How do you organize your binder sets?

[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.

[vintagebaseballcardguy]

Admittedly my '50 Bowman partial isn't in a binder, but I am enjoying this discussion nonetheless. I display many of my cards, so some of my '50 Bowmans (Jackie, Ted, Yogi, and Duke) are in Pro Mold one screw holders in my card room. The rest reside in Card Saver 2s or their Ultra Pro equivalent in a box. I like having them in these because I can take them out of the box and see them individually and rearrange them on a whim. For instance, I've had them in numerical order since I started buying them a while back, but last night I sorted them all out by team. It's hard to explain, but the process was a blast and it made me see the cards in a whole new light! It was neat seeing the 16 teams represented in the two 8 team leagues as they once were. It was interesting seeing how many Tigers I have for example and the construction of that team for that year. It was also very telling to see how Bowman opted to depict certain teams that year. I haven't gone back and counted, but it felt like some teams had more posed action shots than others, home vs road uniforms, etc. I know, I'm a nerd. After reading the comments in this thread, I may go back and organize each team further by position and later I might switch up by alphabetical order. I like this process so much that I think I'm going to rearrange my '52 Bowman and '53 Topps sets as well.

I know this may sound crazy, but it's so easy to get into a rut no matter how much you like the cards. I find myself on the hunt constantly for more instead of simply enjoying and treasuring what I already have. This thread has nudged me back in that direction. That's especially important right now considering that prices have risen for many cards. I had made up my mind I didn't want to set build anymore but as I said this thread is making me see the cards in a fresh way again. I think I may go on ahead in the future and try to finish '50 Bowman (including the copyright/no copyright variations). It makes more sense to my brain to add new cards to their team. I can still track my overall progress with my checklist just as I was. Thanks for this thread, guys.

[Bliggity]

Originally Posted by vintagebaseballcardguy

last night I sorted them all out by team. It's hard to explain, but the process was a blast and it made me see the cards in a whole new light! It was neat seeing the 16 teams represented in the two 8 team leagues as they once were. It was interesting seeing how many Tigers I have for example and the construction of that team for that year. It was also very telling to see how Bowman opted to depict certain teams that year. I haven't gone back and counted, but it felt like some teams had more posed action shots than others, home vs road uniforms, etc. I know, I'm a nerd. After reading the comments in this thread, I may go back and organize each team further by position and later I might switch up by alphabetical order. I like this process so much that I think I'm going to rearrange my '52 Bowman and '53 Topps sets as well.

I also have a much greater appreciation for the teams and the set as a whole after having done my '79 set this way. You do start to see patterns and differences with the teams in ways that you'd never realize when sorting numerically.

I decided to do mine this way:

- Leader/Record/WS cards

- Teams, each organized by team/manager card, starting pitchers, then 2-9 position starters in order, then relief pitchers, then utility players, and then multi-player RCs. Baseball Reference makes all this information super easy to find.

- Teams start with WS winner from the previous year, followed by the league runner up (championship series loser), and then the rest of the teams from that league, in order of win %.

- Checklists in the middle to separate AL from NL (or vice-versa).

- WS runner-up, followed by the league runner up, and then the rest of the teams from that league, in order of win %.

It takes a lot more effort than numerical order, but it's a fun project. For those who haven't organized by team before, here's what it ends up looking like. I'm halfway through putting the '79s into binders, so here's everything through the checklists. I put them in 18-slot pages with a black insert so they really pop.