1933 Goudey Sport Kings (R338)

The 1933 Goudey Sport Kings set is a beautiful offering filled with superstars from the 1920's and 1930's, hailing from many different sports and walks of life.  This set is renowned for it's vibrant color fronts and just clean and crisp overall look.  The set includes 48 cards that measure 2 3/8" x 2 7/8".  The card fronts feature color portraits with the players name listed at the bottom.  The card backs are in printed in green and have interesting biographies on each "Sport King."

# 2 Babe Ruth  - 1933 Goudey Sport Kings

This set includes only three baseball cards: #1 Ty Cobb, #2 Babe Ruth, and #42 Carl Hubbell. We previously blogged about the beautiful # 2 Babe Ruth SGC 8.5 NM/MT+ we have for sale at DeansCards.com.  This card of the sultan of swat is perhaps one of the most attractive cards from the 1933 Goudey Sports Kings set, and maybe one of the Bambino's best looking cards of the 1930's.  

Football players Red Grange, Jim Thorpe, and Knute Rockne are also featured cards.  The black silhouettes that illustrate the bottom border of the football cards are cool.  They show scenes such as that of a player diving for a touchdown, or a big pileup of tacklers with the runner doing his best to evade the scrum.

# 2 Ruth (Back) - 1933 Goudey Sport Kings

The 1933 Goudey Sport Kings set includes some of the first professional basketball cards ever.  This was also the only multi-sport offering sold by the Goudey Gum Company.

The rest of the Pre-War vintage card set consists of ice skaters, hockey players, aviators, swimmers, and even golfers (notably Bobby Jones and Gene Sarazen among others!).

# 4 Red Grange - 1933 Goudey Sport Kings

Dean's Cards has a variety of different 1933 Goudey Sport Kings, 1933 Goudey Sport King Reprints, and other issues from the Goudey Gum Company.  

We also have a variety of other sets produced by the Goudey Gum Company, including: 1933 Goudey Baseball Cards, 1934 Goudey Baseball Cards, 1938 Goudey Heads Up Baseball Cards, and 1933 Goudey Indian Gum Non-Sports Cards. 

1933 World Wide Gum Uncut Sheet

Just yesterday, we at Dean's Cards had the great fortune of having a very interesting piece of memorabilia walk through our doors- a 1933 World Wide Gum Uncut Sheet of cards. This extremely rare uncut sheet of Pre-War cards features names equally rare among collectors; including Jimmie Foxx, Lou Gehrig and three Babe Ruth cards (two #80 cards and one #93). In fact, until we're proven otherwise, we're going to believe this product is absolutely one-of-a-kind.

The World Wide Gum set is commonly viewed as the Canadian brother to the American Goudey brand and occasionally features both English and French languages. However, our prized 1933 uncut sheet is in World Wide Gum's more standard English only. With no other branding on the cards, the giveaway that the cards are from World Wide Gum is the "Printed in Montreal" markings on them.

To view the ever-beautiful 1933 World Wide Gum Uncut Sheet, please click here.

1933 U.S. Caramel Baseball Cards

One of the rarest sets from the 1930's is the 1933 U.S. Caramel (R328) card sets. Nearly impossible to complete due to the #16 Charles Lindstrom card, there are 32 cards in the set, which includes boxers, baseball players, and golfers. Some of the most notable athletes in this set are Roger Hornsby, Ty Cobb, Jack Dempsey, Jimmie Foxx, Lou Gehrig, and Babe Ruth.

The U.S. Caramel Company was located in Boston and was one of the last companies to produce a caramel card set. Bubble gum was quickly becoming more popular and the success of the Goudey gum cards released that same year would quickly overtake caramel and tobacco cards.

The cards feature a distinctive red background on the front and, on the back, a short athlete biography, including stats, and a short redemption offer. These cards can be easily identified by the phrase "United States Caramel Co., East Boston, Mass."

Currently, we have a #23 Jimmie Foxx in stock. Please click here to view our entire selection of 1933 U.S. Caramel Cards.

