On the heels of its wildly popular 1933 "Big League Chewing Gum" set, the Goudey Gum Company enlisted the endorsements of popular Yankees first baseman Lou Gehrig and Cubs outfielder Chuck Klein, and issued a 96-card set that included player biographies purported to have been written by the two sluggers. Each card featured a color reproduction of a player photo, set against a vivid, solid-color background with silhouette images of baseball game play. The bottom of each card contained a small portrait of either Gehrig or Klein, in an effort to capitalize on the popularity of the endorsers. Today, the 1934 Goudey set is considered one of the most attractive of the gum card era, and despite the lack of a Babe Ruth remains one of the most popular. The two cards of Lou Gehrig remain among his most popular, with the #37 yellow portrait being one of the most beautiful and desirable cards in the entire hobby.
Presented here is an absolutely gorgeous midgrade complete set, with 57 graded by either PSA or SGC, and another 18 that were formerly graded by PSA but liberated from their holders and stored in top loaders along with their grading labels. The set was assembled card-by-card by an extremely advanced collector with outstanding patience, the majority of the cards boasting eye appeal far in excess of their technical grades. Surfaces are largely clean, with even lower-grade examples boasting tremendous aesthetic appeal. The set exhibits very few creases, the majority of the cards well-centered and clean, with tiny flaws reducing the technical grade.
A condition report on the set would be 3% EX/MT, 16% EX, 47% VG/EX, 11% VG, 11% GOOD, 9% FAIR, and a few lesser. Graded cards include the following: SGC EX/MT 6 (1 card): #55. PSA EX-MT 6 (1 card): #74. SGC EX+ 5.5 (2 cards): #24, 56. SGC EX 5 (6 cards): #33, 35 Lombardi (HOF), 36, 65, 86, 90 Cuyler (HOF). PSA EX 5 (5 cards): #50, 58, 59, 68, 96. SGC VG/EX+ 4.5 (1 card): #80. PSA VG-EX+ 4.5 (3 cards): #41,64, 75. SGC VG-EX 4 (3 cards): #19 Grove (HOF), 27 Appling (HOF), 91. PSA VG-EX 4 (23 cards): #13 Frisch (HOF), 38, 39, 43, 44, 45, 47, 46, 48, 51, 53, 57, 60, 63, 66, 67, 69, 73, 79, 82, 89, 92, 94. SGC VG+ 3.5 (1 card): #12 Hubbell (HOF). PSA VG+ 3.5 (1 card): #52. SGC VG 3 (5 cards): #1 Foxx (HOF), #6 Dean (HOF), 61 Gehrig (HOF), 70, 83. SGC GOOD+ 2.5: #7 Durocher (HOF). PSA GOOD+ 2.5 (1 card): #72. SGC GOOD 2 (2 cards): #37 Gehrig (HOF), 62 Greenberg (HOF). SGC POOR 1 (1 card): #11 Waner. Of the cards that were liberated from their holders, they graded as follows: PSA EX-MT 6 (1 card): #34 Hafey (HOF). PSA EX 5 (2 cards): #3, 9. PSA VG-EX+ 4.5 (2 cards): #15, 30. PSA VG-EX 4 (10 cards): #5, 8, 16, 20, 23 Gehringer (HOF), 25, 26, 28, 29, 31.PSA VG+ 3.5 (1 card): #32. PSA VG-EX 4 (MK) (1 card): #21 Terry (HOF). PSA GOOD 2 (1 card): #14.
This is a spectacular set, one of the most popular and desirable of its era. Loaded with Hall of Famers, with tremendous eye appeal, an outstanding midgrade set. 96 cards total.