Simplistic… and valuable, the 1920s Star Player sets get a boost with the discovery of a previously uncatalogued player.
They don’t come cheap, but the hardest part about collecting the Star Player Candy cards of 1928 and 1929 might be finding them.
The recent find of an complete retail box of the 1929 product–pictured at left– included the discovery of a Walter Johnson card amid the headliners of the day that made up the non-sports/sports hybrid set. Previously thought to include only Babe Ruth (#21) and Lou Gehrig (#32), the ’29 set now includes three baseball subjects.
The difference between the 1928 and ’29 set is that the backs of the ’29 cards included numbers and a short biography. Ruth’s reads: “Babe Ruth, ‘Sultan of Swat’, has reigned supreme as home run king for eight consecutive years. His record of 60 home runs in one season will probably remain unbroken for some years to come.”
A Ruth card, graded VG by SGC, sold at auction for over $7,000 in 2007.
In 1928, the inaugural Star Player set included no less than 73 baseball players–as close as one might come to getting a true sampling of the popular players of the day. Produced five years before Goudey’s landmark bubble gum set of 1933, the Star Player set is black & white. The cards measure 1-7/8 x 2-7/8″, are sepia-toned and subject to wear because of the thin paper stock used.
Among the cards issued were a bevy of Hall of Famers: Ruth, valued at $32,000 in near mint condition; Gehrig ($22,500) Ty Cobb ($20,000), plus Mickey Cochrane, Eddie Collins, Ki Ki Cuyer, Lefty Grove, George sisler, Tris Speaker and Pie Traylor–all at around $2,000. Even common player in VG condition often bring well over $200.
The discovery of the 1929 Walter Johnson card lends credence to the possibility that other 1928 baseball players will eventually surface.
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