. with enough product to sop up the tears of “investors” when the bubble inevitably burst.

Today, Chipper Jones leads the pack, but you can usually find his raw card for less than a buck. Slabbed copies in Mint condition or better will set you back $20 or more

Check Prices on Amazon

Check Prices on eBay

1991 O-Pee-Chee Chipper Jones (#333)

In 1991, O-Pee-Chee broke with tradition and produced a set of baseball cards that was not a near-exact copy of the Topps set from the same year. O-Pee-Chee Premier was a venture into the world of premium cards, and came heavily hyped, as those sets tended to do.

Although OPC never really panned out as a super-duper brand, they didn’t abandon their roots completely in 1991. For collectors, that meant a Topps parallel set that you could only tell was not a Topps set by the premium white cardstock and the French copy on card backs.

Aside from those differences, the Chipper Jones OPC rookie is identical to his Topps issue, but the Canadian cards were issued in much smaller quantities. As a result, this card can bring $15-20 even ungraded, with PSA 10s busting through the $500 mark.

Check Prices on Amazon

Check Prices on eBay

1991 Score Chipper Jones (#671)

Ah, yes … here we have young Chipper Jones swinging away from the surface of the sun.

This card was hot hot HOT!!

Well, sort of.

It looked — and still looks — actually hot.

But like most baseball cards from 1991, Score pumped out enough of these to keep your family feeling Chipper for generations.

Expect to pay about a dollar for ungraded copies and maybe $50 for GEM slabbed specimens.

Check Prices on Amazon

Check Prices on eBay

1991 Topps Chipper Jones (#333)

This is a classic rookie card forged by the classy design Topps rolled out for their 40th anniversary, but it’s just so plentiful that it’s had a hard time building up much value over the years. Even with huge numbers available, though, the first base Topps card of Chipper Jones *feels* like a bargain at a dollar or two each, ungraded. That price climbs to $100+ for graded GEM copies.

Check Prices on Amazon

Check Prices on eBay

1991 Topps Desert Shield Chipper Jones (#33)

In 1991, Topps made a parallel set of their base issue for distribution to US troops serving in what would become the (first)

Gulf War. The cards were identical to “normal” Topps cards from that year, except each was graced with a foil stamp of the Operation Desert Shield emblem.

Colloquial estimates put the print run at 6500-7o00 of each card, which was tiny for the day.

As a consequence, even ungraded copies of this Chipper Jones rookie card can reach well into three figures. If you’re looking for a GEM graded specimen, be prepared to pay thousands, and to wait a long time to do it.

You should also beware that counterfeits exist — take a look at this piece from Cardboard Connection for tips on how to spot the fakes.

Check Prices on Amazon

Check Prices on eBay

1991 Topps Micro Chipper Jones (#333)

Topps always did like to experiment, and their lab work in 1991 produced a “micro” set, with each card measuring a scant 1″ x 1-3/8″.

These cards were never very popular with collectors and that, coupled with wide availability at retail outlets, limits the resale value of complete sets to less than $10. Most of that price is wrapped up in Chipper Jones, though, and his rookie card from the set brings $3-10 in nice ungraded condition.

But that’s not the end of the story for this card. Even though more than half of the micros submitted to PSA for evaluation have graded out at a GEM-MT 10, less than one-seventh of Chippers make that cut. As of this writing, only 31 Jones rookie cards exist with a PSA 10 rating.

As a consequence, you’ll have to pay well into three figures for a perfect 1991 Topps Micro Chipper Jones card, if you can even find one.

Check Prices on Amazon

Check Prices on eBay

1991 Topps Tiffany Chipper Jones (#333)

If this card looks familiar, well, it’s because you’ve seen it before. Up there, in the O-Pee-Chee listing.

And up there, in the Desert Shield listing.

And up there, in the Micro listing.

Yes, they all sport the same design, same photo, same Chipper.

But at least the Tiffany card is glossy and printed on creamy white stock and pretty limited, compared to most other 1991s, at any rate.

And … PSA says only about 6% of the Chippers it has seen rate a perfect 10.

Put all that together, and you’re looking at close to 100 bucks for a raw copy and five grand or more for a GEM MT graded version.

Check Prices on Amazon

Check Prices on eBay

1991 Upper Deck Chipper Jones (#55)

By 1991, we all knew that Upper Deck cards would be thick, feature blazing white borders, dazzle with the best photography in the industry, and twinkle at us with their holograms.

The cards were great looking, and the Chipper Jones rookie card was no exception.

But it was all kind of … boring … after three years of pretty much the same (great) design. And there were so many UDs issued that year.

So now, decades later, we can either lament the fact that Chipper’s first Upper Deck card struggles to bring $1 on the open market (about $50 for a PSA 10) … or we can be happy that such a nice card is the rough equivalent, monetarily, to a Keurig pod.

Check Prices on Amazon

Check Prices on eBay

(Check out the rest of our posts on the 2018 Hall of Fame class here.)

Want to see a video version of this article?

Who’s buying? Who’s selling? Which stars are changing teams? Will your team make a move?

And if you’re a baseball card collector, well, the delights of trade-deadline season are multiplied by all the cardboard possibilities.

I mean, remember how awesome it was to know Terry Mulholland would appear in a different uniform each spring when the new baseball cards hit store shelves?

But as exciting as the trade deadline is, it’s not the only late-July ritual that ignites diamond imagination … and debate.

That’s because Hall of Fame induction ceremonies are held in Cooperstown during the last weekend of July each year, and there is always disagreement about who belongs in baseball’s Valhalla and who should have to pay admission like the rest of us scrubs.

It’s all great fun.

And sometimes … sometimes … baseball’s two hot-topic streaks collide and the unthinkable happens: a future Hall of Famer is traded!

Not long ago, I came across a Sports Illustrated article by Jay Jaffe that deals with this very topic — eventual Hall of Famers dealt before the non-waiver trade deadline (so Jeff Bagwell doesn’t make the cut, for example).

I thought it would be fun to take Jay’s list and put it a hobby twist on it.

Specifically, I wanted to look at two baseball cards for each of the HOF players: the last card issued before the trade (old team) and the first card issued after the trade (new team).

Here then, I present ten Hall of Fame baseball card makeovers, courtesy of the MLB trade deadline. Enjoy the memories!

June 15, 1964 — Lou Brock, Cubs to Cardinals

Before the trade …

Brock was the Chicago Cubs starting left fielder, but it took him parts of three Major League seasons to get there, and he wasn’t running — or hitting — like a record breaker. He did 24 steals in 1963, but that came with 12 caught-stealings, and his lifetime batting average stood at .258.

