Many collectors don’t realize how affordable some vintage baseball cards truly are. Collectors don’t even have to settle for cards of lesser known players, either. While many issues depicting Hall of Famers are pricey, plenty of bargains exist, too. Over a four-part series, I wanted to take a look at some of the more affordable pre-war Hall of Fame cards available to collectors. These will be grouped by decade, starting with the 1900s and running through the 1930s.
With that said, here’s a look at the final part of the series with cards from the 1930s.
1935 Goudey Dickey/Ruffing/Lazzeri/Malone
If you like Hall of Famers, this card is for you. The 1935 Goudey set features four players to a card. And while there are more expensive ones, including a card featuring Babe Ruth, this is one of the few with three Hall of Famers on it. And while there are a few others that can make that claim, this one is arguably the most popular.
Pictured here are three members of the New York Yankees in Bill Dickey, Tony Lazzeri, and Red Ruffing. Even the fourth player, Pat Malone, was noteworthy, twice leading in the league in wins early in his career with the Chicago Cubs.
Finding that many stars on a single card is tough to beat and the price is also a good one, considering you can get decent copies of it starting around $60-$70.
Jimmie Foxx 1936 S&S Game Card
The 1936 S&S game set is one of the best pre-war bargain sets around, so it makes sense to include a card from it. While several big names are missing in this 1930s release, collectors will find Hall of Famer Jimmie Foxx. Foxx was one of the top home run hitters of all time so his presence here is a welcome one.
Foxx’s card is one of the keys to the set but despite that, it’s incredibly cheap, starting at under $50 with higher grade examples still less than $150. And because the cards have rounded corners, finding a quality card isn’t hard at all.
Joe DiMaggio 1936 Goudey Wide Pen Premium Rookie
I recently wrote about many of the DiMaggio rookie cards available to collectors and this is one of those. Found in the 1936 Goudey wide pen set of small photos, DiMaggio is pictured along with Hall of Fame manager Joe McCarthy. Somewhat surprisingly, despite the fact that he’s here with another Hall of Famer, this is arguably DiMaggio’s least expensive rookie.
While DiMaggio has other rookies from that year available, this is one of his most affordable, starting at around $200-$250 in decent shape.
Babe Ruth 1932 Sanella
This card is often cited as one of Babe Ruth’s least expensive cards and there’s no way it can’t make the cut here. Once not seen in the U.S. too often, it is now plentiful as it’s often found on eBay.
The 1932 Sanella set was a German food issue as the cards were issued by a margarine company. They are paper thin and, similar to the Goudey Wide Pens mentioned above, more like a small photograph than a traditional card. They were deliberately printed as such, however, so that they could be affixed into an album also available from the company.
It is hard finding a legit Babe Ruth card while he was still playing for about $100-$125 but that’s what we have here with this 1930s issue.
Ted Williams 1939-46 Salutations Exhibit
Rounding out our series is another big name Hall of Famer in Ted Williams. Like other sets we’ve mentioned in these four articles, the 1939-46 Salutations Exhibit set is a really inexpensive issue. If you don’t mind lower grade cards, you can even find commons for under $5.
Williams, of course, is no common. He was one of the game’s most prolific players and this set fits just within the 1930s as they were initially printed starting in 1939. Williams is one of the biggest names in the set and has two variations, both of which should be within reach of most collectors. One pose with the No. 9 on his jersey showing is more expensive. However, the more common version shown here is a cheap one, starting at only around $30-$40 in nice shape.
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