Does anyone collect team sets of your favorite team?

frankhardy

I was wondering how many out there collect team sets of your favorite team? As many of you know, I collect St Louis Cardinals team sets in raw form. I have every base Topps card from 1951 to 2006, Bowman from 1948 to 1955 (still working on modern Bowman), all Fleer, all Donruss, all Upper Deck, all Score, all Topps and Bowman Heritage, and many rare inserts and test isssues from the 50's, 60's and 70's. They are in albums for easy viewing with the Topps being separated by decade and the rest by brand.

Does anybody else do this or some variation of this? If you do not and want a way to collect something focused, this is an excellent way to do it. I started this project in 2002, and it has been very, very enjoyable. Also, it is not as expensive as you might think. Most team sets can be had for a little of nothing. Some are very expensive, but if you are not picky about condition they can obviously be had much cheaper. I think I paid $56 for my 1948 Stan Musial rookie. Sure, it's in Pr-Fr condition, but hey, I've got one!

Plus, there is a considerable challenge to it when you get into rare inserts and test issues. I am still looking for several like a 1971 Topps Greatest Moments Lou Brock. Also, part of the challenge is just finding some of the cards that you might not think are hard to find. In my case, one of the hardest to complete was the 1963 Jello. It has 4 SP's, and I had to pay $75 and $100 for just 2 commons and they were in like VG condition. Even some of the mid 90's were fairly difficult to find. Some of them NEVER come up on Ebay. Then, I finally discovered sportlots.com and finished them.

Anyway, sorry to ramble on, but I was just wondering if anyone else did this.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

KOBEcollector

Frank,

Happy Thanksgiving first off

About ten years ago before i collected graded cards i was also into collecting my team sets.

I love my three teams from the three sports equally so i worked on all of them. It was fun and at some point i'll continue what i started

I just wish i had the money to work on all the projects that i've started over the years

Dave

bri2327

I gave up collecting complete sets, graded and ungraded about a year and a half ago to concentrate on a few Yankee player sets as well as Yankee team sets.

Im working on graded team sets from 68-83, and ungraded I have a run of team sets from the mid 1960's to 2005. Ive been trying to work on the team sets from the early 60's backwards but with the Yanks, and Mantle cards in particular, it can get tough on the wallet.

Its been a great project and has kept me far more focused and interested rather than collecting complete sets which would always end up losing my interest collecting in graded form.

Blackborder

I'm new to card collecting so I haven't really settled on anythng specific yet other than buying a few 1915 Cracker Jack cards. The 600+ yearly card sets seem too big to try. 10k in grading fees alone, and I'd probably get bored before I complete one. It does give me respect for those who do though. It's quite an accomplishment.

However, your approach is one I've considered as an alternative way to collect that sounds like fun and can still give you a sense of completenes. The LA Rams were always my favorite team growing up (70's-80's) and I've considered putting together team sets from their years in LA (1946-1994). This has the advantage of being a closed set for completenes, doesn't have to include expensive pre-war cards, and doesn't spill over into the mind numbing parallel/insert sets of the modern card era.

Anyway, I think you're on to something with this approach. Sounds like you have an awsome set already.

frankhardy

Man, the Yankees would be a tough one to collect with all of the Mantle's. You could always switch to a real team, like the Cardinals!

I try to stay away from all of the modern parallel cards. That would be an impossible task. I stick with just the base cards, mainly. Also, if you do it raw, you don't have to worry about grading fees and displaying. Displaying in albums is a wonderful way to view.

Mantlefan

I am working on the 1957, 1958 and 1959 Yankee teams.

daveryan2001

I'm also a Cardinal fan, and as such collect mostly Cardinal stuff.

I've concentrated on Lou Brock, but am also working as you are on team sets to some extent.

I also am trying to get every Lou Brock and Bob Gibson item that is from his playing days, including
Topps cards, subsets, off brand stuff.

I finally got my Brock "Holy Grail" recently, the Transogram Box still intact. That was tough.

Probably the rarest thing I blundered into was a 63 Jello box of Gibson, still intact at a small card shop.
I paid $5 for it a couple years ago. I have no idea what that is worth.

ArnyVee

I am putting together my 1981 World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers teams....very slowly but surely.

CreeperKat

I am working on a Topps Angels Team set in PSA 8 or better from 1961 to present. It has not only been fun but also educational and challenging. I have also met a few other team collectors like Tony (Rangers) and talked with Steve (Mets).

RedRomad275

74-81 Reds in PSA 8 or better as well as the player basic and master sets listed below. Happy Holidays

Red

ArchStanton

I am working on raw and graded Pirates. I am really more vocused on 1950s-1960s right now, but I am just getting into some pre-war stuff. The link below is to my graded Pirates. I try to make sure every card is scanned. It is pretty hodge podge.


I also keep nearly all of my raw Pirate cards in binders. It is good that way because I can look at them, and I don't have to buy mint cards to put into pages.

brianwintersfan

I've been working on my Bucks 1969-81, Brewers 1976-82 and Milwaukee Braves 1956-62 and I love it!

NewJerseyMeatHook

Twins/Vikings/NorthStars. Very unfocused, however. It is a lot fun.

frankhardy

daveryan2001

Would you be interested in selling that 1963 Jello Gibson box? I would be very interested.

yankeeno7

Im working on 50s, 60s, and 70s Yankees in EXMT raw form. These are purely for enjoyment so I dont need graded. I pick up older Yankees when the price is right. I do know that I will never own either Mantle rookies!

I will add that most of my Mantle's are graded only because I fear spending a lot of money on something that may be trimmed or recolored.

