Hey guys, new to the forum just looking for some suggestions

[JasonL]

I am rarely the place to get it.
However, that rarely stops me from distributing it!

All the advice in previous posts is good and valid.
My only addition would be to add a twist to the "Buy and collect what you like" thought. Think about it from the reverse perspective, and give some thought to what an incremental collection of your target is going to look like, and whether or not that still appeals.

Here are 2 examples:
1) Vintage: T206. Be honest with yourself about how many times you are ok with shelling out $50-100 for every common card of a player you have never heard of (and may never hear an amusing anecdote about because he died 50 years ago)...because somewhere along the way (unless you possess otherworldly heroic patience and focus) you will get really sick of it.
My solution: pick a team set to cut it down into bite size piece that you can afford and learn about in a reasonable time frame. I picked the Cubs and really had a blast learning about Heine Zimmerman's place in the world. Now, that was admittedly borderline stupid because I picked one of the largest team sets in the Monster, but I did it, and I have enjoyed holding onto them for alot longer than I ever anticipated (yes, a whole 3 years and counting). What I should have done was Milwaukee, cuz it's close to Chicago & they only got 4 cards!

2) Post-war: HOF Rookies. Again, be honest about whether or not you want to buy Phil Neikro's rookie card. I fear that I have actually failed on this one, and I am now considering selling off a bunch of cards that I don't enjoy having or looking at...I know it's post-war, but the same thinking applies. I am nowhere near done on this set, probably won't ever have enough money to do it the way I would like to, and consequently, eh...feels like a waste of time and money.

If you're still reading, hopefully you were able to decipher a point, and it would also suggest that I am learning to become more succinct in my writing style!

Good luck, whatever you choose!!

[tesitzes24]

We'll see if this changes the advice at all. I seriously doubt I will ever put together an entire set of anything vintage, just because of a) the time involved/lack of patience, and (b) I don't want to spend that much money/get divorced.

Having said that, the team thing sounds like a decent idea. I live in St. Louis, so looking for STL players might be a good place to start. Just wanted to throw out that I have no illusions of taking years, potentially decades, trying to put together one set.

[oldjudge]

There is another alternative-don't collect. Get some books on the history of the game or particular players, ideally books with many photographic images. The books will provide plenty of interesting information and the photographs will in almost all cases provide better insights into what the players looked like and their surroundings than the cards ever would. This would keep your spending to a minimum and generate a nice reference library should you ever decide at a later date to reconsider and collect cards.

[Jewish-collector]

Another helpful resource that wouldn't cost you a cent would be to contact Robert Edward Auctions and get their last few auction catalogs. These catalogs are tremendously useful.