Judging by his 1964 Topps card, Brock wasn’t all that thrilled.

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

The Cubs evidently weren’t, either, as they traded Brock, Jack Spring, and Paul Toth to the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for Ernie Broglio, Doug Clemens, and Bobby Shantz.

After the trade …

Brock stole 33 bases while hitting .348 with 12 home runs for the 1964 Cardinals in 103 games, finishing tenth in National League Most Valuable Player voting. He also picked up a World Series ring that October.

No wonder he looked so much happier on his 1965 Topps card.

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

And, of course, Brock would go on to 3000 hits and a berth in the Hall of Fame, along with just about every stolen base record in the book … until Rickey Henderson swallowed them all up a decade-ish later.

Check out Lou Brock baseball cards for sale on eBay (affiliate link)

June 13, 1975 — Gaylord Perry, Indians to Rangers

Before the trade …

Perry won the American League Cy Young Award for the Cleveland Indians in 1972, and he manged a 21-13, 2.51 ERA campaign in 1974. That was good enough for him to get shipped from one also-ran to another — the Texas Rangers — in exchange for Jim Bibby, Jackie Brown, and Rick Waits early in 1975.

And, at 36 (maybe 35 in the pic), Perry already looked like your grandfather on his 1975 Topps card.

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

After the trade …

Perry went 12-8, 3.03 the rest of the way in 1975, then spent all of 1976 and 1977 in Arlington before the Rangers traded him to the San Diego Padres in exchange for Dave Tomlin. There in the southern California sunshine, Perry won the 1978 National League Cy Young award.

He then slip-slide-Vasolined his way through another five Major League seasons to bring his win total to 314.

All along the way, he continued to look like your grandfather, just as on his 1976 Topps card.

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

June 15, 1976 — Rollie Fingers, A’s to Red Sox

Before the trade …

Fingers was the premier reliever for the dynastic Oakland A’s of the 1970s, but became just another expensive pawn when Charlie O. Finley decided to tear down his monster in 1975-76.

Finley sold Fingers to the Boston Red Sox for $1 million.

Before he headed out of town, though, Fingers looked distinctly 19th century with his handlebar mustache and serif A’s jersey, as on his 1976 Topps card.

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

After the trade …

Fingers cut up with his new BoSox teammates, mugged for the camera … and then headed back to Oakland when commissioner Bowie Kuhn stepped in and voided the deal because it felt too seedy to him.

From there, Fingers continued his assault on the all-time saves record and won the 1981 American League Cy Young and MVP awards with the Milwaukee Brewers.

All along the way, he maintained his Dick Dastardly sense of style, as you can see on his 1977 Topps card:

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

But Fingers never made it onto a “real” Red Sox card.

Thanks to the magical airbrush of the guys at the Baseball Card Blog, though, we have a delicious and historically accurate 1976 Topps Traded Fingers to ponder:

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

June 15, 1977 — Tom Seaver, Mets to Reds

Before the trade …

Seaver was already a legend in the game, having helped the 1969 Miracle Mets to their unbelievable World Series title with his first Cy Young season … his second CYA came in 1973 when the Amazins again made it to the Series.

Just for good measure, he added a third CY in 1975.

In 1977, though, the Mets were your basic New York City sewer backwash and needed to start rebuilding.

Maybe unbeknownst to most New Yorkers, Seaver’s 1977 Topps would be their last chance to see Seaver in pinstripes (at least for a few years) …

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

… because New York traded Tom Terrific to the Reds for Doug Flynn, Steve Henderson, Dan Norman, and Pat Zachry.

After the trade …

Seaver went 14-3 with the Reds in 1978 while staring down batters like an angry Tom Bergeron … like here on his 1978 Topps card:

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Seaver then reeled off several more winning seasons for Cincy, including a sterling 14-2 mark in the strike-shortened 1981 campaign before heading back to the Mets.

He spent the latter half of the eighties with a variety of teams, including a stop with the Chicago White Sox — when he became Floyd Bannister for awhile.

Amazing.

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

July 31, 1987 — Steve Carlton, Indians to Twins

Before the trade …

By the time the Cleveland Indians traded Carlton to the Minnesota Twins for a PTBNL (Jeff Perry) at the 1987 trade deadline, Lefty was pretty much done as an effective starter.

And he had entered that head-spinning final push of his career that saw him run through the Philadelphia Phillies, San Francisco Giants, and Chicago White Sox during the 1986 season.

He signed with the Indians in April 1987, which meant he didn’t appear on Tribe cardboard until the 1987 Topps Traded set:

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

After the trade …

If the Twins were expecting Carlton’s 5-9 record with the Indians to turn around … well … at least he didn’t lose as many games for Minnesota. Still, his 1-5, 6.70 ERA to finish out the season was ugly.

From there, the Twins released and re-signed Carlton multiple times, and he wrapped up his career with them in 1988.

Still, they were the last team for which Carlton appeared on a baseball card, such as this 1988 Fleer cupcake:

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

July 31, 1993 — Rickey Henderson, A’s to Blue Jays

Before the trade …

Henderson was in his second stint with the Oakland A’s, and he already held the single-season and all-time records for stolen bases. He was also a run-scoring machine and considered by many to be the greatest leadoff hitter ever.

He looked pretty much like he always had in green and gold, like on this 1993 Topps card.

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

After the trade …

The Toronto Blue Jays were pushing toward the postseason again at the trade deadline in 1993, hellbent on repeating as world champions.

So they shipped Steve Karsay and a PTBNL (Jose Herrera) to Oakland in exchange for Henderson, their would-be catalyst.

Problem was, Rickey hit just .215 with almost no power in 44 games with Toronto, who won the World Series anyway.

That fall, Henderson signed with the A’s again as a free agent and continued his march toward Cooperstown, but not before he landed some Blue Jay cardboard — like his 1994 Topps card.

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

July 31, 1998 — Randy Johnson, Mariners to Astros

Before the trade …

By the 1998 trade deadline, Randy Johnson had fully developed into The Big Unit, and he was a Seattle Mariners legend.

Alas, as an impending free agent and with a middling team behind him, Johnson carried huge trade value.

So … Seattle pushed him to the Houston Astros in exchange for Freddy Garcia, Carlos Guillen, and a PTBNL (John Halama) — salary dump and prospect reload accomplished.

