How do you organize your binder sets?

[ALR-bishop]

Dave— I use an extra sheet to overlay variations on top and to the side of the common version with a circle sticky to point out or note the variation. I went back and did the latter after having difficulty spotting or remembering some subtle variations when going back through my numerical sets

[Eric72]

Numerical order has always made sense to me; I continue to organize binders this way.

I understand why some people prefer to organize by team and position. I'd probably have considered this; however, the multi-player cards (league leaders and such) made it a non-starter.

Funny, the way we do things as children tend to stay with us our whole lives...

[toppcat]

Originally Posted by ALR-bishop

Dave— I use an extra sheet to overlay variations on top and to the side of the common version with a circle sticky to point out or note the variation. I went back and did the latter after having difficulty spotting or remembering some subtle variations when going back through my numerical sets

Interesting. I don't usually seek them out so I don't have many, but some are more "variant" than others.

[Bliggity]

Lots of interesting ideas here. I don't put my sets into binders until they're complete, so using numerical order for the ease of seeing what's missing isn't necessary for me. For viewing enjoyment, I think it makes the most sense to organize by teams, and I really like the idea of going by position also.

No one else has mentioned this, but instead of going in alphabetical order by team, I like the idea of going in order of the team standings for that year. By organizing by team, position, and standings, I think you get a really good snapshot of that year's MLB season.

[deweyinthehall]

When I put completed sets into binders it's always numerical.

But from the time I begin building a set until the very final card is obtained I keep the growing set in in a 660-ct box in this order:

- alphabetical By team (team card first)
- League Leaders
- post season cards
- Multi player star cards (I'm in the 1960s now, so you know what I mean)
- Multi-player, multi-team rookie cards (that can't be placed with one team or another)
- Checklists
-variations

I also keep numerical AND team checklists running as I build.

I find that by doing this I really learn the set and the players better than by just keeping them numerical the whole way. And it just seems to make the process more enjoyable.

Within each team I don't keep the players alphabetically - when I started collecting in 1978 I sorted them by position and I am still doing this to this day - Mgr, P, C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, OF, multi-position, multi-player rookies.

[abothebear]

Numerical except for my sweet spot for collecting: 84 - 93. Those are sorted by team. For the other sports, numerical.

[JollyElm]

245. Club Orthoboxy
Keeping your cards sorted by teams and not in numerical order.

[Bigdaddy]

All my binders are in numerical order. But yeah, I agree that the stars get lost and the order makes no sense.

As a kid, I kept teams together with a rubber band. Team card on front, then manager, then pitchers, then position players (1B, 2B, 3B, SS, C, OF) and then any multiplayer RCs. They were all in shoeboxes, so no order of the teams themselves.

If I was to put a set in a binder by team, I'd arrange the teams by League and Division (AL East, Central, West, etc.) and in the order of their finish the year of the cards.

Within a team - Team card, manager, and then alphabetical order for players, RCs last. Then finish with league leaders, and other multi-team cards grouped together.

I'm working on a second 1980T set now and still have it in a box. Maybe I'll try doing this with it when I'm done.