Every March I slip into a scanning funk. I am never more aware of how time-consuming scanning is than during the busiest month of the year.
Lately I've found myself trying to avoid scanning large amounts of cards, even though that is part of what makes Night Owl Cards so damn fun -- all the glorious scans!
Don't worry, I'll snap out of it soon, but meanwhile, here is a typically low-scan post.
It's been more than a year since I've updated my quest to find which Topps set features the most Hall of Famers. Since then, the Hall has added four more members. So it's about time that I updated any sets already featured that include those four players in the set, and also total the Hall of Famers in another set.
The only period that I have avoided focusing on so far -- outside of the last 20 years or so, when obviously there won't be a lot of Hall of Famers -- is the late 1980s. So I'm going straight for a darling of the Topps card past and see how many Hall of Famers are in the 1987 set.
I will include the '87 total in with the other sets that I have done already.
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 (47): 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, Joe Gordon, 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
1987 (35): Sparky Anderson, Yogi Berra, Bert Blyleven, Wade Boggs, George Brett, Steve Carlton, Gary Carter, Andre Dawson, Dennis Eckersley, Carlton Fisk, Rich Gossage, Tony Gwynn, Rickey Henderson, Whitey Herzog, Reggie Jackson, Barry Larkin, Tony LaRussa, Tom Lasorda, Paul Molitor, Eddie Murray, Phil Niekro, Kirby Puckett, Jim Rice, Cal Ripken, Nolan Ryan, Ryne Sandberg, Mike Schmidt, Tom Seaver, Ozzie Smith, Bruce Sutter, Don Sutton, Earl Weaver, Dick Williams, Dave Winfield, Robin Yount
1996 (21): Roberto Alomar, Craig Biggio, Wade Boggs, Andre Dawson, Dennis Eckersley, Tom Glavine, Tony Gwynn, Rickey Henderson, Randy Johnson, Barry Larkin, Greg Maddux, Mickey Mantle, Pedro Martinez, Paul Molitor, Eddie Murray, Kirby Puckett, Cal Ripken, Ryne Sandberg, Ozzie Smith, John Smoltz, Frank Thomas
1987 Topps has just 35 Hall of Famers as there was quite a bit of turnover around 1983-85 when a number of established players retired. Also, '87 is one of the first years to be affected by PED use as players like Roger Clemens, Rafael Palmeiro and Mark McGwire were just starting out. No coincidence, Jose Canseco's first flagship appearance is in '87 Topps.
There are two Hall of Fame players in the '87 set that weren't current players at the time. Roberto Clemente and Carl Yastrzemski are featured in the Turn Back The Clock subset. I didn't include those, although now that I realize I included Topps' Mickey Mantle tribute in the '96 set, I wonder if I should have.
The only set to be affected by the addition of the 2015 Hall class is 1996 and all four members of the class were in that set, so '96 jumps from 17 Hall representatives to 21.
I hope to pick up the pace on this series as I don't want to be adding one set a year -- I'll never end up with an answer if I'm going that slow.
But at least I scanned just two cards. Believe me, that's about all I can handle in March.
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