"Basketball Card Hall of Fame Pt.2 w/ Ray & Tony" E406

0:00 Sports Card Nation, the hobby is the people. Weekly news and interviews, it's your number one source. Sports Card Nation. The hobby is the people. Sports Card Nation. What is up everybody? Welcome to episode 406. Happy to be back. We have part two. With Ray Fonio and TJ is online, we are going to talk about the Basketball Card Hall of Fame. Voting is open.

0:40 Go vote. I'm sure it will be mentioned during the episode, but if you miss it, where to vote, I will put it in the show notes. Everyone gets to vote once for their four cards they want in the Basketball Card Hall of Fame. There's two classes. You have your modern class. card class and you have your vintage card class and it's the second annual this again this is part two so if you want to go back a week and catch part one I'm going over also I'm giving away what who I voted for just being transparent not trying to influence your vote your vote is your own so a lot of great candidates and A lot of great cards, obviously. So, you know, pick out your favorites that should be in the Basketball Card Hall of Fame.

1:36 So part two with Ray and Tony. But as always, we want to thank our great sponsors, SGC, Iron Sports Cards, Sports Collectors Digest, Hobby Hotline, Upper Deck Card Ladder, and the Certified Trading Card Association. So with all that being said, let's get this show started. Attention, Sports Card Nation viewers. What up, kids? It's your boy Scott Hanson from NFL Red Zone. Oh, we're back. Ball is back. The hobby never ends. And before you know it, I'm going to be on your screen again, rocking that octobox, knocking the bottom out of the witching hour, and announcing seven hours of Red Zone football. But as you watch Red Zone, just save some time. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, to check out John and SportsCard Nation.

2:32 Let's have a great season, people. Then we're going into the food and beverage. I always do like my hot dog cards. The 1960 cons Jerry West rookie card. It's, this is nice. I, I, I, I wanted to, but I didn't. It's funny. Cause I, I, I, I saw it and then I'm like, I like it, but let me look at the rest of the ballot before I, before I, I vote. So I didn't vote for it.

3:17 You'll see who I've been. The three other ones that I did vote, but it was on the cusp for me. Okay. 1961 Flair Bull Russell, which is his second card. Another great card. That whole set is tremendous. Again, I think I lean towards rookies. I'm not saying I'll never vote for this card. But whatever, what other guys on the ballot, I sort of abstain from voting for this card. 61 Flair Elgin Baylor rookie card. Yeah, I voted for this one, guys. This is my number two. Again, another guy. Man, you know, when we think about the 60s and 70s, there's so many great players that we don't talk enough about. And Elgin Baylor.

4:05 Elgin Baylor. Elgin Baylor is one of those dudes, man. Like, you look at what he did, and it's just we don't recognize it the way we should. And so I'm not going to do that to him on the card front. Mm-hmm. I voted for him. Good pick. It's also a tough card to get graded by PSA because of where it was on the sheet, and a lot of them are cut short. So the Elgin Baylor has the width problem, and then you've got the Jerry West 1961 Flair card, which has the height problem. It's usually cut short. I think I voted for this. We'll come back. I think this was my third, but I'm not positive. I'll know when we see the rest.

4:53 I had you with something else. I had you with this. This card is on my list. I almost bought one at the National. I came very close. Man, we talk about underrated players, guys. This guy might be the poster child. This guy averaged a triple-double. All around player season. Yeah. Like we, we, you know, ESPN makes a big highlight. Hey, you know, so-and-so got a triple double tonight. This guy got one every night. Right. And like, to me, he's one of the, he's right there. Top five, top 10. This is a card. Even though I do more baseball and football, this card is probably right there on the top of what, what I want to add to my basketball list. Like I said, I almost bought one. I didn't get it, but it'll remain on my list between now and the next national as well.

5:49 So this, to me, I think I voted for this last year, too. I know it didn't get in. So it's one of those where I'm going to vote for it every year, guys, until I can't vote for it no more and it gets in. So there you go. He's so underrated that I made a recommendation yesterday of Elgin Baylor. Cause I was hearing a lot about LeBron James and Jordan and obviously Jordan deserves it. And so does James on some aspect, but when I brought up Elgin Oscar Robinson to this Instagram person who knows basketball, supposedly he's like Oscar Robinson, who like. You never heard of him. Yeah. That's yeah. That's him.

