The 1939 Play Ball set ushered in a new era of baseball cards, featuring crisp, clear photography, unlike that which collectors had seen in some time.  Card backs included extensive biographical information on each player and advertising was kept to a minimum.  The 161-card set includes popular cards of both Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams (his rookie card), the reigning superstars of the era, along with many additional stars and personalities from the late 1930s.

Presented here is a set with largely strong eye appeal and clean photography, assembled by a longtime collector searching for clean, crisp photography.  The set was assembled many years ago, before the advent of professional grading, and so manufacturing defects relating to centering and print lines were largely ignored by the collector.  As a result, many of the cards appear sharp but exhibit some technical flaw which would reduce the numerical grade of the card.  While the cards do exhibit evidence of handling, the majority of that wear is restricted to mild corner wear.  A technical breakdown of the entire set would be 4% EX, 17% VG/EX, 32% VG, 39% GOOD, and 8% FAIR with a few lesser.  We took the liberty of having five cards graded by PSA.  Those cards graded as follows: #26 DiMaggio (PSA VG-EX 4), #51 Ott (PSA FR 1.5), #56 Greenberg (PSA VG 3 MK), #92 Williams (PSA VG+ 3.5), and #103 Berg (PSA FR 1.5).

The remaining keys grade as follows: #3 Ruffing (VG), #6 Durocher (F), #7 Doerr (G), #30 Dickey (VG), #50 Gehringer (G), #53 Hubbell (VG), #82 Klein (VG), #89 Waner (G), #112 Waner (G).  161 cards total.

NOTE: The set does include a few of the tougher "Sample" cards as follows: #51 Ott, #70 Frankhouse, #98 Whitney, and #111 Mungo.