1933 Sports Kings #2 Babe Ruth

The 1933 Sport Kings set is one of the most interesting sets produced in the 1930's. Bubble gum had largely replaced tobacco as the great seller of baseball cards and the Goudey Gum Company, which produced the Sport Kings set, was leading the way. In the case of the 1933 Sport Kings set, the Goudey Gum Company decided to borrow an idea from earlier T-card sets, such as the highly popular Allen & Ginter cards, and make a set that featured many different types of athletes any hobbyists.

This set includes only three baseball cards: #1 Ty Cobb, #2 Babe Ruth, and #42 Carl Hubbell. Football players Red Grange, Jim Thorpe, and Knute Rockne are also featured. The Sport Kings set includes some of the first professional basketball cards ever. The rest of the set consists of ice skaters, hockey players, aviators, swimmers, and even golfers. The Goudey Gum Company also decided to print the card of Babe Didrickson, one of the best female athletes of all time.

DeansCards.com is lucky enough to have the #2 Babe Ruth card in an SGC 8.5+ NM/MT+. Although the Babe's great career would be over in a few short years, this is still one of his most desirable cards, as it memorializes him as one of the greatest American athletes.  We have never seen this card before in any condition, so we are very happy to be able to find a perfect one.

1923 W515-1 Uncut Sheet with Babe Ruth

We were sorting through a box of Non-Sports cards yesterday and we happened to find an uncut sheet of 12 cards that had actresses, Presidents, military generals, and baseball players, including Babe Ruth. With a little research, we realized that we had a sheet of 1923 W515-1 strip cards. While most of the actresses, generals, and Presidents are not particularly popular with collectors, the Babe Ruth card is one of his most interesting cards. The W515 strip cards come in two different varieties: W515-1 and W515-2. The two varieties look very similar, have the same checklist, and have the same price. The only difference between the two is the size of cards (the W515-1 cards are slightly smaller). When in strip form, the W515-2 cards have the phrase "The Little Wonder Picture Series" at the top.

W-cards, or strip cards, were intended to be cut into individual cards, either by a shopkeeper or the kids themselves. Strip cards are one of our least popular Pre-War cards because it is so hard to find them in nice condition. However, when a strip card is found in strip or sheet form, it becomes much more collector-friendly.

The Ruth card itself is a close-up of his face in front of a bright red background. The consensus here at the DeansCards.com office is that this illustration doesn't really look much like the Babe. It's really amazing that we found this sheet of cards floating in a pile of Non-Sports cards and we hope to make more rare discoveries just like this.

1951 Topps Connie Mack All-Stars Baseball Cards

The 1951 Topps Connie Mack All-Stars set was one of Topps’ first sets ever printed. Topps’ first official set was the 1951 Red and Blue Back baseball cards, but around the same time, they printed an 11 card that featured players from the first few decades of the 20th century. The cards measure 2” by 5¼” but were die-cut so that the player featured on the card could be punched out to make its own display. A short biographical paragraph is printed on the back of each card.

Connie Mack was the owner of the Philadelphia A’s at the time this set was produced, but he had been involved with professional baseball since 1886 as a player, manager, owner, or some combination of those three jobs. As a manager, he was the first to win the World Series three times. He would retire from baseball three years after the set was released.

The set itself includes some of the best players from the past fifty years, including Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, and Christy Mathewson, among others. If you are interested in selling 1951 Connie Mack All-Star cards, please click here. If you are interested in viewing our selection of 1951 Connie Mack All-Star cards, please click here.

1931 W517 Baseball Cards

# 35 Lou Gehrig

The 1931 W517 strip card is has one of the highest densities of Hall of Fame players of any set ever printed. At least 60% of the players featured in the set are now in the Hall of Fame. This set is one of the more popular strip card sets because the cards are closer in size to regular cards and feature so many star players. Here at DeansCards.com, we have found that strip cards are usually not as popular as other cards around the same time. This may be because the condition is so dependent on someone else cutting the card correctly at least 70 years ago. However, the W517 and Exhibit cards remain highly popular strip card sets due to the popularity of the players in both sets.

# 20 Babe Ruth (portrait)

The W517 cards measure 3” by 4” when cut correctly. The set includes 54 a total of 54 cards. They were initially printed in vertical sets of three cards. The store owner usually cut the cards prior to selling them, but they could also sell the entire strip. Each card was printed in either green or sepia ink, but there is usually not a price difference between the two variations. A set of mini W517 was also printed around the same time. The mini cards have a significantly smaller population and are sold at a premium today. The mini cards were probably sold in postcard form like the Exhibit cards, meaning that they would have been in a 4-card sheet.