6:33 That's your new phone. Who dis? How can you not. Know the big O? I have no idea. Anyone out there, honestly, I like to be educational. Maybe you're young. You're not familiar with him. I get it. It's not a fault on you. You can't control whatever you're born in. But if you're not familiar with Oscar Robinson, go Google him and look up some of the stats, stuff about him. It's just You'll be really surprised, especially if you don't know. Like, I'm not surprised because I know Ray and Tony as well. But if you're not familiar with them, look up. You're going to be some of the stats you're going to see and accolades are going to like, how do I not know this guy?

7:17 Right. And that's what this Hall of Fame is. A lot of a lot of it has to do with this Hall of Fame is educating people who the younger, especially 35 years old, don't know these guys. You know, like I don't, I didn't know who, you know, Trish Speaker or Roger Hornsby was, you know, whatever, you know, but, you know, cards led you to that and research. It can be educational. Yeah. That's how I found that about these players. That's how I helped myself to get better at reading also. Sports cards. That's why that dude should know Big O. He should know it. Even if you don't, if it's before your time. Next card, 67, 68, Tops Test, Wilt Chamberlain. Yeah, it's a great card. Again, I didn't vote for it.

7:59 I could have. You know, I was starting to weigh, like, which one's going to be my last one. I didn't vote for this or the next one, which is the 69 top. Which is a great, you know, his thing was he played with so many other great players. You almost forget about him unfairly. Now him, I saw playing Havlicek. Yeah. Yeah, I did, too. Havlicek steals the ball. Havlicek steals the ball, right? Yep. Good shooter. 1969 Tops, Wilt Chamberlain, number one. Yeah, great card. Like you said, that number one card is going to have some rubber band marks around it for sure. So condition sensitive. But I didn't vote for it, but just because I believe my– I want to see the rest of the candidates, but I think I did vote for the Jerry West rookie. Less one of these refreshments.

8:54 When I got back into the hobby back in 2018, I didn't buy my first basketball card until 2022, and this was the first card that I bought in 2022, the 69 Wilt. It was just an iconic card growing up for me. Yeah, even though he's not wearing a Philadelphia jersey or a uniform, but, you know. 1969 Tops, Earl the Pearl Monroe. Greatest nickname in basketball. Earl the Pearl. Was this a no? No, I didn't vote for him. Okay. Again, you can't vote for everybody, so I had to be selective. I will say this. I did vote for the Jerry West, but it came down between the next card you see here, the 70 Pete Maravich and the Jerry West.

9:42 So the Jerry West, are you talking about the 61 Flair? Yeah, I voted for the West, but then Maravich would have been my fifth vote. But I'm like, you can't vote Maravich over West to me. And Maravich is just a legend in himself. for some of the off the court stuff. He passed away tragically young. This card is, I won't argue, this card is an iconic card. Eventually it'll be a card I own. It's not crazy expensive unless you obviously get it in high grade. So it's definitely, it can be budget friendly depending on your budget. So I know the West was my fourth card because that was like, who's it going to be? Newman, Maravich or West?

10:27 I went with West. The guy's the logo. Yeah, right. So as crazy as the legend of Maravich is, I just like this card will get in, obviously, as a lot of these will eventually. I just I couldn't I couldn't put this ahead of the West. Fair enough. So but tell people I would definitely tell people those. Definitely YouTube Pistol Pete. His ball handling skills are like otherworldly, man. The things he did, wow. You know what he reminded me of, Ray? And see if you guys agree with this too. He was like Harlem Globetrotters, but. In the NBA. It wasn't like a separate, you know, the Harlem Globetrotters had their own touring team.

11:08 The stuff Magic Johnson did, he did before. Yeah, and he was playing in the league. doing some of that stuff. The no-look passes, oh my God, it was incredible. And without the three-point line. Yeah. He was the all-time leader in college points when freshmen couldn't play varsity and they didn't have a three-point line. Wow, unbelievable. So just go over the rest of the ballot, just to let folks know. The 71 tops Rick Barry, rookie card. Yep. 74 tops Bill Walton, rookie card. Another great Another great. Career cut too short. Yeah. A great guy. You know, great on the air was hilarious. You know, kind of a quirky, hippie sort of guy. Definitely love listening to him commentate on games.

11:58 Because you never knew potentially what he might say and who he might say it about. Very refreshing. Eventually, I think this card gets in. It's just too much competition in the pool right now. Yeah. So. Uh, the Rick Barry, uh, I know for ABA, I think historians, it's a, it's a popular card. Yeah. I think Rick Barry, I just think great free throw shooter. And I know he has more than that. Underhand myself. Yeah. And I know he's more than that, but that's like the first thing you think of. And so again, this is another card that I think of in the building. It's just, I don't know if this year is the. For folks that are, um, uh, basketball fans especially historians check out the amazon prime uh series.

