Stars v. Joe Schlabotnik...

[Exhibitman]

I have never been a fan of set building. I collect only a few small ones. I go for the big names only, plus a few lesser favorite players. And also some of the more interesting classic cards

[irv]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

I have never been a fan of set building. I collect only a few small ones. I go for the big names only, plus a few lesser favorite players. And also some of the more interesting classic cards

I don't own a copy of that card yet (been outbid) but it also caught my eye the first time I seen it.

[ALR-bishop]

One ball for each HR over 3 games. And had the photo been taken one day later they would have needed another ball

[jchcollins]

Thanks for the responses guys. I definitely have a bend towards HOFers and superstars, but increasingly find myself getting into the obscurities of my beloved Cubbies as well - which may lead to some interesting but hopefully not too expensive collecting from the 1960's and earlier.

As RayB said, there is nothing wrong with collection churn, and I tend to be somewhat unfocused as well. Back in my mid-20's I had some pretty impressive cards slip through my hands (I couldn't afford them in the long run anyway). I remember a '49 Leaf Ted Williams and an E-90 Dockman Cy Young - that I got rid of because I thought it was trimmed, but later saw the same card in a PSA 5 slab. They were fun to have for a time.

I would also at some point like to do a "Book" collection of the scrubs of Boyd & Harris's childhood. Nice with that one there would not be too many condition concerns.

[ValKehl]

John, my most-fun collecting focus these days is cards of all the players who played on the 1924 Washington Senators team, the only Washington team to ever win the World Series. I'm going for as many cards as I can get (and afford!) of each player, including cards for when these players played on other teams. There are HOFers (WaJo, Rice, Goslin, B. Harris, and owner Clark Griffith), other guys that had long MLB careers and thus many baseball cards (Bluege, Judge, Leibold, Peckinpaugh, Marberry, Ruel, Zachary, etc.), other guys with short MLB careers and thus very few baseball cards ("Pinky" Hargrave, "Oyster Joe" Martina, "Slim" McGrew, "Curly" Ogden, "Doc" Prothro, "Rubberarm" Russell, "Mule" Shirley, "By" Speece, Paul Zahniser, etc.), and other guys with short MLB careers that have no baseball cards as far as I can determine (Carl East, "Chick" Gagnon, "Buck" Griffith, Carr Smith, & Tommy Taylor). Searching for and finding cards of those players that had very few cards produced has actually been the most fun!

Another of my collecting focuses is type cards. Where possible, my 1924 Senators cards also serve as my type cards. What I found to be amazing is that my 1924 Senators cards go back as far as 1889 (Clark Griffith - N172 Old Judge) and as far forward as 1945 (Byron Speece - Centennial Flour Seattle Rainiers)!

BTW, with a few minor exceptions (E222 A.W.H. Caramels, T210-2 Old Mill Va. League, & T209-2 Va. League only), I don't collect sets.

The point of all this is to say there are so many fun ways to collect vintage cards. Sooner or later (as in my case) you will discover what turns you on the most.
Val

[Volod]

I have to say that I find the approaches of Val and other members fascinating and admirable. But, for me, the either/or concept of collecting stars versus common players is irrelevant. When first collecting cards as a small kid, I was strangely intrigued by guys with unusual names - given, surnames or nicknames. As a result, my collection was full of "Shlabotniks" - as well, due to the difficulty of finding big names in waxpacks on a small budget. A Braves fan, I never saw a Spahn or Matthews card, but had a lot of fun with Sibby Sisti, Earl Torgeson and Ebba St. Clair.
In fact, it was the dearth of stars and HOF'ers in my youthful collection that led me to building sets when starcards became attainable many years later. I think it was the satisfaction of finally adding the big names to complete sets populated by the vast horde of unheralded players that I remembered so fondly.

[ALR-bishop]

He played for Pirates as well