Unit’s 1998 Topps Opening Day card was among his last Mariners pasteboards.

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

After the trade …

Johnson blazed through the National League in the second half like, well, an Astro (whatever that is). His 10-1 record in 11 games was supported by an unbelievable 1.28 ERA and an ungodly 116 strikeouts in 84-1/3 innings.

Those afterburners helped Houston finish 102-60 to win the NL Central before losing the NL Division Series to the Padres.

They also helped Johnson land a big offseason contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks, leaving collectors to seek mementos of his time in Houston — like this 1998 Mother’s Cookies Astros card:

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

July 31, 2006 — Greg Maddux, Cubs to Dodgers

Before the trade …

By midsummer 2006, Maddux had long since wrapped up his storied run with the Atlanta Braves and had been back “home” with the Chicago Cubs for two-and-a-half seasons.

The Cubs, though, were the Cubs … losing, in other words. So Chicago sent Maddux to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Cesar Izturis.

It was good to see Maddux in Cubbies pinstripes again, as on his 2006 Topps Heritage card, while it lasted, though.

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

After the trade …

The Professor went 6-3, 3.30 as LA finished second in the NL West and then lost the NL Division Series to the Mets in three straight.

Maddux’s 2007 Topps Chrome gives you a glimpse of that first brief stint with the Dodgers:

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

From there, Maddux signed two successive free agent contracts with the Padres — for 2007 and 2008 — before the Friars dealt him back to the Dodgers in August 2008.

And that was the end of the road for Mad Dog, one of the greatest ever.

Check out Greg Maddux baseball cards for sale on eBay (affiliate link)

July 30, 2008 — Ivan Rodriguez, Tigers to Yankees

Before the trade. …

In the summer of 2008, the Detroit Tigers were headed back down the competitive ladder after having reached the World Series in 2006.

One of the keys to their mid-2000s success was catcher Ivan Rodriguez, who won an AL MVP award with the Rangers in 1999 and helped the Florida Marlins win the World Series in 2003 during a one-year Miami layover.

At 36, though, the future Hall of Fame catcher was expendable, and contenders like the New York Yankees came calling.

Collectors got a last good look at Ivan the Tiger courtesy of cards like his 2008 Topps base issue before he headed to the Bronx in exchange for Kyle Farnsworth.

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

After the trade …

Rodriguez appeared in just 33 games for the Yanks in the second half, hitting an anemic .219 with two homers and three RBI. On the plus side, he did steal four bases and score 11 times.

Still, the Yanks missed the playoffs, and Rodriguez bounced around for another few seasons, via free agency and trades, to the Astros, Rangers, and Washington Nationals.

His brief stint in New York was nothing to brag about, but it was something to card about … check out his 2009 Topps pinstripes:

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

July 31, 2008 — Ken Griffey Jr., Reds to White Sox

Before the trade …

Ken Griffey, Jr., came home to the Cincinnati Reds in a 2000 trade that everyone said couldn’t happen, but that Reds GM Jim Bowden somehow pulled off.

Junior was going to smash every record there was wearing Riverfront Red and playing in sparkling new Great American Ballpark.

He was going to finally end the debate about who was the greatest player of all time.

He was going to save the Reds.

Only … Griffey was already 30 when Trader Jim brought him to the Midwest, and the physical decline happened fast. The Kid seemed to lose much of his joy for the game, too, and his enthusiasm while locked into his 10-year Cincy contract.

Things didn’t go especially well for Griffey and the Reds, in other words, but he did look pretty good in team colors before management sent him and Cash to the Chicago White Sox in exchange for Nick Massat and Danny Richar.

See his nifty 2008 Topps card (ignore the belly):

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

After the trade …

Griffey played below league average levels in the second half for the ChiSox before signing with his original team, the Mariners, for the 2009 season.

It was a much sweeter homecoming than his 2000 Cincinnati tour because a) Griffey was already a lock for the Hall of Fame and b) nobody really expected much from him.

And that’s just what he provided — on the field, anyway — not much.

He did hit 19 homers for the Ms in 2009 before retiring in June 2010, but he got further and further out of shape and became sort of a doddering old man (e.g., maybe missing PAs because he was sleeping in the clubhouse).

Griffey’s 2009 Topps card gave us a glimpse of those things to come, but also a peek at a legend in strange duds (hard to ignore the belly).

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Sometimes, a little bit of luck in timing and location can make all the difference in the world.

Take the Jack Morris rookie card, for example.

If the 2018 Hall of Fame inductee had made his debut before 1977 or with just about any team other than the Detroit Tigers, he would have had one rookie card.

And if he had made it to the Major Leagues a few years later, he likely  would have had three rookie cards, and that’s what everyone would have expected.

As things stand, Morris got a cup of coffee with the Tigers in the summer 1977, appearing in seven games and going 1-1 with a 3.74 ERA. That was enough for Detroit to call him back to Motown early in the 1978 season.

It was also enough for Topps to tag Morris for card #703, a Rookie Pitchers card he shares with Larry Andersen, Tim Jones, and Mickey Mahler.

Here is what that one looks like:

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

But the Tigers probably wouldn’t have called Morris up at all, not right then, had they been, say the New York Yankees. After bottoming out in the mid-1970s, though, Detroit had invested in a youth movement, and their minor league moves were paying off in the spring of 1978.

Ready to reshape the Big League team were youngsters like catcher Lance Parrish, second baseman Lou Whitaker, shortstop Alan Trammell, first baseman Jason Thompson, left fielder Steve Kemp, starter Dave Rozema … and bullpen hand Jack Morris.

Of course, Morris was destined for the starting rotation, too, and moved into a full-time starting role in 1979.

Before that came to pass, though, it just so happened that hast food monarch Burger King decided to ramp up their baseball card promotions. In 1977, BK had tested the cardboard waters with a Topps-made set devoted to the Yanks and available with food purchases in the New York area.

That apparently worked out well enough that the King wanted more in 1978, expanding their sets — and markets — to include the Houston Astros, Texas Rangers, and, yes, the Detroit Tigers.

The Yanks were back on the docket, too.

But it’s that Tigers set that really paid dividends for a generation of baseball card collectors. Among the 23 cards issued in the Motown BKs were solo cards of Whitaker, Trammell, and Morris.

While most of the Burger King cards were just copies of the corresponding base Topps cards, that wasn’t really possible with the three youngsters — they all appeared on multiplayer cards (like Morris’ above) in the regular Topps issue.

