The debut of the 1939 Play Ball series by Gum, Incorporated ushered in a new era of baseball cards. The set consists of 161 cards (though card #126 was never issued), each 2-1/2” by 3-1/8” in size - larger than nearly any tobacco card of the early 20th century. Each item featured quality likenesses of the respective ballplayer printed in black-and-white. It is anchored by the early card of Joe DiMaggio and the one-and-only 1939 baseball card depiction of rookie Ted Williams. The set also includes numerous Hall of Famers, including Earl Averill, Leo Durocher, Bill Dickey, Hank Greenberg, Chuck Klein and Heinie Manush.
This lot contains 30 of the 162 cards including the Ted Williams RC. The Ted Williams is graded a PSA 4 and the card shows a wonderful black and white image of arguably the greatest hitter of all time. Other notables in this lot are Carl Hubbell in Fair condition with ink on back, Mel Ott in fair condition, Charlie Gehringer in Fair condition and Hank Greenberg in poor condition with staining throughout the front of the card. All others are in Poor to GD condition.Card#'s 2, 8, 14, 19, 33, 37, 38, 41, 42, 43, 45, 50, 51, 53, 54, 55, 56, 61, 64, 65, 66, 67, 69, 84, 102, 105, 106, 159, 162,