The 1940 Play Ball baseball card set noticed a number of key modifications that constructed off the success of Gum Inc.’s 1939 launch.
Sure, they have been nonetheless a 12 months away from together with shade imagery.
However the internal body and nameplate alongside the underside, flanked by a glove, bat, catcher’s masks, and a few baseballs, have been welcome additions.
For instance, some gamers’ playing cards, like Joe DiMaggio and Lefty Gomez, even contained a small pennant to acknowledge their 1939 pennant victories.
Gum Inc. clearly put inventive thought into the design…
Additionally they added big-name heroes of the previous like Shoeless Joe Jackson, Christy Mathewson, Honus Wagner, and Walter Johnson to widen their attraction.
General, it was a stable follow-up to their 1939 debut.
And on this information, I will run by means of the 15 most dear.
Let’s bounce proper in!
1940 Play Ball #225 Shoeless Joe Jackson
Estimated PSA 5 NM-MT Worth: $4,500
Regardless of being certainly one of baseball’s most controversial figures, Shoeless Joe Jackson is among the many most celebrated gamers within the baseball card pastime.
His 1940 Play Ball problem is a main instance.
You will discover that this set is loaded with Corridor of Famers, a lot of which have been nonetheless enjoying when this set was launched.
But Jackson’s card sits on high.
His legacy suffers from the notorious 1919 Black Sox scandal, which noticed him accused of conspiring to repair the World Sequence.
Regardless of being acquitted, Jackson was completely banned from baseball, an unlucky finish to a Corridor of Fame-worthy profession.
His on-field achievements have been exceptional: he amassed 1,772 hits, 792 RBIs, and a powerful .423 on-base share.
And Jackson’s profession batting common of .356 ranks him among the many all-time greats, putting him third in MLB historical past behind Ty Cobb and Rogers Hornsby.
Recognized for his highly effective swing and distinctive potential to hit for each common and energy, Jackson was unquestionably one of many sport’s best hitters.
And although controversy will at all times hang-out his profession, collectors overwhelmingly covet his baseball playing cards.
1940 Play Ball #1 Joe DiMaggio
Estimated PSA 5 NM-MT Worth: $2,750
The New York Yankees group had little time to take pleasure in their fourth consecutive World Sequence title.
After grabbing a fourth trophy within the 1939 World Sequence, New York stared down a protracted holdout course of with two of their greatest stars: All-Star third baseman Crimson Rolfe and perennial MVP candidate Joe DiMaggio.
Each stars held out for weeks heading into the exhibition season, with seemingly no finish in sight.
As you would possibly count on, the tabloids had a area day.
Rolfe and DiMaggio reached accords proper earlier than Spring Coaching, reducing off the distraction earlier than any video games have been performed.
And neither missed a beat, even when the third-place Bombers did collectively.
Rolfe put collectively his third consecutive All-Star marketing campaign, whereas DiMaggio returned to his publish because the Majors’ most full ballplayer.
The 25-year-old heart fielder received his second consecutive batting title with a .352 common whereas tallying 31 house runs, 93 runs, 133 RBIs, and a 1.051 OPS in 132 video games.
1940 Play Ball #27 Ted Williams
Estimated PSA 5 NM-MT Worth: $2,000
Ted Williams’ sophomore season was each knowledgeable step ahead and a horror present.
The numbers have been nice.
The 21-year-old outfielder constructed off his top-four MVP end in 12 months one, hitting .344 with an AL-best .442 on-base share, the primary of seven consecutive seasons he’d led the league in OBP.
Williams additionally led the Majors in runs (134) whereas posting 23 house runs, 43 doubles, 14 triples, 96 walks, and 113 RBIs in 144 video games.
You’d assume the child’s first All-Star season could be trigger for celebration.
As an alternative, Williams’ delicate and stand-offish perspective bought him in bother.
After saying no to an interview with one of many head honchos of the press corps (as a result of author’s drunken state), Teddy Ballgame grew to become Media Enemy #1.
Smear items popped up repeatedly.
Followers alternated between booing and cheering him, inflicting him to repeatedly blow a gasket.
Williams was caught in a no-win scenario, albeit a scenario that will get simpler one .400 season later.
1940 Play Ball #133 Jimmie Foxx
Estimated PSA 5 NM-MT Worth: $600
As younger Ted Williams’ inventory rose, Jimmie Foxx stubbornly held onto the Boston highlight for one or two final go-arounds.
At 32 years of age, Foxx battled the results of years of consuming and a number of head accidents all through the 1940 season.
