Baseball Cards

A 1941 Goudey Baseball Complete Set Of 33 Cards

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It’s a set that I’ve considered collecting, started, and stopped multiple times. What is 1941 Goudey baseball? Christie’s offered these nine (as part of a complete set) in October 1992.

Here’s the full description that Christie’s included in the catalog:

Goudey Gum Company’s last set issued. Front features black and white player action photograph with yellow, red, green, or blue backgrounds. Name, team, piston and card number are stated on bottom; blank-backed-excellent to mint.

Despite only having 33 cards, it’s a super tough set to put together; they just don’t come to market very often. Plus, as a collector, you need to decide what you’re trying to do; some people would say the set is 132 cards, each of the 33 players in each of four background color variations. And if you like graded items, PSA has slabbed just >2000 cards across all those combos (that averages to about 15 of each). And if you’re condition-sensitive, good luck; most have awful centering and rough edges.

A Pair Of 1983 Card Shows With Special Guest Stars

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I ran across the following pair of advertisements for card shows in the February 1983 issue of The Trader Speaks, so I asked folks on X which they would most want to travel back to 1983 to attend.

The first was the Baseball Card & Memorabilia show at the JFK Travelodge International Hotel on January 29th, 1983, with special guest star Hank Bauer.

The second was for the Sports Memorabilia Show #5 at the Birchwood Manor in Whippany, New Jersey, held on February 26 and 27th, 1983, with special guest celebrities Carl Erskine and Jimmy Piersall.

Folks preferred the JFK show at a ratio of 7:4. However, one collector said the Bauer show was the easy choice because they got both Piersall’s and Erskine’s autos in person before.

Which show sounds the most appealing to you?

1941 Play Ball Paper Sheet

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Christie’s offered this extremely scarce 1941 Play Ball paper sheet of twelve cards in their October 1993 catalog. It was expected to sell for $750-$1,000.

With cardboard being a critical commodity leading up to the US involvement in World War II, Play Ball issued a 24-card paper version of their 1941 baseball set. The “cards” were issued in two 12-card sheets. A scarce test issue to begin with, these cards were more fragile than their cardboard counterparts, which has made them increasingly difficult to find. 

In the lot’s description, Christie’s wrote that in 1941, Gum Inc. produced two paper proof sheets. The lot pictured above had twelve cards, numbered 1 to 12, printed on thin paper stock. This one was described as being in near-mint condition.

Heritage Auctions sold another copy of the same paper uncut sheet for $720 in May 2019.

And in August 2023, Huggins and Scott offered both sheets, but the current/final price shows “0.00” after opening at $500, so perhaps it got pulled.

1934 Goudey Set With Albums

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Mastro offered a complete set of 96 1934 Goudey cards in their November 2000 auction. That’s a cool enough set on its own, but what set the lot apart was the inclusion of the two albums Goudey produced to house the 1934 production.

The lot’s description started with a description of the set, which included 69 graded examples and two PSA 9s (#56 and #66). But to me, the albums were the lot’s crown jewel, and the auction house included quite a description of them:

Not widely known is that Goudey produced two albums to accommodate their 1934 production. They were created with the tradional colors of dark blue for the National League and red for the American League. (This is contrary to the colors reported in the 2000 edition of the S.C.D. baseball annual.) For the sake of simplicity, the album pages afford 10 designated spaces for cards per team, plus an introductory section for the league’s respective All-Star selections. All this was well-engineered as the 96 card production represented the 16 teams in excellent distribution. For each album, any open page represented one team, and the teams are sequenced in each according to their league standing from 1933. For good measure, each team’s vital statistics are profiled in an orderly format. A little secret is divulged in their pages however. The All-Star selection in each reports the game’s score for the 1934 showcase. Lead time to produce the albums the albums following the July 10th All-Star Game is tantamount to their late season appearances very likely with the sparsely distributed high numbers only. This is further supported by a one-page entry in both albums itemizing the 12 baseball quizes appearing on the last series card numbers 73 through 4. And, of course, the albums invite the reader to find the answer on cards 85 through 96. As for their condition, we may forgive the mild rusting of the staples especially on the strength of their immaculate condition otherwise. The National League album is slightly faded around the perimeter of the front cover which is mentioned here only for the benefit of accuracy. Both albums are unhandled; their pages firmly intact, and without blemish. The accomplishment of a complete set of ’34 Goudey is a mighty task in itself, but now, and here, is the opportunity to take this issue to its highest level one that includes both of its very rare albums.

The minimum bid was $9,000.

I’ve only found a few “recent” sales. REA sold this faded pair for $1,035 in the spring of 2004.

REA added that the “Albums were available by mail in exchange for a very expensive 50 wrappers each, and, according to advertising materials, some store owners also gave an album as a special prize to the youngster who bought the very last pack of 1934 Goudey baseball cards to finish the store’s display box.”

Heritage sold the following National League album for $210 in November 2021 and an internally damaged pair for $286.80 in May 2014.

Hopefully, the next time a pair comes to market, I’ll have enough money to afford them because, in 2024 or beyond, I suspect they’ll go for well over $1k.

