The Rajah: Bargain Rogers Hornsby Baseball Cards
The idea that a two-time Most Valuable Player and Hall of Famer could be underrated seems farfetched. But that is exactly the case we have with the legendary Rogers Hornsby.
Quick – name the top five position players of the pre-war era. Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb are slam dunks. Lou Gehrig and Honus Wagner seem to belong. And even if you concede the idea that Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio are more post-war than pre-war, a slew of others could be considered, including the likes of Jimmie Foxx, Josh Gibson, Tris Speaker, Mel Ott, Nap Lajoie, or even 19th century star Cap Anson. Some would undoubtedly forget to consider Hornsby altogether. In reality, though, Hornsby’s credentials align much more with those initial four legendary players mentioned than the latter ones.

Many collectors simply have forgotten or never realized just how good Hornsby was. Hornsby won two Most Valuable Player awards in the span of five years (1925, 1929) and nearly won two others when he finished second in 1924 and third in 1927. And despite falling just short of the magic number of 3,000 hits, his career .358 batting average ranks third all-time behind only Cobb and Negro Leaguer Oscar Charleston. If you’re including an elite level wing of the Hall of Fame, make sure you save a place for Hornsby. He wasn’t good – he was legendary.
Want a true sample of his dominance? Look no further than 1920 through 1925. He led the league in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS in each of those years. That’s right – all four of those categories in six consecutive seasons were won by Hornsby. During those seasons, he led the league in a smattering of other categories, including home runs (twice), RBI (four times), hits (four times), runs (three times), doubles (four times) and even triples once. Twice (1922 and 1925) he won baseball’s prestigious Triple Crown.
Putting it simply, Hornsby is one of baseball’s greatest players even if his cards do not generate the same type of enthusiasm from collectors as those of others on his level.
Hornsby’s career technically began as a 19-year-old in 1915 when he suited up in 18 games for the St. Louis Cardinals. While he batted only .246 in an uninspiring initial campaign, by 1916, he was hitting .313. That surely prompted some creators of early baseball cards to take notice and Hornsby’s first cards are generally seen as a trio of 1917 issues – the 1917 Standard Biscuit card (D350-2), his E135 Collins-McCarthy card, and his H801-8 Boston Store card. A fourth candidate with lesser confirmed dating in the uncatalogued c1916-20 Big Heads strip card set is known, too.

Unfortunately for collectors, finding any of those cards is fairly difficult. The Collins-McCarthy set is the one where cards surface the most frequently. However, finding a Hornsby is not an easy task. They rarely appear on eBay and are usually relegated to traditional auction houses. A very low-grade raw example topped $3,300 in a 2020 Brockelman auction. And anything in decent condition quickly sends the prices quite high. In 2017, Robert Edward Auctions sold a PSA 3 for $19,200.

Now, those hardly sound like prices for an underrated player’s cards. However, those values are largely attributed to the perfect storm of a Hall of Fame Rookie Card combined with a rare set. Fortunately, Hornsby has plenty of other cards at much lower prices.
The 1920s saw Hornsby featured in a variety of candy, Exhibit, and strip card sets. Hornsby caramel cards have, like seemingly everything else, risen in price. But most are still reasonable, particularly compared to the astronomical costs to acquire a Ruth or Cobb. Many low-grade Hornsby caramel cards start under $500. Collectors will find Hornsby in American Caramel’s E120 and E121 sets in the early 1920s, as well as some other more obscure candy issues, including E210 York Caramel and E220 National Caramel. Hornsby is also featured in several international issues, including V61 Neilson’s Chocolate, V100 Willard Chocolate, and the V89 William Paterson set, all issued out of Canada. Similarly, most of his Canadian issues usually start a little under $500 in low-grade condition.

Beyond the candy issues, Hornsby is also present in many of the 1920s Exhibit card sets. Those cards, unfortunately, are fairly difficult and rarely pop up for sale. But if you are fortunate enough to find them, some can be purchased at attractive prices. A 1927 Exhibit of the Hall of Famer graded an SGC 2 raised a modest fee of around $210 in December 2021 on eBay. The 1920s Exhibits, however are somewhat rare, leading to, at times, high asking prices by sellers. Finding them in straight auctions will often be a better alternative as opposed to a direct sale.

Cheaper alternatives are also found in strip card sets. Hornsby is featured in plenty of those, including the popular W512, W514, W515, W516, W560, W572, and W590 sets, among others. While the first five sets are seen a bit more, the W572 and W590 sets are generally tougher. Hornsby strip cards in lower-grade condition usually start in the $150-$250 range, though ones with particularly rough edges can sometimes be found for less.

While those cards came in the peak of his career, some of Hornsby’s later cards are perhaps among his most common. Heading that list are probably his two 1933 Goudey cards.
1933 Goudeys are quite popular but were heavily produced. It is safe to suggest that their popularity has been helped by the fact that they are not rare and are easy to obtain. Hornsby has two cards in the set, a fielding pose and a pose from the dugout. Low-grade examples typically start in the $100-$150 range with prices quickly escalating for anything that looks ‘nice.’ For collectors seeking some of his more obscure issues from the 1930s, there are plenty of those. Some of those, such as his rarely-seen 1933 Uncle Jack’s, are decidedly scarce. But in between those and the Goudeys are all sorts of challenging but attainable cards.

Most are from the gum and candy landscape, including his 1930s U.S. Caramel, Rittenhouse Candy, Tattoo Orbit, Batter Up, and Diamond Stars cards. But the best ‘bargain’ might be found in his 1936 National Chicle Fine Pen photo. The Fine Pens, of course, were not traditional cards. But with an American Card Catalog listing (R313), they are basically collected as such. Hornsby’s photo in that set usually starts at about the same price as his 1933 Goudeys, despite being much rarer.

Hornsby is found in quite a few sets, thanks in large part to his longevity. He played in parts of 23 major league seasons from World War I until nearly the start of World War II. Still, a few opportunities were missed to include him in some later sets.
Most notably, Hornsby was left out of Goudey’s 1934, 1935, and 1936 sets. It also would have been nice to see Hornsby appear in the 1940 Play Ball set. He was no longer in the majors at that point but that release included a slew of retired players, dating back to the earlier part of the century. With a 240-card checklist, there was certainly room for Hornsby and collectors would have loved to find him in the middle of the likes of other retired greats like Shoeless Joe Jackson, Walter Johnson, and Christy Mathewson.
Hornsby cards are significantly more expensive than they were even five or ten years ago. But considering the prices for cards of other big names of the era, at least a few can still be viewed as relative bargains based on his extraordinary career.