Posted By:
robert aI got to about 107 or 108 out of the 120 cards for the 4 different colors of E98. I stopped because I still needed two Wagners, two Cobbs, two Lajoies, and a Mack.
I did have all the Mattys, Tennys, Vaughns, and three Coombs which was quite a task. With my collection, I was constantly forced to trade off items to stay on track with the master set and I eventually gave up. I still have one E98 set. The hardest part of collecting the 120 cards is staying interested when I already had two E98 sets and wasn't able to persue other sets.
Also, when I started, I could pick up groups of E98s for $30-$50 a piece. I don't think I'd be able to do that anymore. 
Anyways with player toughness, I agree with what everyone has already stated.
All commons are tougher than Hofers. Matty and Mack are the toughest Hofers.
In order I would guess it goes from toughest to semi-toughest:
Coombs
Vaughn
Tenny
Dahlen
Bridwell
McClean
Meyers
Mullin
I found Green to be the toughest color to find, but the more I accumulated, the more all the colors started popping up with about the same frequency.
E98 and E94 are not the same quality of paper as E95 and E96 and haven't survived the years as well.
The example that Ted Z. shows is common unfortunately. I'm not sure if they all come from one group, but I;ve seen and owned many green E98s that have the same kind of damage as that example.
Some examples show paper loss in spots where the candy originally touched the paper and many have orange stains from the product being packed close to the cards.
Scott M's set must've been untouched for several decades and safely packed away somewhere. It's the nicest accumulation of E98s anywhere and very interesting that they're all one color.
Thanks to everyone (Wes, Bruce, Tbob, Quan, Pete C, Alan, Brian McQueen and many others here) for helping me get as far as I did.
Rob