I think grading is a whole other discussion that parallels collecting, but really stands alone as well. I don't buy graded cards specifically, so I am probably not best qualified to comment. However, it seems to be about building sets and if a card is difficult for whatever reason (shorter printing, difficult to find w/o a print flaw, popular player), then it will always sell for more regardless and people will be looking for it. Doesn't matter if it is Smokey Burgess, Dick Kryhoski or Willie Mays.
Back to collecting and the common man vs the well know HOFers: I know that me personally, I have little interest in plain commons unless they are part of a category that I like. That might be a team set (Dodgers, for example) or a special subset card like a league leader, playoff, multi-player , turn back the clock, etc. Although they may be commons in everyone else's eyes, I will always look at a card of someone like Tony Oliva or George Foster (to use your example) as something better than a common. I learned of these players through watching them play, reading about them in books or newspapers or sometimes just reviewing statistics on the back of cards or on baseball reference. I've been doing it since I started collecting, as I remember sifting through boxes of 1950s cards looking for key stats to indicate a player I may not have otherwise heard of was an OK player, like maybe he hit 30+ home runs or batted .300 that year. Gus Triandos makes a fine example of that type of method for me. He was a 3 time AS and hit 30 home runs once. Certainly not a household name, but to me, he is not a common.
When it comes to autographs, which is what I currently enjoy collecting the most, the only way I will add a "true" common to my collection is if he is on one of those special cards I mentioned before or on rare occasions has some great photo that catches my eye. Shooty Babbit and Stubby Clapp are two examples. How can I not have them represented in my collection with names like those? However, I will always seek out guys who are middle ground players because they were better than the average career substitute/bench warmer player.
When I dump boxes of commons, you can bet they are stripped and scrubbed so well that nobody is finding anything worthwhile in there.
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