The first Vintage Set Break of the Month for 2015 will take collectors back eight decades for a chance to land one of two Lou Gehrig cards and numerous other stars in the 1934 Goudey set. A low to mid-grade set is being broken by Burls Sports.
The 1934 Goudey set also includes Jimmy Foxx, Hank Greenberg, Charlie Gehringer, Leo Durocher, Frankie Frisch, Lefty Grove, Carl Hubbell, Dizzy Dean and other baseball icons.
Vintage set breaks are somewhat similar to the case and box breaks of current sports card issues. A complete set is made available with participants offered the chance to buy a slot (or more). Once all have been sold (one for each card in the set), a random drawing is done by computer, the break is presented live online and Burls Sports distributes the cards by mail. The card(s) received are determined by the luck of the draw. Everyone who purchases a slot will receive a card. Spots in the break are $29.99.
With 96 spots, one for each card in the 1934 Goudey set (a checklist and set info is here), participants will have about a 19% chance of landing a Hall of Famer. There are also 24 high number cards and several minor stars in the set, a colorful and very popular issue, even without the presence of Babe Ruth. The Gehrig cards are graded PSA 1 while other cards in the set have not been graded. Cards range from Poor to Very Good.
“The ’34 Goudey set is an iconic pre-war set that has major star power with the two Gehrig 
cards,” said Burls Sports’ owner Justin Burleson. “At the same time, a low-grade set like this presents a great opportunity for a relatively low price point even though there are 18 Hall of Fame cards in the set. I want to slowly build interest in breaks among pre-war collectors in order to build up to a more significant set like ’33 Goudey or a T206 
partial set.”
Burleson says he’s had over 229 participants since starting vintage set breaks late last year with about 98 percent indicating they were satisfied with the experience. Sets of 1941 Play Ball, 1954 Topps and 1963 Topps have been broken thus far.
Details can be obtained on the Burls Sports website, which includes break information, photos of the major star and rookie cards and an order form.
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