# 38 Roger Hornsby

The #20 Babe Ruth card is one of the most popular W517 strip cards in the set. Currently, DeansCards.com has a sepia Ruth card in stock. At the time this card was printed, Ruth was in the twilight stage of his career. He would retire a few years later in 1935. Even at 35 years old, he had still hit 49 home runs in the 1930 season. This set commemorates many other Hall of Fame players, but Ruth’s solemn expression makes his card particularly memorable.

The W517 reprint cards are especially popular with collectors. It can be hard to find some of the stars and common cards in nice condition because the cards were hand-cut. The reprint cards were, obviously, not hand-cut, so they have a uniform size and shape. If you are interested in viewing the reprint cards, please click here.

DeansCards.com is always looking to buy 1931 W517 cards. If you are interested in more information about selling a collection, please click here. If you are interested in seeing our selection of W517 cards, please click here.

1917 Boston Store H801-8 Baseball Cards

#147 Babe Ruth

***The information in this article was used to write our ebook, Before There Was Bubble Gum: Our Favorite Pre-World War I Baseball Card Sets.  To purchase the ebook, please click here.***

The 1917 H801-8 Boston Store baseball card set is one of the most difficult to complete of any Pre-War set. There are a total of 200 cards that measure 2” by 2¾”. The cards were printed on thin paper stock, making them very difficult to find in good condition. The Boston Store cards can be easily identified by the advertisement on the back, which was intended for young boys who would have been interested in baseball cards. The Boston Store baseball cards may be related to the E135 Collins-McCarthy set, released the same year. The Collins-McCarthy cards have the same design on the front, but feature an advertisement for candy on the back.

#30 Ty Cobb

There are a total of five variations in the Boston Store set. They are all either differences in sock color or the wrong person is in the picture. This set is particularly expensive because it features Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, and Shoeless Joe Jackson. Cobb was in the middle of his career and had finished in the top 20 of the MVP race for four years straight (1911-14). He won the MVP award in 1911. Ruth was still in the early stages of his career. At the time, he was still a member of the Red Sox, but would be traded to the in 1920. Shoeless Joe was a few years away from the 1919 World Series and the infamous Black Sox Scandal. Like Cobb, Shoeless Joe had finished in the top ten of the MVP voting from 1911 to 1914, finishing second in 1913.

Boston Store was a department store in the Chicago-area and the Midwest. The advertisement on the back has store locations in downtown Chicago. Established in1897 by the Stone family in Milwaukee, Boston Store would later be purchased and re-sold several different times during the 20th century and is still in existence today.

Here at DeansCards.com, we are always interested in purchasing Boston Store and other Pre-War baseball cards. If you are interested in selling these or other cards, please click here. If you are interested in viewing our inventory of Boston Store cards, please click here.

1933 Goudey Baseball Cards

The 1933 Goudey Baseball Card Set is recognized as the first important gum release.  America was deep in the depression in 1933 and kids did not have many pennies to spend.  For a product to get that penny, there had to be value.  The Goudey Gum Company of Boston launched its revolutionary “Big League Gum” product.

The 1933 Goudey Baseball Cards were printed on thick cardboard stock, with bright colorful pictures and came with a nice big slab of gum.  They were a great improvement over the smaller, thinner cardboard tobacco and candy cards that preceded them.  It is important to remember that 1933 Goudey cards were the first color portraits of these stars that most people ever saw.

The Goudey Gum Company tried hard to give the customers what they wanted.  The greatest stars of the game had multiple cards.  There are 4 different 1933 Goudey Babe Ruth cards and #144 Ruth was double printed.  The 1933 Goudey Baseball card set also has three cards of Joe Cronin and two cards each of Jimmy Foxx, Lou Gehrig, Rogers Hornsby, Carl Hubbell and Mel Ott.

Dean's Cards has a great selection of 1933 Goudey baseball cards.  If you can not afford the original Goudey cards, please check out the 1933 Goudey Baseball Card Reprint set.