Best set for a new set builder

[yoyot1]

Goudey 4-in-1's - only 36 cards to worry about (unless you care about the backs...), lots of HOFers, only one card that is "expensive" (Ruth). Fun little set.

[canjond]

Bob - I also finished a lower grade Delong set earlier this year. Took me about 5 weeks to do and the total investment was a little over $2500.

[collectbaseball]

Definitely go for N172 Old Judges....

Just kidding. I don't know what kind of budget you have, but I'm currently working on the T205 set -- poorer cards can be had for $15 and very nice looking SGC 40s/50s for around ~$40 so it's easy to chip away at a little bit at a time. It's also much smaller than the T206 set but big enough to be really impressive when you have a couple hundred of them laid out on a table. I think they're also probably the most beautiful tobacco cards, T3s aside (I've started on that set also, but it's slow going).

[nolemmings]

1922 Eastern Exhibits-- 20 card set features Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Rogers Hornsby, Tris Speaker, Eddie Collins, Walter Johnson, Grover Alexander and five other HOFers. Relatively affordable.

If you prefer more colorful cards, try Delong: 24 includes Gehrig, Grove, Foxx and 12 other HOFers. Also doable.