Gum card manufacturers of the 1930s popularized the practice of producing "premiums," larger-format cards redeemable with the exchange of a given number of baseball cards or wrappers at the point of sale.  Carrying on this tradition in 1948-49 was the Leaf Gum Company of Chicago, which offered a larger-format pinup-sized premium to young chewers of their All-Star Baseball Gum in exchange for ten wrappers.  The known subjects, currently counted at eight, included some of the greats of the game's history, including Babe Ruth, Christy Mathewson, Ed Walsh, Grover Alexander, John McGraw, Mickey Cochrane, Walter Johnson, and Lou Gehrig - in some cases a curious selection, with others conspicuous in their absence.  The premiums themselves were printed on lightweight paper, difficult to maintain in any reasonable condition and very few survived.  Today, the premiums are very, very scarce.  This particular example of Lou Gehrig's card has been graded VG-EX 4 by PSA, largely due to light toning and some very light wear.  The primary flaw is a small corner crease at the upper-left, irrelevant to the eye appeal of the card, which is extremely strong.  A very scarce and unusual premium from a very difficult-to-find issue.