The Entire 2019 Baseball Hall of Fame Class Has Just 15 Rookie Cards
If you’re looking to collect Rookie Cards of baseball’s 2019 Hall of Fame class, you don’t have a lot of cards to chase. Despite six players getting the Cooperstown call, collectively they have just 15 Rookie Cards. And of those, most are still extremely affordable.
The 1992 Bowman Mariano Rivera is the most expensive of the bunch. But even then, it doesn’t come close to what you see from a lot of today’s prospects. And that’s with him having just one Rookie and it coming from one of the top sets of the early ’90s.
As far as quantity goes, Mike Mussina has the most with four. All are from 1991 and neither difficult to locate or expensive.
Harold Baines and Lee Smith, who were elected through the Today’s Game Committee, have three Rookie Cards each. Both made their MLB card debuts in the early ’80s.
Roy Halladay has the latest RCs of the 2019 Hall of Fame class. He has three, all from 1997 Bowman releases.
Edgar Martinez rounds things out. His lone Rookie is in 1988 Fleer.
With not a lot to hunt for, here’s a quick look at all the 2019 Baseball Hall of Fame Rookie Cards.
2019 Baseball Hall of Fame Rookie Card Gallery
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Harold Baines – 3
Roy Halladay – 3
Edgar Martinez – 1
Mike Mussina – 4
Mariano Rivera – 1
Lee Smith – 3
you forgot to include Edgar Martinez’s 1988 Donruss Rookies
@Scott and Wes — Pre-1988 traded/update sets have the XRC tag in the database. I see what you’re saying but this piece is going with the traditional RC tag. Lots of other exceptions could be made in that regard including the Fleer Glossy Edgar as well. In my collection, all are good.
what about Edgar martinez’s 1988 Donruss Rookies card
The 1988 Donruss Rookies card is a photo of Edwin Nunez NOT Edgar Martinez… Also, what about the 1982 Donruss Lee Smith Cubs logo error?
Whoops, meant 1982 Fleer Lee Smith Cubs logo error.
I think the definition of RC here is too restrictive. Mike Mussina has a couple of cards from the Classic boxed sets. If the 1991 Ultra Update counts then so should the Classic cards IMO. And Lee Smith has a Red Lobster card from 1982. I know because I have that set and it has Ryne Sandberg to boot. So though there’s only 15 “Rookie Cards” mentioned, there’s obviously more from those same years.
@John – Many people have different definitions and preferences for what a Rookie Card is and isn’t. And there’s really no problem with that. Personally, I prefer the 1986 Topps Traded Barry Bonds and Bo Jacksons over their 1987 counterparts. But Beckett has had criteria for marking a card with the RC tag for decades. That’s what this article reflects. If we do a deep dive into a player’s Rookie Cards, we often include some of the other early cards that carry importance but might not meet that RC criteria. And even with criteria, there’s always exceptions.
Excellent point about how few rookie cards exist for this year’s HOF class. I hope you continue to make a blog post like this every year. It’s great seeing these cards collected together.