Hall of Fame Auto - Phil Rizzuto

Mission Accomplished!  I set out at the beginning of the year to add autographed cards of 6 Hall of Famers to my collection and I recently landed #6 to complete my goal before the end of July.  I probably won't stop here and will keep my eye open for new ones at reasonable prices but I am pretty content if I stop here.

The new player is Yankees Shortstop Phil Rizzuto.  I was surprised that there weren't more Rizzuto autographs on the market and how high the ones that came up on eBay were going for.  I may have overpaid but when I saw a Buy It Now come up for a card within my price range I decided to jump.  It helped that I am a big fan of the card design as well.

Even with the shiny sticker auto I am a big fan of this card design. The Legends of Summer theme is cool and I just think this is a solid card design.  If I ever decided to go after an autographed card set, this would be on my short list.

Rizzuto had a 13 year career but lost 3 seasons to service in the US Navy.  He was a 5-time All-Star and received MVP votes in 8 different seasons, winning the award in 1950.  Phil was elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 1994 after getting no more than 38.4% during his time on the Writer's Ballot.  He has some of the worst stats of any Hall of Famer but several things work in his favor - he did miss 3 peak years to the war, he played in 9 World Series in 13 years and he was a Yankee.  I wonder if his time as an announcer helped endear him to the public and helped sway the Veterans.

Regardless, he is a Hall of Famer and his auto now resides in my collection.  My next targets will probably include guys like Eddie Murray, Robin Yount, Cal Ripken Jr., Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez and John Smoltz.