Congrats Scott! It's a fun set to go after and I wish you all the best. There's no doing this one quickly as you and I have discussed, but it is an excellent long term project and you're doing good to get a couple toughies knocked off the list right at the start
I know you and I have discussed the tougher players a bit so I won't rehash all that. I definitely have a "top 10 toughest cards" list in mind with this set
I will say that it definitely seems that players from some of the teams (Oakland, Vernon) are more readily available than others.
For what it's worth, I think this is a nice time to start the set as well. Prices have been down the past couple years and I can certainly confirm that there's quite a few available right now so you don't have to look too hard to find cards you can use
A couple of the bigger collectors have completed their sets in the past year or so and a third is just 2 cards away so that might cut down on your competition as well.
Best of luck to you, Scott!