Joe DiMaggio

1933-36 Zeenut Pacific Coast League Joe DiMaggio

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Here’s a card I only recently learned about, a 1933-36 Zeenut Pacific Coast League B&W Joe DiMaggio “Minor League” card.

I put “Minor League” in parenthesis because, while the PCL was a minor league, the play was nothing but.

Anywho, I learned about this card after I saw it in a June 2005 catalog. It was a Mastro Classic Collectors Auction, so it didn’t include a description in the catalog. However, PSA has this synopsis on their site:

Produced between 1933 and 1936 by the San Francisco-based Zeenuts Company, this set consists of 166 cards, each approximately 1-3/4” by 3-1/2”. Card fronts bear clear, borderless images of its subject with a right text box boldly identifying (in white-on-black type) the league, player, and team. Card backs are blank. These cardboard classics were originally issued with coupons at the bottom meant to be cut and redeemed for items. The images remained unchanged during the production run, with the expiration dates on the coupons the only way to distinguish their issue year. This set is anchored by two appearances from Joe DiMaggio during his early career with the San Francisco Seals. Card #108 pictures him throwing and card #109 shows him batting. The set is also highlighted by Jimmie Reese (#10) and Vince DiMaggio (#100). Cards that have retained their coupons through the years are highly coveted artifacts. 

Obviously, the pictured card above is a DiMaggio (misspelled DeMaggio on the card) throwing variation without the coupon. Here’s a graded example that includes the coupon. Goldin sold it for $51,660 in May 2021.

Each variation is relatively low-pop. PSA has only slabbed 12 DiMaggio Batting copies, plus three more with coupons, and 17 examples of him throwing, plus five more with coupons.

Update 27 October 2024: On 26 October 2024, Heritage Auctions sold the lone authenticated, signed copy of the throwing variation for $37,200.

The hobby has so much breadth and depth!

The R326 Goudey Flip Movies Set

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Sotheby’s offered a set of 26 (plus the 2 DiMaggio variations) R326 Goudey Flip Movies booklets in its April 1994 auction, with an expected price of $3.5k—$4k; an aggressive ask since Tom Reid found a bunch of these in the late 80s, though this was the nicest copy.

They described the lot as a circa 1937 (today some folks say 1938, others 1937-1938) complete set of 26 plus the 2 “extremely rare” variations of Joe Dimaggio picturing brother Vince. They mentioned that Goudey mistakenly used Vince’s picture instead of Joe’s but quickly corrected it so few are seen around the hobby today. 

Each cover has a portrait and is either blue, black, or green. In the set, each player is represented twice in two parts. They also directly mentioned Tom Reid’s Find of thumb movies several years previously, but this was the finest set known to exist, mostly in mint condition.

I mentioned that the $3,500-$4,000 price range looked aggressive because Robert Edward Auctions re-sold what I think is the exact same set of Goudey flip movies in 2017 for just $1,560.

Here’s REA’s complete set description: 

Issued in 1937-1938 by Goudey Gum, and catalogued R326 in the ACC, this unusual set is printed as small booklets (2 x 3 inches) and was designed to be viewed as a flip book with each player featured in action either batting, throwing, or fielding. There are thirteen different players each produced in two booklets (part 1 and 2) to capture the whole in-action scene. The front cover of each booklet features a portrait image of the specific player and a brief biography of the player on the back cover. Offered is an exceptional high-grade and rarely offered complete 26-booklet set, plus two error variations (two Joe DiMaggio booklets picture an image of his brother Vince by mistake), for a total of twenty-eight booklets. This is the first complete set of this unusual issue that we have ever offered! Goudey selected the greatest stars of the day for inclusion in this unusual set. Rarely does a set have such a high concentration of major stars. More than half the players featured are members of the Hall of Fame (two booklets of each): Luke Appling, Joe DiMaggio, Bob Feller, Jimmy Foxx, Joe Medwick, Mel Ott, and Paul Waner. This is a tremendous set of R326 Goudey “Big League Baseball Movies,” clean and crisp across the board, and it should be stressed that all have an Excellent or better appearance. Most examples graded less than Ex have been downgraded due to very technical concerns, such as a very light crease or tiny tear. It is remarkable that the set has survived in such extraordinary condition. As made, five of the booklets do not have a staple binding it together. This is by far the finest set that we have ever seen, and it most likely originated from Tom Reid’s famous find of thumb movies back in the late 1980s. For years, this has been one of the most overlooked of all 1930s gum issues because grading companies simply did not have holders for this set, but that has very recently changed with the introduction of holders by Beckett that now allow for professional grading and encapsulation of this issue. This is an outstanding complete set (plus two variations) of this rare and condition-sensitive issue. Total: 28 booklets. Reserve $300. Estimate $1,000++.

