Cards of the week 5/04/09

Goudey's not the most popular product around right now, but if you're hoping that Upper Deck has no more 1930s designs to steal after this set, you are oh so mistaken. They can base next year's set on the hideous 1941 Goudey design. They could copy the R309-1, R303-A and R303-B jumbo Goudey Premium designs. Goudey even did baseball themed flip books in 1937 and 1938. If they wanted to make a real splash they could copy the R314 1936 Goudey Wide Pen premiums.

Here's an example of Yankee Hall of Fame Pitcher Waite Hoyt. If the design looks familiar, it's because they look similar to the '36 Goudey game cards. Those cards are normal Goudey size, but the premiums are about postcard sized at 3 1/4 by 5 1/2 inches. They are also printed on paper thin glossy stock making them look more like photos than cards. This is probably why despite the fact that they look really good, they are not very sought after. This can be a good thing as you can find 'em cheap. As you can see the large photo can look really nice. The set gets its name from the thick script the player's name is written in. The cards are blank on the back and come in three different flavors. They can have LITHO IN U.S.A. on the bottom corner,

they can have no litho mark in the border like this card of Bill Knickerbocker,

or the border can be dispensed with entirely like on this card of manager Steve O'Neill.

They come in horizontal varieties as well! Great photo of Rabbit Pytlak decked out in the tools of ignorance.

These cards can get pretty beat up due to the thin stock. I've got one that looks like it was crumpled into a ball at one point. They are perfect for putting in a scrapbook and I'll bet a good many of them are glued to albums somewhere. I think these were offered as an in-store premium where the cards were displayed next to the gum and kids could pick out the one they wanted when they bought some bubble gum [citation needed]. Ok, I haven't actually been able to confirm that, but I'm pretty sure I read it somewhere. If I'm incorrect, someone let me know so I can fix the post for posterity. It seems like that would be a good way for a kid to pick up a bunch of cards by distracting the owner and swiping a box worth of premiums.

So if you think '09 Goudey isn't the most attractive set, just think about what could be. 2010 Goudey might copy the '36 Wide Pen design and end up looking a lot like 1998 Pinnacle Snapshots. Be honest, who else has a bunch of those stupid things hanging around? I'll be you don't know what to do with yours either.