When I resurrected my childhood 1954-60 Topps/Bowman collection in the 1980s, I first began completing these sets and other 1950s-60s sets. But, when I discovered the existence of pre-War vintage cards, I soon lost interest in this endeavor. Rather, I decided to collect type cards, because I liked variety and I didn't have the resources to try to complete many of the pre-War sets. And, I get a tremendous thrill from adding a type card from a very scarce set to my collection, even if the type card is in poor condition and not worth much (e.g., the 1917 Merchants Bakery card in the recent B&L Auction - lot #281).
Being a life-long Washington fan, to make it interesting, I decided to try to obtain cards of my favorite players - W. Johnson, S. Rice, M. Vernon, and P. Runnels - for my type cards. For sets in which these players do not appear, I look to obtain another Wash. player, or at least a player who played for Wash. at some point during his career.
Along the way, I have branched out a bit to work on a few Wash. team sets - e.g., N172, E120, M101-4/5, Holland Creameries, etc. - and I recently added E. Rixey cards.
One of the best aspects of this hobby is that there are so many different ways to collect!
Val
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