+1 for second year cards...mostly because of affordability.
When I got into vintage collecting about five years ago, I REALLY wanted to chase the 1951 Bowman set...but I decided that the Mantle and Mays rookies weren't going to fit in my budget.
So I went for 1952 bowman and picked up these two second year cards. While I obviously would trade them for the rookies based on value, based on pure aesthetics I do prefer the closeup images of the 1952s over their 1951 rookie counterparts.
1.JPG