And, no matter how good Topps is at their craft, even they can’t make one player look like four players, or vice versa.

So each of these guys, all of whom will someday be in Cooperstown, instantly doubled their baseball card count. And, in each case, that new rookie card was an upgrade over the original.

Here is the Morris single from that Burger King set:

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Now, I’ve already told you, in this post, what I think of the 1978 Burger King Jack Morris card, but you can decide for yourself.

Is it better than his base card?

Is it better than Trammell’s card?

Than Whitaker’s?

That’s the beauty of baseball cards, and, especially these Burger King cards …

You can have them your way!

At least in a binary sort of way.

(Check out the rest of our posts on the 2018 Hall of Fame class here.)

Want to see a video version of this article?

Picking out the best Vladimir Guerrero rookie card — or even identifying all available Vladdy rookies — is a challenging task.

See, Guerrero came along just as the hobby was climbing out of the Junk Wax Era and trying to recover from the baseball strike of 1994 (and 1995).

That meant lower production runs in general but also a proliferation of shiny, (super) premium, expensive cards that sort of ended the long-standing collector dreams of owning one of everything.

And Guerrero himself was an unusual sort — a free-swinging bad-ball hitter who raked for both average and power, didn’t draw all that many walks, and had good speed.

He also had a cannon of an arm in right field.

In an era (now) that emphasizes plate discipline, launch angle, exit velocity, and all the rest of the modern metrics, Guerrero looks like an anachronism.

Really, he and his cards were just caught in between epochs, forced to create their own timeless footprints on the game and hobby.

Here is a quick rundown of those Vladdy rookie cards, all of them issued just as the strike-induced fog was starting to lift.

1995 Best Top 100 Albany Polecats (#80)

Vladimir Guerrero running right at you as a member of the Albany Polecats. What could be more old-school and hard-nosed than that?

And all for $10 or less most of the time!

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1995 Bowman (#90)

This is arguably Guerrero’s “real” rookie card, as it’s the first widely available base set to show Vlad in a Major League uniform.

Over the years, this image of a young Guerrero in his batting pose has become a classic. You can find these for $10 or less in raw form, up to around $100 for PSA 10 copies.

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1995 Bowman’s Best (#2)

Here’s where we start to get into some of the glitz and glamour of the post-strike hobby.

Bowman’s Best is all shiny and foily, and you can find fancy parallels like refractors and “blue” versions, with prices ranging from less than $20 to well into three figures.

Check the Amazon and eBay links below to explore the various versions currently available on the market.

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1995 Classic 5 Sport (#115)

Having moved on from their days as a board game manufacturer, with baseball cards thrown into the deal, Classic was casting a wide net by 1995.

Part of that net included this 5-sport offering of athletes from MLB, the NFL, NBA, NHL, and auto racing.

Guerrero shows up in a nondescript uniform and on parallels including a printer’s proof, red version, silver version, die-cut version, autographed version, and probably combinations thereof.

It’s all pretty confusing, but gives you lots of opportunities to snag another Vladdy rookie, generally for less than 20 bucks.

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1995 SP Top 10 Prospects (#7)

This card features Guerrero in a cameo shot surrounded by a picture frame sorta deal. It’s hokey and irregular — and comes in a couple varieties — but, again, how can you pass up a smiling Polecats Vladdy?

Prices range from under $10 to $100 or so depending on version and grade.

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1995 SP Top Prospects (#90)

Not to be confused with SP Top 10 Prospects, this SP Top Prospects card shows Guerrero sitting and smiling in his Polecats uniform, and without the burgundy picture frame.

Huge difference.

Trust me.

This one also exists in autographed and promo form.

Sticker prices run up towards $300 for PSA 10 copies.

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1995 SP Top Prospects Destination The Show

Another Albany Polecats card, this one takes the prize for Vladimir Guerrero Rookie Card with the Longest Name.

It also seems to be relatively scarce, at least judging by the copies available for sale on eBay and at other online outlets.

The lack of available specimens is reflected in the price tag — folks are asking $200 or so for PSA 9 and around $100 for raw copies.

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1995 Upper Deck Minor League (#127)

The first Upper Deck card of Guerrero is a “Minor League” issue but shows him sliding in his Expos uniform.

Good looking card that you can generally find with and without the “Future Stock” designation for under $5 raw and less than $10 in PSA 9.

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

(Check out the rest of our posts on the 2018 Hall of Fame class here.)

Want to see a video version of this article?

What would you expect a Trevor Hoffman rookie card to look like?

Without cheating, I mean. No looking up the Hoffman master set on PSA, no Googling for Hoffman’s rookie card.

I will let you take a peek at Hoffman’s stats if that will help … here is his Baseball Reference page.

So now …

What would you expect a Trevor Hoffman rookie card to look like?

Well, we can make some guesses, right? Put together a list of likely qualities?

Seems reasonable.

Given the available evidence, we might expect Hoffman’s first cardboard to …

• Have been issued in 1993 or 1994, around the time of his Major League debut with the Florida Marlins
• Show him with the Marlins or the San Diego Padres or possibly one of their minor league affiliates
• Feature the steely stare that helped Hoffman intimidate Big League batters for 18 seasons
• At least hint as Hoffman’s trademark goatee
• Intimidate with the muscular physique that struck out more than a batter per inning in the Bigs
• Maybe echo “Hell’s Bells” from a microchip embedded somewhere unknowable on the card

That all seems reasonable in a way, if not altogether likely.

Now that we know what we might expect from a Trevor Hoffman rookie card, let’s look at Trevor Hoffman’s actual rookie card:

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Uh-oh.

Something’s not right here.

Hoffman is clean-shaven.

Hoffman is really lean.

Hoffman is … smiling.

And, gosh almighty, Hoffman is wearing a Cincinnati Reds uniform!

What in the world is going on here?

Well, you see …

No-Field, No-Hit … But Arm!

Trevor Hoffman was once a sorta promising high school and college shortstop.

The Reds selected him from the University of Arizona in the 11th round of the 1989 MLB draft as a shortstop. By that point, Glenn Hoffman, Trevor’s older brother, was wrapping up a so-so Major League career as an infielder.

Think that pedigree helped Trevor get a look from the Bigs?

Maybe.

But after parts of two seasons in the bottom ranks of the Reds’ minor league system, Hoffman was doing just about nothing with the bat — .213/.311/.277 that summer with the Class-A Charleston Wheelers.

He also committed 25 errors at short.

Ugh.

