One of the most popular themes in sports card collecting is hall of fame rookie cards. The hobby places a premium on an athlete’s first card, and the more successful an athlete is, the more desirable his/her trading card becomes. In fact, many great collections consist of nothing but hall of fame rookie cards from various sports.
The hall of fame scene in lacrosse is more complex than in other sports. The Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame, U.S. Lacrosse Hall of Fame and National Lacrosse League Hall of Fame have all been active for several decades. The Premier Lacrosse League opened the Professional Lacrosse Hall of Fame for former players of Major League Lacrosse and the Premier Lacrosse League, bringing a fourth lacrosse hall of fame into the mix.
Likewise, collecting the rookie/first cards of other award winners is popular among hobbyists. In baseball it might be MVP or Cy Young Award winners, while in football it might be Heisman Trophy winners. Thus far the most prestigious award in lacrosse is the Tewaaraton Award, given annually to the top female and top male college lacrosse players in the United States.
The following links list the Tewaaraton Award winners and members of each lacrosse hall of fame. Rookie/first cards are listed for those individuals who have trading cards. As lacrosse card production has been sporadic for more than a century, many inductees have never been the subject of a trading card. Additionally, the exact definition of a lacrosse rookie card is still debated among collectors. Some lacrosse players may only have a single card that originated from a team- or league-issued set, or that features them in a college- or national-team uniform. Those types of cards fall outside traditional rookie-card definitions, but may end up being considered as such in lacrosse due to the lack of other cards for a specific athlete.
The following lists were generated in a manner which attempts to include all card possibilities. They will include first cards for individuals who have them, whether those feature college uniforms, or represent box or field lacrosse. These might include cards that were given away at games, players featured in college uniforms, etc. Where possible, first nationally distributed cards have also been included even though in some instances they were issued several years after an individual’s first actual trading card. Though not nationally distributed, the 2001 MLL set was an item for purchase at MLL games and so is considered a legitimate rookie issue in this situation.
NATIONAL LACROSSE LEAGUE HALL OF FAME ROOKIE/FIRST CARDS