12:47 About the aba again i was about to say that. I'm sorry ray i'm sorry i was. Just about to say check out soul power because rick barry played that's right rick barry i'm only messing rick barry i know started on the nets before dr j did which i didn't know until i saw soul power like he was the star on the nets before doc was And then he went to the NBA when Doc went to the ABA Nats. Yeah. Great documentary. Great documentary. Highly, highly recommend it. You are listening to the Sports Card Nation podcast. We'll be right back after this break. When you're dealing with sports cards, guessing isn't a strategy.

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14:35 We are back. Next up, we have another food and beverage card. 1972 Icy Beer. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Great cards. If anyone has an opportunity to pick up this set, or even if it's a couple cards from the set, I would highly recommend it. And they're not that expensive yet either. Pretty cool set. The key word is yet. True. Yet. Iceman. Yes, 1974 Topps George Gervin rookie card. And again, value should not weigh in on whether you pick a card. Now, that being said, I didn't vote for this, guys, but this card can be had left and right, raw, in pretty decent shape for like 20, 30, not even. How crazy is that, right?

15:28 That's insane, man. It just doesn't carry. The Iceman. Yeah, the stats are there, but his name just doesn't carry the same reverence as some of these other guys. And he has one of the most famous posters of all time, the Iceman poster. Another guy that just flies under the radar when maybe they shouldn't. Which may also go for this fellow, too. So the last card on the ballot, Ray, I'll let you do this one. Oh, my God, yes. Faux, faux, faux, Moses Malone. The Sixers don't win the 83 NBA championship without Moses Malone. And we were talking about Hakeem Olajuwon earlier. Hakeem Olajuwon earlier.

16:11 I know you guys probably know this, but viewers or listeners out there might not know that Hakeem Olajuwon didn't play in grade school or high school. He didn't start playing basketball until college. And who taught him? Moses Malone. When he was going to the University of Houston, Hakeem, he was getting tutored by Moses Malone. So go figure, Hakeem becomes one of the greatest centers of all time because of Moses. Moses was so, go back to 83 and watch that 83 Sixers team. I never saw a more dominating performance than Moses that whole year. And you guys can correct me if I'm wrong. If my memory serves me right, he's one of the first guys to come out of high school.

16:51 Yeah, I think he was the first. Yeah, we think about that. We think about that today. It's not that big of a deal anymore, right? No, not anymore, no. But back then, man, like, heck, guys were coming out of college and flamed out and didn't stick in the NBA. Right. He came out of high school and became a superstar, a Hall of Famer, and really set that bar, right? He was the first one. Yeah. I think he, you know, good or bad, I think he played sort of in the shadow of Dr. J., that I think that was a double-edged sword. I think it helped them because they made the Sixers and the Philadelphia teams successful, but Dr. J was the headline and he was sort of the undercard. And, and, and I don't mean that exactly like that, but that, you know, there's Batman and Robin, right. And there's only one of these.

17:41 Someone's got to be Robin. Yeah. Yeah. So he was the Robin to Dr. J's Batman and, and, But if you look at that aside, he's a superstar. He's a legend. He's an icon. He just, you can't pick your, well, I guess you could pick your teammates, but not in the true sense of the word. So like he just, that's how it shaked out, but it still should not take away from the player. I didn't vote for his card. And again, another card that to me is undervalued for what it is you can get. At a, at a very, uh, you can get a high grade too. You can get an eight. Yeah. Yeah. So if this card eventually gets in guys, I just think it's, it's just up against, you know, you gotta remember this is only the second, uh, class here.

18:27 So there's going to be right. Some big powerhouses right off the top, you know, to use an analogy, like that first baseball hall of fame class was going to be a big one. Cause it's the first one, right? Yeah. You're going to have your tie cobs and your babe roofs and your, your Wagners and all those guys you see in that classic photo was the same thing applies to cards here. That first class is going to be all big, big boys. And even that second one, especially when only four to five are getting in it's it's that competition is stiff. That pool is crowded with all worthy cards and they all can't get in there. True. Yep. One little short story on Moses Malone. Again, when the Sixers won, The Sixers were in the finals against the Lakers two out of three years, like 80 and 82.

