Old Card File : 1940 Play Ball

Back in May I acquired a 1954 Bowman card which was the oldest card I owned. Now I have this 1940 Play Ball card.

Joost had a 17 year career (1936-1955) with the Reds, Boston Braves, Philadelphia A's (8 years), and Red Sox. He was a n no-hit shortstop (he had a lifetime BA of 0.239) but was a 2-time All Star. He was a member of the 1939 Reds World Series team. See the little "1939 Pennant" flag on the front. In 1954, he was the player manager for the A's. According to Baseball-Reference.com, Joost is till alive. He'd be 92 today.

I like that I can make several connections with Joost and this card. He played 8 years in Philadelphia, some of those years during my lifetime. And the card was produced in Philadelphia by Gum, Inc.

I paid $5.25 for the card. If it were in mint condition (which it clearly is not) it would be worth $35.

It's got a crease, and looking at the back, it appears that it was once glued into an album. Can you imagine that, there was a time that collector's (mostly kids) didn't care about the future value of their cards. Still, this card is 68 years old. It's not in too bad a shape.

This was the first full year of Play Ball. The card is 3/8 of an inch shorter than the current "standard" card size. Gum, Inc. had put out a sample set in 1939. They produced a color set in 1941, but most of the cards were colorized versions of the 1940 cards. And that was it for Play Ball.

On the back of the card, at the bottom it says "Millions of young folks asked for SUPERMAN CARD GUM. Now it's on the way here. This new Adventure and ??? Thrill awaits you at your dealers. Ask for it! Watch for it". I'd love to get a SUPERMAN CARD.