Collecting Sportscard "Player Sets"
What cards should be included when attempting to complete a player set? I guess that depends on what your definition of a player set is. The possibilities are almost endless. I generally think a player set should consist of exactly whatever the owner wants it to consist of. Personally, I like to have a goal of collecting every card ever produced for players I collect, but of course I've never completed that goal.
If a collector just wants to put together a complete run of Topps cards for a certain player, that of course can be considered a complete player collection also. Ok, so a complete Topps player set...if it's a modern player, do you collect inserts and parallel cards also? Again, I think it's obviously up to the collector and his goals.
Some collectors are so fanatical (in a good way of course) that they even go after cards of other players in which the photo might also include the player they are collecting. I admit, I'm kind of like that myself. Although in some instances, for example, Nolan Ryan was featured in an early 1990's Upper Deck "Comic Ball" set that featured several Nolan Ryan cards, and also an entire 220-card 1991 Pacific set was dedicated to Nolan Ryan, so does a collector need every one of the 220 cards for his player set to be complete? In the Pacific example, I would say yeah go ahead and pick up the entire set, because you can find it cheap in "factory set" form, and add all 220 cards to your collection rather easily...BUT, if you're trying to do a graded player set (PSA Set Registry, perhaps) then it may not be feasible to have all 220 cards graded at $6.00 each or however inexpensively it can be done.
So, to sum up my opinion, I say collect whatever you want. In the big scheme of things, all that matters in this hobby is collecting what you like and can afford. Whether it's 3 cards of your favorite player, or 1200 cards, it's still a player collection. You don't have to compete with the big collectors to have fun collecting sportscards.