I'm a postwar collector who especially likes the Bowman sets of the 1950s. I have a lower grade but presentable '52 set, and I'm currently working on the '50 set, including the copyright/no copyright cards. Recently, I purchased a couple of 1960s Topps Mantles, and I have my eye on similar star cards that I don't already own. Briefly the thought of "Why am I spending money on commons? Ultimately, I could buy more of Mantle, Clemente, Aaron, etc. with those funds" occurred to me. For me, I am a passionate fan of baseball in the the early 1950s, and I read a great deal about that era. Those "common players" in the Bowman sets are almost all known commodities to me from my reading, and they just happen to cost less than the stars. There's nothing terribly uncommon about most of the star cards from the 50s and 60s. The only thing that separates me from them is money. My collecting budget isn't unlimited, so it's nice to pick up an attractive card of a player that I have knowledge of for substantially less than a star card. After I finish '50, I'll probably work on '54 Bowman next. Somehow it has grown on me over the years. It has some errors/variations in it that involve "common" players, and I'll have fun tracking them down at not a huge cost and continuing to read about their exploits. Maybe someday, I'll actually be able to get into the 60s and work on a set or two there (if I ever get all of the 50s cards I want).
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