The set’s price has crept up as the hobby has boomed over the past few years; I’ve seen one move for more than $3k in 2023. Also, I think if PSA or SGC started slabbing these, the set’s price would skyrocket. And, just because I used to have an unopened archive here on the site, here’s an R326 wrapper that Heritage sold for $90 in 2017.

1941 Play Ball High Numbers Uncut Panel Including DiMaggio

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1941 Play Ball uncut panels aren’t as rare as you’d think; strips seem to be popping up for sale pretty regularly these days, but I still think this one featuring DiMaggio, Gomez, Case, and Dickey is cool.

Mastro auctioned the panel in their April/May 2008 Sports & Americana catalog and included the following description for the item:

The 1941 Play Ball “High Number” series’ four concluding entries are represented in this rare, still-attached quartet panel. The approximately 3-1/8″ × 10″ relic-which contains, from left to right, #’s 71 Joe DiMaggio,
72 Lefty Gomez, 69 George Case and 70 Bill Dickey-is fully printed on both sides and reveals slightly irregular edge cuts. Its colors are fresh and clear, with a trace of scuffing affecting Case’s depiction. Mild evidence of factory handling is largely restricted to the periphery, and there are no discernible creases. Display quality is minimally Excellent. An extraordinary foursome, and virtually never seen in this configuration! Minimum Bid $300

The priciest related item I could find is when REA sold a 1941 Gum Inc. Play Ball Uncut High-Number Proof Sheet for $60k in 2017.

1941 Joe DiMaggio’s Restaurant Postcards

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One of the most colorful and unique hobby-adjacent collectibles you can add to your collection is a circa 1941 Joe DiMaggio’s Restaurant Linen postcard. I picked up this variation and its souvenir envelope for just $27.

Ron Menchine wrote a few books on baseball postcards and said, “The most famous and probably the best of the brothers who have played baseball were the DiMaggios. They grew up near the San Francisco waterfront, so it’s not surprising that they parlayed their fame and money into a popular restaurant on Fishermen’s Wharf.”

The variation with the three brothers along the top has the following specs, according to Menchine in his 1999 Baseball Postcard Collection book:

  • Publisher: Joe DiMaggio’s Restaurant, San Francisco, CA
  • Manufacturer: Curt Teich Co., Chicago, IL
  • Type: Linen
  • Postmark: Not Used
  • Value: $100-$150

The other variation of the restaurant’s postcard has two interior, an exterior, and a Joe DiMaggio picture on the front.

If you’re into graded items, PSA has graded four with interior views and seven with all the brothers, and SGC has added two of each of those copies. SGC also has two labeled as ‘Joe DiMaggio’ in their Pop Report, but I think those are old-flip three-brother combos, like the following example. I’ve also seen a Beckett slabbed postcard before.

Time Magazine Baseball Covers, 1923-1982

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In January 1983, Trader Speaks published this great piece from Frank Keetz highlighting the 44 times between 1923 and 1982 that a baseball player appeared on Time Magazine’s cover!

A few highlights:

  • Time has highlighted a baseball player on the cover ~1.5% of the time
  • Time Magazine covers are tougher finds than old Life, Sports, Sports Illustrated, and Street and Smith publications
  • George H. Sisler was the first baseball personality to appear on the cover.
  • Only Joe DiMaggio appeared more than once
  • If you’re a Mantle guy, you need the issue dated 6/15/1953

Here are the Sisler and Mantle covers:

1939 Playball #26 Joe DiMaggio With Rare Ad Back

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A small number (cards 1-115) of 1939 Gum, Inc. Playball cards were overprinted on the reverse and given away to generate interest in the set. But PSA didn’t designate “sample” on the card flip in its early days, like with this DiMaggio that remains in an old flip today.

To date, PSA has slabbed 30 1939 Playball #36 Joe DiMaggio Sample cards, but the one above (from a November 2001 auction catalog) isn’t included in that thirty unless it was cracked and re-submitted.

The highest-graded DiMaggio samples are a pair of Nm-Mt 8s. REA sold this one in the fall of 2019 for $3600.

More about these free sample cards and their red advertising message in the future, so don’t forget to subscribe to blog posts so you don’t miss it.

Joe DiMaggio Autographed Limited Edition John Martin Collectors Print

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If you attended the Kansas City Sports Collectors Convention in August 1981, you had the chance to pick up a Joe DiMaggio autographed collectors print done by John Martin. Here’s an ad for it from Trader Speaks.

You can read that Martin limited the number of 18′ x 24” prints to 325 and signed them, along with DiMaggio. Autographed prints were $75, while unsigned copies were $60 at the convention.

I tracked down this copy, numbered 35/325, on the website Everything But The House, where it sold for just $91 in September 2017 (most prints by Martin sell for a couple hundred dollars these days).