[Exhibitman]

1920s: I am partial to Exhibits. The 1927 and 1928 sets have lots of HOFers without any budget-busters (Ruth, Gehrig and Cobb are in there but all are achievable well under $1,000 each). If you want to get fancy, the 1928s have a postcard back variation and the 1927s are found on rare occasions with coupon backs. I am less a fan of the 1921 set simply because there is no Gehrig, so if breadth of player selection is key, that set is not the best one. The 1925 set has the Gehrig rookie and a few others, but that card will price you out of range unless you are ready to spend several thousand. Forget the 1926's--they are extremely hard to put together. The PC Back Exhibit set also has a ton of HOFers and lots of variations, which will either drive you nuts or pose a fun challenge to collect.

1940s: Leaf is a good one but there are ridiculously expensive short print HOFers like Paige, which puts the endeavor out of range for me. I think the best coverage in the era is the Salutations Exhibit set.