But future Reds general manager Jim Bowden and others within the organization noticed that Hoffman had a cannon of a right arm, regularly gunning down runners at first when he didn’t boot the ball.

On the verge of dropping the youngster entirely, the Reds instead invited him to Spring Training in 1991, but as a project — they were going to transform him into a pitcher or he would be done with the Reds.

Bowden told the whole story in a 2017 ESPN article, but the upshot is that Hoffman took to pitching — relief pitching — much better than he had taken to a professional batter’s box or the shortstop hole.

Somewhere in there, either when he was at Reds camp in 1991, or maybe at the next camp, a Topps photographer caught up with the young fireballer and snapped the shot that would end up on that 1992 Bowman rookie card up there.

Those were the early days of Bowman’s renaissance, and the brand was just coming into its own as THE place to go for rookie cards. Even then, though, Topps was eager to use their old competitor’s name to push out rookie cards of any and every remotely viable prospect before anyone else.

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Given Hoffman’s name and the success he had in 1991 — 2-1, 1.89 ERA, 20 saves, 14.2 K/9 — it was probably a no-brainer to include him in the first white-stock Bowman set.

Thus, while Upper Deck managed to issue a minor league Hoffman card later that summer, 1992 Bowman was by far the first nationally distributed Major League Trevor Hoffman card.

Of course, by the time Hoffman actually made his Major League debut, he was a Florida Marlin, courtesy of the expansion draft in November of 1992. Bowden himself says that not protecting Hoffman in that draft is one of his biggest GM regrets, and it’s hard to refute that notion.

But, hey, the Reds were able to hang on to Tim Costo, so there’s that.

Anyway, the Marlins turned Hoffman, Andres Berumen, and Jose Martinez into Rich Rodriguez (not that one) and Gary Sheffield in a June 1993 trade with the San Diego Padres.

And that’s pretty much where the unknown parts of this story end.

Hoffman became the Pads’ closer in 1994 and didn’t relinquish that role until 2008, at which point the 40-year-old had nailed down 554 saves on the strength of a 2.78 ERA and nearly 10 K/9.

He caught on with the Milwaukee Brewers for the 2009 and 2010 seasons, but Hoffman’s legacy as a shutdown closer and likely future Hall of Famer was already scratched in the wet cement of history by then.

All we had to do was wait for it to dry.

Fast forward seven years or so, and the concrete had set firmly in place — Hoffman gained entrance to Cooperstown in the 2018 BBWAA election, on his third try.

Trevor Hoffman will rightly wear a San Diego Padres cap on his Hall of Fame plaque, but he’ll always be a Cincinnati Red on his rookie card.

Believe it or not.

(Check out the rest of our posts on the 2018 Hall of Fame class here.)

Want to see a video version of this article?

In 2018, though, the Veteran’s Committee finally stepped in to set things right — the Detroit Tigers superstar shortstop got his bust at long last.

To celebrate, here is a rundown of ten great Trammell cards that even old-school collectors can appreciate, and that every serious vintage collector needs in his coffers.

Enjoy the cardboard memories!

(Check out the rest of our posts on the 2018 Hall of Fame class here.)

1978 Topps Alan Trammell/Paul Molitor Rookie Card (#707)

In the long history of Topps baseball cards, this is the only multi-player rookie card to feature multiple Hall of Famers — so far, at least.

But while Molitor has been waiting since his election in 2004 for Trammell to join him in Cooperstown, collectors have considered this HOF cardboard since at least the 1990s.

Not only does this card have an impeccable on-field pedigree already, but Molitor continues to build his resume as manager of the Minnesota Twins … and the card is subject to a hefty condition scarcity.

It’s a rare copy that isn’t cut off-center or “smudged” across the Rookie Shortstops designation, or both.

As a result, you can find these must-have cards ranging from just a few bucks for decent-but-smudged condition copies all the way up to several hundred for PSA 9s.

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1978 Burger King Alan Trammel (#15)

Collectors didn’t have to wait long at all to snag the first solo rookie card of Trammell, at least if they lived in the Detroit area in 1978.

That summer, Topps and Burger King teamed up to issue a set of Tigers cards that also included single rookies of Lou Whitaker and Jack Morris (but not Lance Parrish).

Issued in packs of three with food purchases, the cards were identical to base cards except for numbering and except for the rooks who escaped the bounds of their multi-player confines.

Today, the Trammell BK card sells for $15-50 raw depending on condition, on up to hundreds for graded MINT copies.

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1980 Topps Alan Trammel (#232)

The first two cards on this list had to be there for historical and monetary reasons.

The 1980 Topps Trammell card, though, is here because it just looks great.

A young Trammell practices bunting in the batting cage on a sunny day with fans milling around in the stands behind him.

And it’s all captured in the framework of the underrated 1980 design, a simple but classic baseball theme.

What’s not to love?

With a selling price of just a couple dollars each, this third-year card is an affordable must-have.

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1981 Donruss Alan Trammell (#5)

Back to historical significance for this one, as it is technically Trammell’s first Donruss card.

Of course, every 1981 Donruss card is someone’s “First Donruss Card,” but that doesn’t diminish the pairing on card #5 — future Hall of Famer and brash new card company.

The card is not bad-looking, either, showing a maybe nervous or scared young Trammell trying to put on a fierce face for the camera as he poses with a cocked bat.

The colors work well, and the wide expanse of grass and stands in the background give it all an old-school feel.

Not bad for a couple of bucks!

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1981 Fleer Alan Trammell (#461)

It’s mostly the same story here, except with even better history.

It was Fleer, after all, who spent years in court before finally breaking Topps monopoly with a $1 judgment that opened the door for new card producers to crash the cardboard party.

The design and card quality of 1981 Fleer are generally better than those of 1981 Donruss, too, and Trammell’s home white Tigers jersey looks pretty snazzy against the dark background.

Not the greatest shot in the world, but you really need 1981 Fleer Trammell in your Tigers 800-count box if you’re going to have any 1980s playground cred at all.

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1984 Topps Alan Trammell (#510)

You can’t have a list of great Alan Trammell baseball cards without at least one piece of cardboard from 1984.

In case you forgot, that’s the year the Detroit Tigers stormed to a title on the back of an incredible 35-5  start and a 104-58 overall record. For his part, Trammell played his usual stellar defense and turned in a close-to career year (up to that point) at the plate before snagging the World Series Most Valuable Player award.

