March 19, 2020: Spring Auction
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 3/19/2020
Presented is one of the great anomalies of the prewar baseball card era, a pair of 12-card paper sheets from the 1941 Play Ball Baseball issue, the last mainstream card set produced in the United States before the onset of our involvement in World War II. The sheets, printed on a thin paper stock rather than the traditional card stock, are otherwise identical to the regular-issue Play Ball cards, representing card Nos. 1-24 printed in numerical order on two 12-card sheets. Hobby lore holds that the issuance of paper sheets was in reaction to the growing rationing of vital commodities across the country as the threat of war loomed; the two paper sheets constitutes a complete set as Nos. 1-24 were the only “cards” produced in this fashion out of the regular-issue 72-card complete set. As was customary in the day, many of the biggest stars appeared in the early numbers, in this instance meaning nine Hall of Famers, more than 1/3 of the entire total. The two 10-by-9 ½-inch sheets are in wonderful condition, ostensibly presenting even better than the technical grade, with bold, vivid colors yielding an epic portrayal of the unique art deco backgrounds that adorn each card. Sheet No. 1 (Nos. 1-12) is broadly VG-Ex and is highlighted by Hall of Famers Mel Ott, Carl Hubbell and Arky Vaughan, plus Miller, West, Walters, Derringer, McCormick, Danning, May, Garms and Brown. Sheet No. 2 (Nos. 13-24) presents as Ex-Mt, jostled only by a small “45” written in pencil on the back of the Hal Trosky and the tiniest of nicks on the edge of the Ruffing card. The lineup is incredible with a half dozen Hall of Famers, including Ted Williams, Jimmie Foxx, Joe Cronin, Hank Greenberg, Charlie Gehringer and Ruffing, plus Trosky, Weatherly, Keller, Johnson, McQuinn and Leonard.
1941 Play Ball Paper Sheets With 9 HOFers, Including Williams, Foxx (2)
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