1940 Play Ball
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| baseball | | | football |
1940 Play Ball Baseball | |||
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After enjoying success with its initial effort in 1939, Play Ball was back in 1940 with a bigger and better-designed set. This time around, however, some of the sport's old-timers showed up, too. While the player pictures used in this set were still black and white photos, Gum, Inc. improved upon its 1939 design by adding a banner featuring the player's name to the bottom of the card. A glove, bat and catcher's mask adorned the banner, and a frame was added around the player's picture. One of the more charming (or irritating, depending on your point of view) aspects of these cards is the inclusion of player nicknames. The card backs are much the same as those of the 1939 set (with their extensive biographical information), except that a 1940 copyright date was added to the lower left corner. This set featured 240 cards in all, making the largest of the play Ball sets. Some of these cards, including many of the high-numbered series (cards #181-240), feature Hall of Famers who had long retired, like Walter Johnson, Willie Keeler, Chief Bender, and Pie Traynor. The set's key cards include Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio and one of the retired greats, "Shoeless" Joe Jackson. It is the addition of these old-timers, coupled with the scarcity of the high-number series that includes many of those greats, that makes this the most sought-after and valuable of the three Play Ball issues.
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Looking to sell your vintage sports card collection, magazine collection, or other sports memorabilia? See the following articles for help: |
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1. Joe DiMaggio |
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| 1985 Topps | 1982 Topps | 1979 Topps | 1976 Topps |
| 1973 Topps | 1970 Topps | 1967 Topps | 1964 Topps |
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