DeutscherGeist

For you Cardinals collectors,


Does this mean you have an Andy van Slyke rookie card from Donruss, Fleer and Topps?

frankhardy

<< <i>For you Cardinals collectors,


Does this mean you have an Andy van Slyke rookie card from Donruss, Fleer and Topps? >>



Yes. Why do you ask?

DeutscherGeist

Van Slyke was one of my favorite players growing up and one of the highlights in my collection is a PSA 10 of his Donruss rookie card (It really does deserve a 10). I bought it for under $20. That's kind of a bargain considering the issue and grade for a relatively popular player.

Now that I am lingering on it, I might as well try for a GEM MINT copy of the Nestle, Topps and Fleer as well.

DeutscherGeist

I really wanted to see van Slyke on the Yankees his last few years of playing. He is from NY and a likeable personality, so he would have been a good fit for Joe Torre's teams being that he is versatile defensively and just a great hitter offensively. Too bad he kept getting into freak injury after freak injury. He actually became a more effective hitter later in life. Maybe if he had a customized training schedule, his body could have sustained better. His skills certainly did not decline in the offensive sense.

f2tornado

Currently building a Topps Minnesota Twins team set from 1961-present. I'm including multiple player league leaders, panel rookie cards, traded and update set for completeness. Generally working backwards and am now concentrating on the early 70's. I'm gonna keep the collection raw for now and store the cards in sheets/binders. I want the 60's and early 70's raw to be eyeball PSA 7 or up and later stuff to be 8 and up. I've been primarily buying raw off eBay with fair to good results. I probably have some potential 9's in the mix. Ironic how I have most of the 70's sets done but still have holes in the newer stuff. When I finally get this project done I'll probably just start attempting to upgrade a few of my favorite older sets. Perhaps get my three favorites, the 65, 71, and 72, in slabbed form. Nice thing about the Twins is there are very few expensive cards to pick up. Notable exceptions include the 63 Killebrew and 67 Carew. I'll probably mid-grade copies of those two for my binders and get then get better condition slabs later.

Down the road I might go after the Topps Green Bay Packers master team set. Another project that would be fun is to put together a Topps team set from each year of the Super Bowl winner.

frankhardy

I do that too - I get the traded, league leaders, multi player rookie cards, all star cards, etc for my team set for completeness. Basically, if it has a Cardinals player on it, I have it.

Why not go all the way back to 1951? If you are like me, you won't stop there either. I started out with a goal of just getting all the Topps. Then, it just kept going from there.

estang

The vast majority of my raw collection is by team. Topps baseball, 1970 to present including traded sets. Sorted by team, by year and by player (alphabetical). Multi-player/team cards go in their own binder with checklists, etc...

I do have Twins from 1961 to present and have started buy Washington Senators pre-1961. I also have all the Twins postcard sets.

As well, I have raw Vikings 1961 to present in Topps/Topps Total/Fleer/Police Sets.

Then my main focus is graded Vikings 1961 to 1980 in Topps/Philly/Fleer/Kellogg's, graded by SGC. I'm half way there to complete with an average grade just above 92 or 8.5.

Axtell

I've been accumulating Tampa Bay Bucs cards for some time now...currently have every major release from 1976 until 1994...it currently spans 4 big mj roop binders.

I have quite a few post 94 cards, but there's no way I will ever to get them all...there are just far too many issues.

gogosox55

Hello Frank
I collect white sox cards basically the same way as you; just about any issue, any year.
My oldest is from the T206 tobacco cards; probably my most valuable is 1959 Bazooka Nellie Fox and rarest a 1990 Topps Debut Promo Alex Fernandez card.
I know what you mean about the 60s Post cards, I tried for three years to get a 1961 Bob Shaw (a short print) until I finally got one on ebay.
Good Luck with your Cardinal collection and happy holidays.
Richard

hobart4281

I focus primarily on the Dallas Cowboys-60s,70s, & early 80s. I dabble in the Steelers just cause I respect the great teams of the 70s and the fact that my team could never get past them. My son has recently expressed an interest in collecting modern Cowboys. Hopefully he will stick with the hobby. Good/Bad thing is I bought him a Tony Romo 2003 SP Authentic auto for $35 a couple months ago-selling for $200 now. He thinks all cards will appreciate that quickly........

frankhardy

<< <i>Hello Frank
I collect white sox cards basically the same way as you; just about any issue, any year.
My oldest is from the T206 tobacco cards; probably my most valuable is 1959 Bazooka Nellie Fox and rarest a 1990 Topps Debut Promo Alex Fernandez card.
I know what you mean about the 60s Post cards, I tried for three years to get a 1961 Bob Shaw (a short print) until I finally got one on ebay.
Good Luck with your Cardinal collection and happy holidays.
Richard >>




Richard,

Good luck with the White Sox stuff. One question though - you signed up last year and this is your first post? Just curious.

gogosox55

Just a long time lurker, plus spent about 6 months recovering from major surgery from jan to june this year, three trips to the hospital and two trips under the knife kind of put a damper on a lot of computer time.
Richard

fiveniner

detroit tiger vintage team sets

frankhardy

<< <i>Just a long time lurker, plus spent about 6 months recovering from major surgery from jan to june this year, three trips to the hospital and two trips under the knife kind of put a damper on a lot of computer time.
Richard >>



Welcome, and I hope everything goes well from here on!

gogosox55

Thanks Everything is AOK now.
Your orginal post kind of struck a chord, I was a set builder intill the floodgates opened in the early nineties and the price of boxes went out of sight. I found trying to find the cards to fill in team sets was far more enjoyable and affordable and also a great learning experience for collecting baseball cards.

Richard