The most Hall of Famers, update 1

Here is the first update to my attempt to figure out how many Hall of Famers are in each Topps flagship set.

I started out with what appears to be the set with the most, 1969 Topps, and then threw in a couple others that I compiled, 1963 and 1970.

Earlier tonight, I went through 1956, 1968 and 1983.

I chose '56 because I wanted to confirm my hunch that the smaller sets of the '50s cut down on the number of Hall of Famers, even though the decade is considered by many as baseball's golden age. (Topps' competition with Bowman at the time also trimmed the number of Hall of Famers).

I chose '68 because it's the set prior to '69 and I wanted to see how the two stacked up.

And I picked '83 because that was the popular early choice for the most Hall of Famers.

So here are the three new sets, added to the three that I've done already -- now in alphabetical order!!!:

1956 (28): Hank Aaron, Walter Alston, Luis Aparicio, Richie Ashburn, Ernie Banks, Yogi Berra, Roy Campanella, Roberto Clemente, Larry Doby, Bob Feller, Whitey Ford, Warren Giles, Will Harridge, Monte Irvin, Al Kaline, Harmon Killebrew, Sandy Koufax, Mickey Mantle, Eddie Mathews, Willie Mays, Pee Wee Reese, Phil Rizzuto, Robin Roberts, Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider, Warren Spahn, Hoyt Wilhelm, Ted Williams

1963 (34): Hank Aaron, Walter Alston, Luis Aparicio, Richie Ashburn, Ernie Banks, Yogi Berra, Lou Brock, Jim Bunning, Orlando Cepeda, Roberto Clemente, Don Drysdale, Whitey Ford, Bob Gibson, Whitey Herzog, Al Kaline, Harmon Killebrew, Sandy Koufax, Mickey Mantle, Juan Marichal, Bill Mazeroski, Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Stan Musial, Robin Roberts, Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, Ron Santo, Duke Snider, Warren Spahn, Willie Stargell, Hoyt Wilhelm, Billy Williams, Dick Williams, Carl Yastrzemski

1968 (40): Hank Aaron, Walter Alston, Luis Aparicio, Ernie Banks, Johnny Bench, Lou Brock, Jim Bunning, Rod Carew, Steve Carlton, Orlando Cepeda, Roberto Clemente, Don Drysdale, Bob Gibson, Jim Hunter, Fergie Jenkins, Al Kaline, Harmon Killebrew, Mickey Mantle, Juan Marichal, Eddie Mathews, Willie Mays, Bill Mazeroski, Willie McCovey, Joe Morgan, Phil Niekro, Jim Palmer, Tony Perez, Gaylord Perry, Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, Nolan Ryan, Ron Santo, Red Schoendienst, Tom Seaver, Willie Stargell, Don Sutton, Hoyt Wilhelm, Billy Williams, Dick Williams, Carl Yastrzemski

1969 (44): Hank Aaron, Walter Alston, Luis Aparicio, Ernie Banks, Johnny Bench, Lou Brock, Jim Bunning, Rod Carew, Steve Carlton, Orlando Cepeda, Roberto Clemente, Don Drysdale, Leo Durocher, Rollie Fingers, Bob Gibson, Jim Hunter, Reggie Jackson, Fergie Jenkins, Al Kaline, Harmon Killebrew, Mickey Mantle, Juan Marichal, Willie Mays, Bill Mazeroski, Willie McCovey, Joe Morgan, Phil Niekro, Jim Palmer, Tony Perez, Gaylord Perry, Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, Nolan Ryan, Ron Santo, Red Schoendienst, Tom Seaver, Willie Stargell, Don Sutton, Earl Weaver, Hoyt Wilhelm, Billy Williams, Dick Williams, Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski

1970 (42): Hank Aaron, Walter Alston, Sparky Anderson, Luis Aparicio, Ernie Banks, Johnny Bench, Lou Brock, Jim Bunning, Rod Carew, Steve Carlton, Orlando Cepeda, Roberto Clemente, Leo Durocher, Rollie Fingers, Bob Gibson, Jim Hunter, Reggie Jackson, Fergie Jenkins, Al Kaline, Harmon Killebrew, Juan Marichal, Willie Mays, Bill Mazeroski, Willie McCovey, Joe Morgan, Phil Niekro, Jim Palmer, Tony Perez, Gaylord Perry, Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, Nolan Ryan, Ron Santo, Red Schoendienst, Tom Seaver, Willie Stargell, Don Sutton, Earl Weaver, Hoyt Wilhelm, Billy Williams, Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski

1983 (41): Sparky Anderson, Johnny Bench, Bert Blyleven, Wade Boggs, George Brett, Rod Carew, Steve Carlton, Gary Carter, Andre Dawson, Dennis Eckersley, Rollie Fingers, Carlton Fisk, Rich Gossage, Tony Gwynn, Rickey Henderson, Whitey Herzog, Reggie Jackson, Fergie Jenkins, Tom Lasorda, Paul Molitor, Joe Morgan, Eddie Murray, Phil Niekro, Jim Palmer, Tony Perez, Gaylord Perry, Jim Rice, Cal Ripken, Frank Robinson, Nolan Ryan, Ryne Sandberg, Mike Schmidt, Tom Seaver, Ozzie Smith, Don Sutton, Bruce Sutter, Earl Weaver, Dick Williams, Dave Winfield, Carl Yastrzemski, Robin Yount

The 1969 set holds the lead over 1968 because of the addition of a few prominent managers (Earl Weaver, Ted Williams, Leo Durocher) and up-and-coming A's (Reggie Jackson, Rollie Fingers). And it holds the lead over the 1970 set thanks to the retirements of Mickey Mantle and Don Drysdale.

Once again, I am only considering players, managers and coaches (and in the case of the '56 set, front office people) who were active at the time the card was made.

I admit that my eyes get a little blurry doing this and there's bound to be mistakes. I already noticed that I missed a player from the 1963 and 1970 sets in the last post (the totals have been corrected). So if you see something missing or included in error, please let me know.

These updates give me an excuse as well to go back through the sets to see if I've missed anything. I expect that the multi-player rookie cards and the coach cards from 1960, 73 and 74 will make themselves difficult. Whether they will give those sets a cheap way of taking the lead, remains to be seen.

For now, the 1969 set remains in the lead.

And, no, you can't have that Berra. It's not in my collection.

You couldn't have it even if it was.