Posted By:
Brad Green
I collect Lefty Grove cards. He is in about 75 different sets that were issued during his playing days (1925-1941). There are also a lot of variations of those cards (color variations, print variations, back variations, etc) and I collect all of them that I can find. So, you will need to decide if you want to collect variations or not. I have a wantlist of about 9 cards (issued between 1925 and 1941) that I need and some days I wonder if I'm ever going to find those.
I also collect the modern stuff of Lefty, but it's impossible to get all of those because of the cards (especially the autographed cards) serially numbered 1 out of 1. Collecting the modern stuff is fun, because I feel like my collection is always growing (but never will be complete), especially when I can't find the vintage stuff that I need.
If you're going to start collecting Matty cards, then I would put a list of stuff together up front that you're going to collect. Are you going to collect only cards? What about photos? What about books where he is pictured on the cover? What about books that have nice articles about Matty, but doesn't have his picture on the front? What about cancelled checks? What about personal memorabilia? I would try to decide up front what your collecting focus will be.
Collecting single players also makes going to shows a lot easier. While perusing a dealer's table, you can simply ask "Do you have any Matty stuff?" You don't have to hand him a detailed wantlist of what you're looking for.
Sorry for rambling. I'll stop now. You can see my Lefty Grove collection on my website below.
http://www.bandkgreen.net/lefty_grove