If this your first post war set build I would echo most others and go for the 56 set. There are some great stars to save and look for without killing yourself financially. Also you can find more of the bigger lots to buy, break up, and resell the doubles on. That way your not bogged down as much finding commons for more money each.
56 is the most star packed set ever made in my opinion. It has late in career stars like Williams, Robinson, Campy, and Feller as well as a slew of new stars that became legends like Aaron, Banks, Clemente, Koufax, Killebrew and so on. The only thing lacking in the set is a Musial but he isn't in the 53 either so that's a wash.
As far as the Mantle goes, both are classics in their own right but he won the Triple Crown in 56 so there is some significance in it.
Finally, the horizontal layout of 56 looks great in a binder, if that how you plan on storing them, with the 8 pocket pages.
All this is my opinion of course but congrats on taking the post was plunge no matter which set you choose.
Drew
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Drew
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