It's been awhile since I added another set in my continuing quest to figure out which Topps flagship set has the most Hall of Famers.
I thought now would be a good time since six new people were recently announced as Hall of Famers. It's also a good time to update previous sets that I've already tallied with the new additions.
And I wanted to add a set that included the three recent players that made the Hall, Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux and Frank Thomas. So I chose 1996 Topps, which has all three.
I came across something interesting when I counted up the Hall of Famers in '96 Topps. It'll probably cause someone to blow a few blood vessels in the comments, and I apologize in advance about that.
But before I get to that, I'll get to the sets that I have totaled previously. I have added Bobby Cox, Tony LaRussa and Joe Torre where applicable. I have also included the cards for when they were players after reversing my decision last time to include all of a person's cards, whether they were voted in as a player or a manager.
So here is the updated list:
1956 (33): Hank Aaron, Walter Alston, Luis Aparicio, Richie Ashburn, Ernie Banks, Yogi Berra, Roy Campanella, Roberto Clemente, Larry Doby, Bob Feller, Whitey Ford, Nellie Fox, Warren Giles, Will Harridge, Monte Irvin, Al Kaline, Harmon Killebrew, Sandy Koufax, Bob Lemon, Mickey Mantle, Eddie Mathews, Willie Mays, Pee Wee Reese, Phil Rizzuto, Robin Roberts, Jackie Robinson, Red Schoendienst, Enos Slaughter, Duke Snider, Warren Spahn, Hoyt Wilhelm, Ted Williams, Early Wynn
1963 (40): Hank Aaron, Walter Alston, Luis Aparicio, Richie Ashburn, Ernie Banks, Yogi Berra, Lou Brock, Jim Bunning, Orlando Cepeda, Roberto Clemente, Don Drysdale, Whitey Ford, Nellie Fox, Bob Gibson, Whitey Herzog, Al Kaline, Harmon Killebrew, Sandy Koufax, Al Lopez, Mickey Mantle, Juan Marichal, Eddie Mathews, Bill Mazeroski, Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Stan Musial, Gaylord Perry, Robin Roberts, Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, Ron Santo, Duke Snider, Warren Spahn, Willie Stargell, Casey Stengel, Joe Torre, Hoyt Wilhelm, Billy Williams, Dick Williams, Carl Yastrzemski
1968 (42): 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, Tony LaRussa, 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, Joe Torre, Hoyt Wilhelm, Billy Williams, Dick Williams, Carl Yastrzemski
1969 (46): Hank Aaron, Walter Alston, Luis Aparicio, Ernie Banks, Johnny Bench, Lou Brock, Jim Bunning, Rod Carew, Steve Carlton, Orlando Cepeda, Roberto Clemente, Bobby Cox, 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, Joe Torre, Earl Weaver, Hoyt Wilhelm, Billy Williams, Dick Williams, Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski
1970 (43): 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, Joe Torre, Earl Weaver, Hoyt Wilhelm, Billy Williams, Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski
1975 (43): Hank Aaron, Walt Alston, Sparky Anderson, Johnny Bench, Yogi Berra, George Brett, Lou Brock, Bert Blyleven, Rod Carew, Steve Carlton, Gary Carter, Rollie Fingers, Carlton Fisk, Bob Gibson, Rich Gossage, Jim "Catfish" Hunter, Reggie Jackson, Fergie Jenkins; Al Kaline, Harmon Killebrew, Willie McCovey, Joe Morgan, Phil Niekro, Jim Palmer, Tony Perez, Gaylord Perry, Jim Rice, Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, Nolan Ryan, Ron Santo, Mike Schmidt, Red Schoendienst, Tom Seaver, Willie Stargell, Don Sutton, Joe Torre, Earl Weaver, Billy Williams, Dick Williams, Dave Winfield, Carl Yastrzemski, Robin Yount
1983 (44): Sparky Anderson, Johnny Bench, Bert Blyleven, Wade Boggs, George Brett, Rod Carew, Steve Carlton, Gary Carter, Bobby Cox, Andre Dawson, Dennis Eckersley, Rollie Fingers, Carlton Fisk, Rich Gossage, Tony Gwynn, Rickey Henderson, Whitey Herzog, Reggie Jackson, Fergie Jenkins, Tony LaRussa, 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, Joe Torre, Earl Weaver, Dick Williams, Dave Winfield, Carl Yastrzemski, Robin Yount
And here is 1996 added to the list:
1996 (17): Roberto Alomar, Wade Boggs, Andre Dawson, Dennis Eckersley, Tom Glavine, Tony Gwynn, Rickey Henderson, Barry Larkin, Greg Maddux, Mickey Mantle, Paul Molitor, Eddie Murray, Kirby Puckett, Cal Ripken, Ryne Sandberg, Ozzie Smith, Frank Thomas
Obviously, that's the lowest total of the sets that I have counted so far. There are a few reasons for this.
First, in terms of the Hall of Fame, it's a pretty recent year. Some of the players in this set just retired and aren't even eligible for the Hall yet. Second, there are only 440 cards in this set -- probably not few enough to ignore a Hall of Famer, but you'll note there are no manager cards in the set. Third -- and this is a biggie -- this set is smack in the middle of the so-called PED era.
In fact, if you included all of the other players in the set that have either been undeservedly passed up for the Hall, blacklisted for the Hall, aren't eligible for the Hall, or merely been mentioned as deserving to be in the Hall through a few random fans' opinions, you come up with an interesting result.
Here are the names of the players in the set that fall under the above criteria:
Mike Piazza, Jeff Bagwell, Larry Walker, Craig Biggio, Barry Bonds, Albert Belle, Mike Mussina, Bernie Williams, Gary Sheffield, Omar Vizquel, Joe Carter, Curt Schilling, Ivan Rodriguez, Mark McGwire, Randy Johnson, Chipper Jones, Don Mattingly, John Smoltz, Roger Clemens, Ken Griffey Jr., Jeff Kent, Derek Jeter, Edgar Martinez, Lee Smith, Sammy Sosa, Jim Thome, Tim Raines, Pedro Martinez, Harold Baines, Jose Canseco, Andy Pettitte, Fred McGriff, Rafael Palmeiro, Manny Ramirez, Kenny Lofton, Vladimir Guerrero.
I'm sure I missed a name or two as well.
Add those names to the names in the '96 set that are already in the Hall and you get this number:
53.
That's more names than any of the sets reviewed above and seven more names than the highest reviewed set, 1969 Topps.
So what's that say?
It could say a lot of things: 1. A lot of players from the mid-1990s deserve to be in the Hall; 2. The '90s was the Golden Age of baseball talent; 3. The Hall voters are self-righteous boobs who deserve to be boiled in turpentine; 4. We need more time to figure out which ones are Hall of Famers and who are not, the wheels move agonizingly slow; 5. Maybe some people are overinflating the worth of some of these players.
Those are all possibilities. I agree partially with some of them but I'm not getting into that. I'm just saying, "isn't it interesting?"
If I live to be 90 and blogging is still a thing, maybe we'll have an accurate read on this. Or maybe not.
Anyway, that's the latest update. As always, it's possible I've forgotten a name. So let me know if I have.
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