March 25, 2021: Spring Auction
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 3/25/2021
Offered is a handsome array of mostly Good to Excellent cards from the important 1940 Play Ball issue, the middle year of the company’s three-year run in the baseball card business as the Second World War approached and the largest set of the trio at 240 cards. The black-and-white 2 ½-by-3 1/8-inch cards feature an extraordinary cross section of baseball royalty, loaded with Hall of Famers and one remarkable ought-be-a-HOFer, an array that touches several different generations and includes legendary names like Connie Mack, Jimmie Foxx, Joe Jackson (PSA 4.5), Mel Ott, Carl Hubbell, George Sisler, Casey Stengel and a dozen more. The total represents roughly 37 percent of a complete set, an imposing figure for this pioneering black-and-white issue. Of the three dozen cards saddled with a Fair designation, virtually all wind up in that category because of relatively unobtrusive pencil markings of a couple of letters on the card backs, a not uncommon travail for older boyhood accumulations from the period. Almost all of that number present in a noticeably better overall grade that is closer to the broader range of Very Good to Excellent. Here’s the breakdown: Excellent (25) – No. 32, 41 Gehringer, 42, 49, 61, 68, 83, 85, 87 Hubbell, 88 Ott, 103, 107 Vaughan, 122, 130, 136, 141 Stengel, 142, 148, 151, 164, 174 Evers, 179 Sisler, 191 236 Bottomley and 238 Lazzeri; VG-Ex (15) – No. 23, 38 Doerr, 48, 53, 89, 132 Mack, 133 Foxx, 137, 158, 171 Heilmann, 187, 192, 221, 225 Jackson (PSA 4.5) and 226 Hooper; Very Good (6) – No. 10 Ruffing, 22, 39, 95, 177 Baker and 194; Good (5) – No. 29, 35, 109, 167 Frisch and 197; Fair (36) – No. 1, 36, 37, 44, 47, 50, 51, 56, 57, 59, 60, 62, 65, 66, 69, 70, 73, 74, 77, 78, 79, 81, 82, 90, 97, 99, 102 Klein, 104 Paul Waner, 105 Lloyd Waner, 106, 108, 113, 115, 159, 161 and 169; and Poor (2) – No. 43 and No. 72.
1940 R335 Play Ball Baseball Partial Set With 20 HOFers, PSA 4.5 Jackson (88/240)
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