For My Next Trick...

I placed an order with 4 Sharp Corners for the first time in two years. 4SC was once my go-to site for graded sports card singles, but a combination of higher prices (due to the pandemic-fueled hobby frenzy), weaker inventory (they have far less vintage and far too many autographed rookie cards of modern players) and/or the owners listing their inventory on eBay instead of their site scared me off.

But after Christmas I gave them another shot, and found three cards that fit my collection.

This card has been on my wantlist for a while, even though I detest Barry Bonds and disregard his records. True career home run king? Hank Aaron. True single-season home run king? Hank Greenberg.

Cheater or not, he is the home run king. And $34 for a Mint 9 RC of the home run king is a good deal, IMO. If this were the 1987 Topps card, or if Bonds had somehow been included in the 1986 flagship set, I'd understand why this card is still so affordable. But Topps Traded cards weren't mass produced at the same rate as flagship singles. The card stock is brighter and clearer; the PIRATES name at the top really pops.

This card also gave me an idea for another research project. I recently dug up an old list I'd made of the top 40 or so MLB players who are/were not in the Hall of Fame. Barry Bonds obviously tops that list.

Some players such as Larry Walker, Alan Trammell, and Fred McGriff, have since been elected, and Scott Rolen could be next. After the BBWAA announcement is made on January 24th, I will update my list. In fact I plan to expand the list to the top 100 players not in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

This is a topic that has undoubtedly been covered on other sites (Fangraphs, probably) and in books. But I enjoy doing my own research, and I haven't been able to scrounge up any new cards to discuss anyhow. (Tried visiting my old LCS - Target - and it looked like the shelves were stuck in Covid time.)

Since you can probably guess who the top 2-3 players (and most of the top ten) will be, I'm going to do this in countdown form. Players #100-81, then #61-80, and so on. Five posts should be sufficient.

Since each post will include 20 players (and I've already mentioned most of them in my All-Time teams series) I'll probably keep it fairly brief, one or two paragraphs per player, with some stats mixed in and a one-sentence question about their Cooperstown credentials.

If I don't post much over the next 2 weeks, it's because I will be researching some long-ago stars like George Van Haltren, Harry Stovey, and Sherry Magee along with personal favorites like Jim McCormick, Bill Dahlen, and Nap Rucker.

In case you were interested, the other two cards I ordered were: a 1988-89 Fleer Dominique Wilkins PSA 9 single am I a 'Nique collector now? and this '68 superstar:

Will the "Capitol Punisher" make my list of the 100 Greatest Players Not in the Hall of Fame? We shall see...

Thanks for reading!




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