1947-66 Exhibit Baseball Cello Boxes

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Here’s a really cool item from Mastro’s Classic Collector Auction in June 2006: a 1947-66 Exhibit Baseball unopened partial cello box of 25 packs.

The catalog didn’t include any lot descriptions, but the pack on the right has Ernie Banks’s Bat on Should card on top (he also has a portrait variation), and the pack on the left shows Gil Hodges.

Also, while these arcade cards historically were meant for vending machines, Adam S. Warshaw, in his book Exhibit and Related Arcade Sports Cards, wrote that for a short time in the 1960s, ESCO tried to sell cards in cello packs, noting that the unopened materials are worth far more than the cards inside them.

The box shows that ESCO also had cello boxes with T.V. Cowboys, Jet Planes, Recording Artists, and Sport Cars.

Also, ESCO may have distributed these boxes with paper promos. Lelands sold a nearly complete cello box (28 packs) in December 2005 for $2,289, which included a “Jumbo Baseball Trading Cards” example.

1980 Baseball Card And Sports Memorabilia Show With Brooklyn Dodger Guests

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One of my favorite things from back issues of The Trader Speaks is seeing all the game’s greats who were regular signers at card shows. Brooklyn’s second Baseball Card And Sports Memorabilia Show had Cal Abrams, Gene Hermanski, and Billy Loes!

The advertisement was printed in the January 1980 issue to promote the March 1980 show.

Cal Abrams represented a lot of his buddies via a company named Cal Abrams Sports Inc. Abrams, Hermanski, and Loes all played for the Dodgers together. Cal Abrams played for the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1949-1952, Hermanski played for them in 1943 and from 1943-1951, and Billy Loes was a Dodger in 1950 and from 1952-1956.

The Trader Speaks printed the following advertisement, a month earlier than the one pictured above, in December 1979.

You can see that the company also represented Clem Labine, Stan Lopata, Willard Marshall, Frank Thomas, Joe Pignatano, Carl Erskine, Sal Yvars, and Ken Raffensberger.

The 1992 Galovich Report On Unopened Material

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Tony Galovich wrote the following three-page article about “investing” in unopened card packs and boxes for the June 1992 issue of Alan Kaye’s Sports Cards News & Price Guides; it brought about a lot of conversation on Facebook, so I thought I’d share it here too.

You can see that he highlighted some interesting history:

  • A 1953 Topps five-cent baseball wax pack sale for $11k in the summer of 1991.
  • A 1954 Topps cello pack with Hank Aaron showing that sold for $25k in the fall of 1991.
  • A 1934 Goudey wax pack with Jimmie Foxx on the bottom that sold for $20k in 1992.
  • All the 1952 Topps baseball wax packs emerging; including a find of around 800 in Seattle in 1991. He said dealers were paying $5k each for them and that someone had just opened a complete box
  • The find of an entire case of 1953 Topps five-cent packs (Canadian variation) a few years earlier.
  • The sale of a 1951 Bowman one-cent wax pack for $1,500 “recently.”
  • The price appreciation of 1961 Topps rack packs going from $600 a few years earlier to $1,500 in 1992.
  • A 1967 Topps high-number case selling for >$70,000 and the find of 1961 and 1962 cases.
  • The sale of a 1952 Topps high number case eight years earlier for over $200k.
  • He shared market prices for the following football products: 1959 Topps vending box-$2,200, 1957 five-cent wax pack-$550, 1964 Philadelphia rack pack-$450, 1984 USFL set case-$30k, 1972 high number wax box-$3,600, 1960 Fleer wax pack-$250, and 1966 Topps wax pack-$325.
  • From a basketball side he said that 1957 Topps packs were selling for $1k+ and that he heard of a vending case sale in 1991. He also said 1961 Fleer packs were fetching $500+. Also, 1969 Topps boxes were worth >$5k, with packs being >$500. In 1986, Fleer basketball cases were worth $30k, with the rarer 1987 cases bringing $10k.
  • Galovich also talked about how scarce hockey unopened products already were in 1992. 

As I wrote in the intro, I shared the article on the Facebook “Vintage Wacks and Packs” group, and it prompted some interesting comments:

  • One collector asked if the 1952 case was the Mr. Mint case, but that one was for cards from a case. However, another collector mentioned that he knew who sold that case and who bought it and that it sold for $450k, not $200k. Also, that year, NrMt-Mt ’52 Mantles dropped to $675.
  • Another collector mentioned that he’d been collecting since 1970 and had never heard of the ’52 case but had remembered the ’67 case. He also saw first-hand, around 1983, an unopened high series case of 63s.
  • The person who sold the 1954 cello pack with Hank Aaron on top commented that a large horde of Topps high-number boxes was found and sold at the KC show in 1980 between 1962 and 1967 by a retired Topps sales guy.
  • One of the group admins made a note of “the reference to the 1975 cello with Brett on top and Yount on back, BOTH of which just happened to be faced out (a known trademark for a certain someone who was active during that time), illustrates just how long ago star pack were being fabricated.” I suppose I need to republish my old articles about 1975 Topps pack collation.

Happy collecting!