The Boston Crimson Sox first baseman struggled with equilibrium points because of sinus issues, and his eye within the batter’s field bought a bit cloudier.
It is a testomony to Foxx’s greatness that he powered by means of with such a incredible 1940 marketing campaign.
Ending sixth within the American League MVP race, Foxx slashed .297/.412/.581 with 36 house runs, marking the final of twelve consecutive 30-homer seasons for the Corridor-of-Famer.
Double X additionally posted 101 walks, 106 runs scored, and 119 RBIs for his profession’s seventh-and-final 100/100/100 marketing campaign.
He wasn’t as spry because the 21-year-old Williams, and the wheels have been slowly coming off, however Foxx was nonetheless firmly among the many sport’s elite performers.
1940 Play Ball #40 Hank Greenberg
Estimated PSA 5 NM-MT Worth: $500
The 2017 Houston Astros are simply the tip of the baseball-cheating iceberg.
Whereas the trash can bangin’ Astros are handled by some like a championship asterisk, what they did wasn’t new information.
Take the 1940 Detroit Tigers, for instance. 3.5 video games out of first place heading into September, the Motown Kitties completed 18-10 to wrest away the AL pennant from the Cleveland Indians.
It was a heart-stopping run.
It was additionally the results of theft.
In line with Corridor-of-Fame left fielder and 1940 AL MVP Hank Greenberg, the Tigers stole indicators with the assistance of pitcher Tommy Bridges and his new rifle scope.
Greenberg hit almost .400 within the season’s remaining month with a mind-bending 15 house runs in 28 video games.
He had hit not more than eight in any of the earlier 5 months.
The Detroit Tigers rode their manufactured momentum to inside an eyelash of a World Sequence championship earlier than falling to the Cincinnati Reds in seven.
1940 Play Ball #168 Honus Wagner
Estimated PSA 5 NM-MT Worth: $500
Honus Wagner made an unimaginable mark on the sport throughout his three seasons with the Louisville Colonels and eighteen with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Usually thought-about certainly one of baseball’s best shortstops in MLB historical past, Wagner was additionally among the many earliest five-tool superstars.
His 3,240 hits, eight batting titles, 1,733 RBIs and profession .328 batting common proved he may produce on the plate.
Defensively, Wagner was a pioneer at his place, recognized for his fast reflexes and robust arm, which earned him recognition as one of many best fielders of his period.
And it was on the basepaths the place Wagner earned his nickname “The Flying Dutchman.”
As soon as on base, Wagner was a nightmare for opposing groups, utilizing his blazing velocity to swipe 723 bases, ok for tenth place on the all-time leaderboard.
As a testomony to his greatness, Wagner was one of many 5 unique Corridor of Fame inductees in 1936.
In relation to baseball playing cards, Wagner is perpetually immortalized by his notorious T206 card.
However this one can also be vital.
1940 Play Ball #30 Moe Berg
Estimated PSA 5 NM-MT Worth: $400
Moe Berg could have been essentially the most attention-grabbing fellow in baseball historical past.
Berg’s story reads out of a film.
He performed barely nicely sufficient for fifteen years to earn a Main League paycheck.
Nonetheless, it might not have been his play that saved him there.
Relying on who you consider, Berg’s MLB place might need been a canopy for his work with the CIA.
In 1934, Berg visited Japan with a touring baseball crew and used each a disguise and his mastery of Japanese (and eleven different languages) to take top-secret images of the Tokyo skyline.
The images by no means proved helpful to the Individuals’ WWII efforts, however the story outstrips the information.
In 1940, Berg retired from baseball and doubled down on the weirdness.
Whereas he hung across the sport and mentored younger skills like Ted Williams, it was his not-so-secret but secret authorities work that made his story taller and taller.
1940 Play Ball #120 Walter Johnson
Estimated PSA 5 NM-MT Worth: $400
1940 Play Ball #88 Mel Ott
Estimated PSA 5 NM-MT Worth: $300
By 1940, Mel Ott was one of the best of a foul New York Giants bunch.
Three years after a 3rd World Sequence look in 5 years, New York was knee-deep in what would stretch right into a 13-year-old October drought.
Most gamers on the core of these pennant groups have been both gone or aged out of relevance.
Fan curiosity plummeted, and the Giants have been now in-city afterthoughts to the hated New York Yankees.
It was a horrible time in Giantsland.
The one factor they appeared to have going for them was the play of Ott.
The 31-year-old proper fielder/third baseman had his worst season by OPS+ (137) since his age-18 season and didn’t register an MVP vote for the primary time since 1933.
