what is YOUR collecting style? Your 5 favorite sets?

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Posted By: Greg Ecklund

I suppose my collecting style could be called varied, or "buy whatever you like" - I'd call myself a set collector, but I only have two that are finished because I tend to get sidetracked. As a result, I have probably 15 or so sets that are 20-40% finished. I'll finish them eventually, but I'm not in a hurry.

My Top 5:

1. 1911 T3 Turkey Red - Probably the best example of baseball cards as art. I can't imagine how anyone that owns these could ever sell them ouside of upgrading a set or financial reasons.

2. 1916 M101-4 - Great early set with real black and white photos rather than the colorized ones found on the Cracker Jacks. The variety of great players is amazing, with many of the great players from 1905-1925 found. Old timers like Bender, Brown, Lajoie, Wagner, and Walsh were winding down while youngsters like Alexander, Sisler, and Ruth were just coming into their own. With the Babe's arrival, I consider this set the bridge from the deadball era to the liveball era.

3. 1909-11 E90-1 American Caramel - Not the most beautiful set by any means, but this is one of the sets that makes collecting fun and frustrating at the same time. This set has been put on the back burner for me because it seems that prices have been rocketing up lately, and I'd rather work on finishing some others. I'll come back to it eventually, though.

4. 1956 Topps - Maybe not truly vintage, but in my opinion the best looking Topps set ever made. The marriage of the portrait with the action photos is card perfection.

5. 1916 BF2 Pennants - The same pictures used on the M101 Sporting News cards, but placed onto a pennant with the players's first name under the photo. This set is one of my particular favorites and I may end up trying to do a rarity report on them, since the Standard Catalog doesn't recognize that some "commons" are many times scarcer than others.

Honorable Mention - T207, 1933 Tattoo Orbit, 1934 Goudey, 1940 Play Ball (love the nicknames on the front, how can you not like a set identifying guys as "Twinkletoes" Selkirk or "Hot Potato" Hamlin), 1955 Bowman (yes, the ugly ones!)

Dishonorable Mention - 1911 M116 Sporting Life - These just don't do it for me - I can't imagine ever trying to collect this set.