1948-49 Leaf vs. 1952 Topps

[jnewman27]

Hi all. Looking for opinions on which is a better set to start collecting next. Clearly, I see the appeal of the 1952 Topps set, but the Leaf set has some great names that the 1952 set doesn't have (Dimaggio, Musial, Ruth, Williams) and both sets (in my opinion) are beautiful.

Anyone have any strong opinions either way on pros/cons of collecting either? Is one much more rare than the other? Anything I'm overlooking that could/should make one a dealbreaker over the other?

FWIW, I'd be going for PSA ~4 with the 1952 Topps and PSA 5 for the 1948-49 Leaf (I don't have six figures to put into this).

Thanks!

[KCRfan1]

Do you already have the '52 Mantle? If not, plan on about 25-30K for that card alone in PSA 4. The card may run even more if the eye appeal is great.

If you're not prepared for that single expense, I believe the decision between the two sets ( 52 Topps or 48-49 Leaf ) is settled and you're building the Leaf set.

[CW]

Well, if we're talking about single expenses, the Leaf set also has the legendary Paige card, which will also run quite the pretty penny in PSA 5.

So there's that.

[Peter_Spaeth]

I'd rather have Leaf. Not as many commons to waste money on LOL. Williams, Musial and Robinson rookies, DiMaggio, and Paige I think marginally wins on player selection too, notwithstanding the 311.

[steve B]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

I'd rather have Leaf. Not as many commons to waste money on LOL. Williams, Musial and Robinson rookies, DiMaggio, and Paige I think marginally wins on player selection too, notwithstanding the 311.

Isn't Williams rookie the Playball?

[rats60]

Originally Posted by steve B

Isn't Williams rookie the Playball?

Yes and Musial is 1948 Bowman, 1949 Leaf is a "2nd year" card. Paige, Robinson, Doby, Kell and Newhouser are the HOF rookies in the set. All but Newhouser are also in 1949 Bowman.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by steve B

Isn't Williams rookie the Playball?

Yes, obviously. Sorry if my grammar was ambiguous, I meant
Williams
Musial and Jackie rookies
Should have used a semi colon

[rats60]

Originally Posted by KCRfan1

Do you already have the '52 Mantle? If not, plan on about 25-30K for that card alone in PSA 4. The card may run even more if the eye appeal is great.

If you're not prepared for that single expense, I believe the decision between the two sets ( 52 Topps or 48-49 Leaf ) is settled and you're building the Leaf set.

PSA Paige is 20k+ and much harder to find. You can pick up a Mantle whenever you want. You are also looking a 5k+ for a centered Jackie Robinson. The Leaf high numbers are also going to be harder to find and more expensive than 52 Topps. The 52 Topps will be an easier set to put together, you are just looking at 407 cards vs. 98.

I personally would do the 1952 Topps set. However, I think the 1949 Leaf set is one of the ugliest sets ever made. I also can't stand the set being skip numbered. You will have card number 168, but need to figure out which 70 numbers don't exist. I also understand it is one of the classic sets in the hobby because of the Paige and Jackie rookie cards. I just did the 1949 Bowman set instead because I was doing a Bowman run and it had those two rookies plus others, such as Duke Snider, that Leaf didn't.

[jnewman27]

I really liked the 1949 Bowman, but I don't think it has Joe Dimaggio, Ted Williams and Babe Ruth (Obviously, Babe isn't a card while he was playing, but it's still a great card).