Of Trammell’s three base cards that summer, the 1984 Topps is, far and away, the best. You get Tram bunting in his Tigers whites in front of the hometown crowd with an orange-background headshot in the inset.

What could be better than that?

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1985 Donruss Alan Trammell (#171)

Trammell won four Gold Gloves during his career and probably could have won a few more.

So, you know, it would be pretty nice to include at least one fielding card among his top 10, don’t you think?

Yeah, so do I.

The 1985 Donruss set offered up a solid design with black borders that were very Donruss-y but not overpowering.

And Trammell’s card shows him at the ready, sunglasses flipped up, warrior wrap on his right (throwing arm), just waiting for a ball to be smashed his way.

We have a winner!

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1986 Fleer Alan Trammell (#241)

Another aspect of Trammell’s game that doesn’t get a lot of play all these years later is his speed.

Although the new Hall of Famer carried a much bigger stick than most of his shortstop brethren, he still maintained the type of solid baserunning you’d expect from the SS hole.

With 236 stolen bases and 109 times caught stealing, Trammell turned his speed into a net asset over the course of his career and stole as many as 30 in a season (1983).

There aren’t a ton of cards showing him in full-on sprint, but he looks like he has second base thievery on his mind on his 1986 Fleer card.

The photo is not the clearest, but it’s a solid mid-career issue overall.

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1988 Topps Big Alan Trammell (#8)

As far as collector appeal and sales went, the Topps Big cards were pretty much a bust.

The design was a bit funky for the time, and they were just too, well, big to fit in with other cards — in sheets or in boxes.

But they were pretty snazzy looking, and they gave you a 1950s feel that had been lacking since the Fifties (duh).

Trammell, with his hard-nosed play and classic Tigers duds, fit right into the retro theme.

His 1988 Topps Big card is a great mix of old and new (splashy name plate), and it looks pretty darn good overall if you can overlook its unwieldy size.

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1997 Fleer Ultra Alan Trammell (#64)

For all it does well, one thing Topps basically refuses to do is issue career-capper cards.

So, if you want to nab a card of your favorite player the year after he retires — and see all his stats — you need to look elsewhere.

Alan Trammell, who retired in 1996, appeared on a few cards in 1997, but the Fleer Ultra issue is as good as any and better than most.

Here you see a fully mature, fulfilled, and happy Trammell cutting up with his bat, maybe one last time.

You get a neon splash of 1990s glitz, and you get to see the Tigers uniform of the day.

And, on the back of the card, you get Trammell’s complete statistical story and another great photo.

It all adds up to one thing … Hall of Fame!

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

(Check out the rest of our posts on the 2018 Hall of Fame class here.)

Want to see a video version of this article?

That even goes for the many varieties of the Jim Thome rookie card that you can add to your collection.

But the good news is — well, you can probably afford just about all of those early Thome cards, including the rookies.

To help you with that quest, below is a quick rundown of Thome’s first card from each of the major brands on the market while he was making an early name for himself with the Cleveland Indians.

And, after you revel in the cheap glory of a young Thome, be sure to check out the rest of our posts on the 2018 Hall of Fame class here.

1991 Bowman Jim Thome (#68)

After a couple of years of fumbling around with oversized cards and an uncertain identity, Topps seemed to hit their stride with Bowman in 1991.

They would focus on … rookies!

Of course, the two — Bowman and rookie cards — are almost synonymous these days, but no one was quite sure how it would work out in 1991. Just like Thome’s career.

In the end, both Bowman and Thome did just fine, and their marriage on this 1991 rookie card seems just about perfect.

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1991 Upper Deck Final Edition Jim Thome (#17F)

By 1991, Upper Deck was well-established but starting to fight the sameness of their cards from year to year. Apparently even sustained greatness can get boring if it’s nearly identical each time out.

So, late that season, UD changed things up a bit by issuing a Final Edition in addition to their traditional low and high series.

So that was different.

And this Thome rookie card gets an additional splash of differentiation with the “Minor League Diamond Skills” shield.

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1992 Donruss Jim Thome (#406)

In 1992, all three old-school manufacturers — Donruss, Fleer, Topps — stepped up their games to try and compete with the premium offerings from Upper Deck.

For Donruss, that meant improved card stock, a cleaner design with more emphasis on photos and photo quality, and photos on card backs.

For Jim Thome, that meant a sharp Rated Rookie card where he looks young, agile, and athletic.

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1992 Fleer Jim Thome (#125)

The 1992 Fleer issue also showcased improved card stock and on-the-back photos, but the design was fairly heavy-handed.

Pretty much, you loved or hated the fadeout green borders and massive block lettering.

Even if you fall into the “hate” camp, you might be able to make an exception for Big Jim Thome, whose power is on full display on his first Fleer card.

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1992 Leaf Jim Thome (#299)

Two years after Leaf broke the hobby with their limited 1990 set that was jam-packed with big-name rookie cars like Frank Thomas, Sammy Sosa, David Justice, and … um … Scott Coolbaugh, Donruss was struggling to keep the brand alive.

Emboldened by their inaugural success in 1990, Big D cranked up the presses in 1991 and pretty much choked the market.

As a consequence, the 1992 Leaf set was met with hardly any enthusiasm, but this skulking Thome rookie (first Leaf card, anyway) is still a worthy addition to any Hall of Fame collection.

As a bonus, each Leaf card came in a Gold parallel version that today sells for about the same prices as the base card.

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1992 O-Pee-Chee Jim Thome (#768)

This would be the last time that O-Pee-Chee cards exactly mimicked the year’s base Topps set, so if you love parallel Thome cardboard, 1992 OPC has to be part of your collection.

And this is a great shot of a smiling young future Hall of Famer waiting his turn in the batting cage — what’s not to love?

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1992 Pinnacle Jim Thome (#247)

Score jumped into the premium card market with their Pinnacle line in 1992.

Apparently big fans of the 1985 and 1987 Donruss sets, Score layered player photos inside of two black borders for their inaugural stab at Pinnacle.

As a result, the cards are pretty dark. Couple that with the standard overproduction of the era, and you have a set that doesn’t sell for all that much on the secondary market a quarter century later.

Still, this is Thome’s first Pinnacle card, for what that’s worth.

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1992 Score Jim Thome (#859)

Now, the 1992 Score baseball card set is not dark at all. In fact, it’s pretty light and colorful, even if in a cheap sort of way.

But, hey, it was issued in the heart of the Junk Wax Era, even if it came in those funny little plastic packs instead of real wax.