19:15 And our center was a guy named Caldwell Jones, who was like a stick figure. And all season after 82, we were like, well, we had so much problems against not only Magic, but especially Kareem. Kareem dominated. And they were like, well, who plays the best against Kareem? And it was Moses Malone. And Kareem would tell you to this day– Moses owned Kareem. Now Kareem dominated everybody else, but Moses pretty much owned Kareem. So that was the main reason why the Sixers got him that year, because we wanted someone that was going to control Kareem. And he did. I mean, Moses just crushed Kareem. Kareem. And Moses was 6'10. He wasn't a seven-footer. No. No, but he played bigger than his size, even.

19:59 He was a great rebounder. He just got everything that was missed. What was he classified as? A power forward, right? No, center. All right. Center, yeah. Well, for us, he was. I mean, our power forward was a guy named Mark Ivarone. Yeah, I remember. Yeah. Yeah. That's your one. But he played center, too. That's why. He played center almost like a power forward. He had better. He was pretty. He could move on the court. He had some range away from the basket as well. He went outside. I always almost viewed him as like a power forward slash center. Yeah. A true center.

20:40 He had a great shot in the corner. He had a great fadeaway shot. He was one of the first centers that would kind of go out a little, but he banged inside. Kareem hated playing him. Yeah. Well, just to summarize your vintage era ballots, you had the Kusi rookie from 57. You had the 61 West, the 61 Elgin Baylor, And the last card was the what? The fourth card was what? The Jordan jersey. Nah, for the vintage era. Oh, vintage. It was Koozie West. Oscar Robinson. Oh, yeah. Oscar Robinson. That's right. And if we were ranking them, the Robinson would have been the first one. Like, going through the list, I checked it off, and I'm like, this is my favorite card. And just the guy that just doesn't get enough credit. I think that 61 set's just so iconic and so full of rookies that when a lot of these cards eventually do get in, I think it'll open up a lane for some of these other cards we spoke about tonight to get in. I think sometimes a set sort of dominates, even like the 86-87 Fleer, right?

21:54 26 years after 25 years after the 61, but You know, there's sets where there's just so many iconic superstar Hall of Fame rookie cards in it that a lot of those got to get in. And once that that that path is kind of cleared out, then it becomes more the field becomes even more open. It's sort of like the chalk and then the chalk gets in and now it's a free for all. So I think eventually, guys, your your basketball card, Hall of Fame will be in that space. But I think a lot of these 61 and deservedly so it's not. I think we'll, we'll probably be leading vote getters, at least to me, but you never know, right?

22:39 I'm only one. I'm only one vote. Maybe people don't feel the same exact ways. And that's the fun part. That's the good part. Yeah. I agree. All right. You want to take us out, Ray? That was a wrap. So John, thanks for coming on and giving us your picks and for your, for the, your basketball card hall of fame. And, Everyone out there that's watching and listening, voting ends October 23rd. Induction ceremony will be to be announced right after that. Make sure you get your votes out. Links down below. Check out the website, www.thesportscardhalloffame.com. Ballots will also be put up on there. They're not on there yet, but they will be up there tonight. But so you have the links down below, you got the website, check them out and vote for your favorite or you, what you think are worthy to be in the hall of fame. And also give us your suggestions. You know, I mean, you know, we try and make this a community effort thing and we, I do that for basketball, baseball and football. So, you know, make, post a comment, say, yeah, how about, you know, checking out this card or whatever, and we'll take it into the, Tony, we'll take it into consideration and yeah. And yeah. Like always say, if you.

23:48 See Tony, if you see Tony at like a show or a live event, put a 20 in your palm, like. There you go. I'll see you at the Philly show guys. Yeah. We'll see you guys at the Philly show coming up next month. So, but John, thanks once again for coming on. We greatly appreciate it, man. It was great. This is fun. And, and I love, I love, you know, talking to, but this is, this is, this is our hobby right we're passionate we love it and it's it's fun to to make our kind of uh play you know politic for what we think. Right and it's it's it's good to just have a a good uh constructive conversation with people you know like it's not about nobody i've never seen anybody have harsh conversations about these cards getting no educates people like we said earlier and has them learn about some of these players like you know oscar robertson and all that You should.

24:45 It's supposed to be an educational project, you know, a good thing to do. So and we'll leave it on that note. So go out and vote. Check out the Sports Car Hall of Fame dot com website and vote, vote, vote. And voting ends October 23rd. And we will see you guys real soon. Thanks for checking us out. Take care. Time for our hobby is the people announcer of the week. Hey, this is Jeremy with BST Sport Cards, a platform that has no seller fees. Just want to remind everyone, the hobby is the people. You'd like to be the hobby is the people announcer of the week? Do a WAV or MP3 file and send it to sportscardnationpc at gmail.com.