[ALR-bishop]

The first 80 cards in the set do come with either red of black backs and the black backs usually do carry a small premium. Unless you eventually plan to pursue a master set ( or even if you do) a mix of the two backs is not unusual in first building the set. I prefer ungraded cards because you can then easily store them in 8 pocket sheet in a binder for easy access and display. But I pursue cards as a hobby and not an investment. If your goal is to one day sell at a profit, graded cards might serve you better. In the 4th post of the 1952 Mantle thread in this forum CW ( Chuck) has a link to 2 good resources to research pricing.

Good luck