So what do you expect, anyway?

The good news about all of 1992 Score’s junkiness is that you can find Jim Thome’s first Score card — in the high number series, no less — for a song most days.

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1992 Stadium Club Jim Thome (#360)

The 1991 Topps Stadium Club issue represented the next step forward in super premium baseball cards and drove the hobby price scale all through that summer.

In 1992, though, Topps fell victim to the Leaf Syndrome, wherein one year’s breakout set engenders a huge increase in the next year’s production run …

… rendering that second set virtually worthless in the process.

The good news is that young Thome looks pretty good in this action shot on cardstock that’s about as thick as your standard knotty pine paneling.

Classic, cheap Junk Wax at its finest!

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

1992 Topps Jim Thome (#768)

Sure, this first Topps Jim Thome card is pretty much identical to the O-Pee-Chee issue, but that Canadian cardboard only comes first on this list through a consequence of the English alphabet.

You know and I know that Topps always has been The Real One, so you can’t very well have a Jim Thome rookie card collection — or blog post — without a Topps card.

So here it is.

Besides, the 1992 Topps set was the first one with those creamy white borders for which collectors had long clamored, which almost makes up for its Junk Wax status.

And don’t forget those tasty Gold and Gold Winner parallels!

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

(Check out the rest of our posts on the 2018 Hall of Fame class here.)

Want to see a video version of this article?

It came as little surprise that both Atlanta Braves third baseman Chipper Jones and Cleveland Indians slugger Jim Thome made the grade their first time on the ballot.

Slightly more unexpected, perhaps, was Vladimir Guerrero‘s selection on his second attempt.

And, if there was a surprise among the electees, it was that San Diego Padres closer Trevor Hoffman made the cut on his third try.

There were some high-profile omissions, too, including Edgar Martinez, Fred McGriff, Curt Schilling, Mike Mussina, Larry Walker, and the ever controversial Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens.

But no matter what you think of the final results, the fact is that we have four new Hall of Famers to celebrate, and what better way to do that than with some baseball cards?

More specifically, with some junk era baseball cards?

So, down there, in the heart of this post, I present four cards — one for each new Cooperstown inhabitant — to help you get the most out of the HOF Class of 2018.

Now, since this is Wax Pack Gods and not Chase Card Central, there were a few rules that governed my choices:

1. The card had to come from the modern, junk wax era, which I loosely define as 1981-1993.
2. The card had to show the player with his original team or with his HOF plaque team.
3. The card had to be widely available online for less than $10.
4. I had to love the card in some way or another.

Simple, right?

So, if you’re ready, here are the four junk era baseball cards that will help you rock out Hall of Fame induction weekend in Cooperstown this July.

(Note: This post contains affiliate links to eBay and Amazon listings.)

1991 Topps Chipper Jones (#333)

Chipper Jones played for the Atlanta Braves for parts of 19 years and missed out on more when he tore his ACL before the strike-shortened 1994 season.

No matter at this point, though, because Jones amassed more than 2700 hits and 468 home runs while batting .303 for his career and winning the 1999 National League MVP. Oh yeah, and the 1995 World Series as a member of the Atlanta Braves.

All of that lands him as something like the sixth greatest third baseman of all-time according to Baseball Reference and in the upper half of third sackers in the Hall of Fame.

For me, though, Jones is something more — an almost exact contemporary. That’s one of the reasons his 1991 Topps rookie card resonates so strongly.

When I see young Chipper staring out at the camera with his bat on his shoulder, he is one of the guys from my high school, glinty gaze telling me he’s ready to take on the world.

He was, as it turns out. The dude who sat behind me in Biology and thought he was going to be the next Paul O’Neill? Not so much.

And the slightly faded image behind Chipper invites me to run across the sun-toasted grass and lean against the hot chain-link fence that’s now rusted or gone to catch a little shade from the trees that are now dead or hulking out of control.

I’ve done it before, after all — run across that grass, and leaned on that fence, and luxuriated in the shade — if not in that exact frame, then in its twin.

We’ve all done that.

Yes, the 1991 Topps Chipper Jones rookie card is a veritable time machine, transporting us back to before the Braves were The Braves and The Team of the Nineties. Standing their in that strange uniform and clutching that aluminum bat, Chipper might as well be Larry, because he doesn’t look much like the grizzled legend who shook up baseball’s third-base pantheon for nearly two decades.

And he sure doesn’t look much like the silver fox who filled our TV screens on the night he was elected, twinkling and humble, the old man reflecting on his greatness.

Time passes quickly, but baseball let us hold on for a bit longer.

You can grab a piece of Chipper’s cardboard history for less than $10 (in raw, ungraded) condition, on both eBay and Amazon.

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

1991 Upper Deck Final Edition Jim Thome (#17F)

Jim Thome was the the big oaf that everyone loved to … well, love.

And we still do.

When you see him talk, he’s a teddy-bear type of guy who’s always smiling and seems just as nice as can be. What’s not to love?

But the funny thing about teddy bears is that they’re still bears, and that primal nature of theirs comes to the fore every now and then.

For Jim Thome, “every now and then” was about four times per game over the course of a career that began with the Cleveland Indians in 1991 and wrapped up with the Baltimore Orioles in 2012. In between were stops with the Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Minnesota Twins, with quick return trips to Cleveland and Philly before that final 28-game stint with the O’s.

By the time he left Cleveland for the first time, though, after the 2002 season, we already knew what Thome was all about — a booming left-handed bat who could play first base but who also had a lot of at-bats ahead of him as a designated hitter.

Thome had already helped the Indians to a pair of World Series appearances, thanks at least in part to his 25 home runs in 1995 and 40 in 1997. He regularly finished among the American League leaders in dingers, RBI, and walks, and in strikeouts, during those years, too.

But that powerful left-handed bat was what the Phillies cared about, and Thome delivered 47 bombs in his first season of Brotherly Love. He delivered steady power production through most of  his 30s before tailing off to a handful of 20-something homer seasons as he approached his 40s.

When all was said and done, big Jim had collected more than 2300 hits, with a whopping 612 of those being home runs. Add in 1699 RBI, 1583 runs, and 1747 walks, and it’s not hard to see why he was elected to Cooperstown in his first year of eligibility.

But back when Thome’s 1991 Upper Deck Final Edition hit the hobby, he was just one of about a zillion prospects vying for collector and “investor” dollars. Those were the days of big-time rookie speculation, and if you had less than 100 of any particular card, you just weren’t very serious about that player.