Regardless, he was nonetheless an All-Star hitter and the center of one other depleted New York lineup.
Ott slashed .289/.407/.457 for the sixth-place Giants with 19 house runs, 100 walks, 89 runs, and 79 RBIs in 151 video games.
1940 Play Ball #175 Christy Mathewson
Estimated PSA 5 NM-MT Worth: $300
Christy Mathewson’s identify is certain to be talked about in any dialogue centered round one of the best pitchers in baseball historical past.
Famend for his exceptional management and progressive pitching strategies, Mathewson is credited for creating the “fadeaway,” a precursor to the modern-day screwball.
Lengthy story quick: throughout Mathewson’s 17 years in baseball, he was one of many final folks you needed to see in case you have been moving into the batter’s field.
With a staggering 373 wins, Mathewson sits in third place, tied with Grover Alexander, on the profession wins record.
And his 2.13 ERA places him in a tie with Al Spalding for eighth-best all-time.
Other than his unimaginable profession statistical achievements, Mathewson tossed two no-hitters, received two Triple Crowns, and led the New York Giants to the 1905 World Sequence title.
Throughout that Sequence, Mathewson roughly singlehandedly dismantled Connie Mack’s powerhouse Philadelphia Athletics.
In three begins, Mathewson tossed three shutouts.
And over these 27 innings, he struck out 18 batters whereas strolling just one.
1940 Play Ball #173 Napoleon Lajoie
Estimated PSA 5 NM-MT Worth: $275
1940 Play Ball #179 George Sisler
Estimated PSA 5 NM-MT Worth: $200
1940 Play Ball #41 Charlie Gehringer
Estimated PSA 5 NM-MT Worth: $200
Detroit Tigers legend Charlie Gehringer had one final high quality season left in him coming into 1940.
Fortunately, that season got here throughout one of the exhilarating pennant runs in franchise historical past.
5 years after the group’s first World Sequence win, the Tigers discovered themselves in hand-to-hand standings fight with 4 different American League groups.
The Yankees and Indians traded pennant positioning with all of them 12 months, and the Crimson Sox and White Sox held on the periphery as potential threats.
Detroit finally bought the higher of a crowded area, driving a molten-hot September to the league pennant.
As for Gehringer, he was on hearth for the whole second half, hitting .331 with an OPS over .900 from July by means of September.
It was the final hurrah for the previous MVP and batting title winner.
The veteran second baseman adopted a tough Sequence displaying in opposition to the Reds with the worst season of his profession.
He retired one 12 months later.
1940 Play Ball #141 Casey Stengel
Estimated PSA 5 NM-MT Worth: $200
1940 Play Ball #6 Lefty Gomez
Estimated PSA 5 NM-MT Worth: $175
The 1940 New York Yankees have been snake-bitten.
Lefty Gomez took loads of the venom.
The 31-year-old southpaw entered Spring Coaching with a laundry record of grueling pains.
Already struggling by means of a continual again problem, Gomez was compelled to punch by means of added neck, knee, and shoulder discomfort.
In some way, the Corridor-of-Famer compartmentalized all of it to make it to Opening Day.
He did not final for much longer than that.
Gomez was lifted from the sport after 5 sturdy innings in opposition to the A’s with stiffness in his throwing shoulder.
The prognosis turned out grim.
He made simply eight extra appearances over the rest of the season.
After seven consecutive All-Star appearances and 4 straight World Sequence titles, Gomez’s physique was now going out on him.
It was a microcosm of an injury-riddled season within the Bronx.
New York missed out on the pennant for the primary time in a half-decade.
To compound issues, their ace wouldn’t be their ace for for much longer.
1940 Play Ball Baseball Playing cards In Evaluate
Not like the 1939 and 1941 Play Ball units, which featured rookie playing cards of Ted Williams and Pee Wee Reese, respectively, the 1940 Play Ball set does not comprise any big-name rookie playing cards.
That is in all probability the most important disadvantage of the 240-card guidelines.
And it might be why this set does not appear to get as a lot consideration because it deserves.
Do not get me mistaken, there are many collectors on the market who love this set.
However, for some cause, it appears to fly below the radar greater than it ought to.
To assist fill out the expanded guidelines, Gum Inc. included a number of former gamers who had lengthy since retired.
Because of this, there are over 50 Corridor of Famers within the set.
Which means almost one in 5 playing cards is a Corridor of Famer.
So, in case you’re a fan of classic baseball playing cards and in search of a set that packs loads of punch, you possibly can’t go mistaken with 1940 Play Ball.
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