Thome did have a two-year minor league breakout to bolster his case, and Upper Deck made that case on the back of card #17F. But he already looks about 40 on the front of his card, and his smile seems more antagonistic than teddy-bear-istic.

Still, if you bought this card in big bunches, you probably made some good coin, assuming you sold it before the box bottom fell out of the junk wax era.

Today, you can find the card on ebay for a couple of bucks in raw condition or up to about $30 for a GEM MT graded copy. You can find the same sort of deals on Amazon, too, if that’s more your style.

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

1992 Bowman Trevor Hoffman (#11)

Trevor Hoffman is proof that the Hall of Fame voters don’t really know what to do with relievers.

Heck, most Major League Baseball teams don’t really know what to do with relievers.

For decades, relief pitchers were not much more than a utility. You had your four starters, and you only pulled one of them if he got the holy crap beat out of him by the opposing team, part of his body failed or fell off while on the mound, he was old and tired and also pitched yesterday, or (maybe) you wanted to get a look at a young hurler.

Those circumstances popped up often enough that a few relief “stars” developed — guys like Hoyt Wilhelm, who made 1070 appearances and logged more than 2250 innings.

Or Roy Face, who went 18-1 for the 1959 Pittsburgh Pirates without the benefit of even one start.

But then in the 1970s and especially the 1980s, the role of the reliever began to change. Pitchers were rewarded — both monetarily and with hardware — for logging more saves than their counterparts on other teams or on the same team.

Over time, the closer emerged as the guy who would get the ball when you needed to, yes, close out a game.

The save rule is pretty liberal, though, and it took us awhile to figure out that a good many of those notches on firemen’s axes didn’t do much to help their teams. Not really.

And so, as pitchers moved into an era of specialization, we saw yearly save totals climb from the 20s to the 30s to the 40s, with an occasional spike into the 50s. But not all of the players who were recording those gaudy numbers were all that important to their teams. Not if winning was the end goal of any game or season.

It was against that backdrop that young Trevor Hoffman embarked on his professional career when the Cincinnati Reds drafted him in the 11th round out of the University of Arizona in 1989. After four seasons in Cincy’s minor league system, Hoffman got a new lease on baseball when the Florida Marlins took him with their 8th pick in the November 1992 expansion draft.

He made 28 appearances for the Marlins in 1993 before they shipped him to the San Diego Padres in the deal that brought Gary Sheffield to the Fish.

And it was there in the sunshine, surrounded by the likes of Tony Gwynn and Fred McGriff, that Hoffman found his baseball home at age 26.

Over the next 15 seasons with the Padres, Hoffman would become one of the steadiest back-of-the-bullpen guys in the game, regularly hitting the 40-save mark (8 times) and topping out at 53 in 1998. That was the year the Pads made it to the World Series, in case you forgot.

When all was said and done, and after two seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers at the end of his career, Hoffman retired after the 2010 season with a (then) record 601 saves and a stingy 2.87 ERA.

Still, Baseball Reference has Hoffman with only 28.4 Wins Above Replacement (WAR), which is well below typical Hall of Fame standards. He’s right there with Freddie Lindstrom and Ray Schalk as low-WAR HOFers, but above fellow relievers Bruce Sutter (24.6) and Rollie Fingers (26.1).

But all of that is academic now because Trevor Hoffman is headed to Cooperstown.

And that’s one of the reasons I love his 1992 Bowman rookie card so much. The legendary name and the young face and the strange (but beautiful) uniform all mesh into a clang of dissonance that take you a couple of seconds to sort out.

Then you realize … oh, it’s that Trevor Hoffman. Who knew he played for the Reds? (Well, the Reds’ minor league teams).

You appreciate how far he came and how much of a lifetime each baseball journey is, each with its distinct paths and flavors, but every one of them gripping us for the long haul.

This piece of Hoffman’s humble beginnings sells for $5-15 (raw) on eBay and about the same, or a tick more, on Amazon.

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

2001 Fleer Platinum Vladimir Guerrero (#316)

I have to be honest … I was never a big Vlad fan.

There are several reasons for that …

Guerrero began his career after my (first) hobby heyday was done and at a lull in my baseball fandom (thanks, grad school).

Vlad played the first eight years of his career for the Montreal Expos, so I didn’t see him much.

I don’t like the Angels, generally and historically speaking.

Vlad’s wild, swing-at-everything approach turned me off.

But, man, when I look at his stats now, I see just how great of a player he was.

And when I see videos of him slapping at — and hitting! — pitches that bounced off the plate, I can’t help but admire his talent and love for the game.

So, 2590 hits, 477 double, 449 home runs, 1496 RBI, and an American League MVP award (2004) later … consider me a Vladimir Guerrero convert.

Guerrero also represents a problem for me when it comes to picking a junk-era card to help celebrate his Hall of Fame election.

In particular, he doesn’t really have any junk era cards, at least not any from my junk era.

To overcome this obstacle, I’m going to break one of the rules that I laid out above.

And if you’re going to go breaking rules, the Vlad’s 2001 Fleer Platinum (#316) is a great card to do it with.

Yes, the card was produced in 2001, well past our 1993 cutoff.

But the base 2001 Fleer Platinum cards are an homage to the 1981 Fleer set. That’s the original monopoly-buster, you know — the one that made Topps compete and also opened the door for Donruss, Score, and Upper Deck to compete.

Heck, you could make a pretty strong argument that there would have been no junk wax era without the 1981 Fleer set.

It sports a nice, clean design, too, and leaves no doubt that you’re looking at a baseball card.

And, finally, Vlaidmir is decked in his red, white, and blue Expos warm-up jacket and stocking cap, an ensemble which makes old-time baseball fans happy, nostalgic, and sad all at once.

All of that cardboard goodness is still available for a dollar or so on both eBay and Amazon.

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

—

So what do you think of this Hall of Fame class?

And what are your favorite cards — junk era or otherwise — of Chipper, Jim, Trevor, and Vlad?

Let me know in the comments below!

This year’s crop of candidates includes big-name holdovers like Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, and Edgar Martinez, as well as first-year appearances by fan favorites like Chipper Jones, Jim Thome, and Jamie Moyer.

While the writers will let the world know about their “official” choices on January 24, 2018, that doesn’t mean we have to wait until then to have some Hall of Fame fun.

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

So … who would YOU put in the Hall of Fame next summer?

Cast your ballot below, choosing up to 10 men who you think deserve a plaque in Cooperstown.