1940s Editorial Bruguera World Famous Sportsmen Set and Checklist

Posted on December 22, 2016 by Pre-War Cards

‘It’s In The Details’

Title	Editorial Bruguera World Famous Sportsmen
Year	1940s
Size	3 1/2″ x 4 3/4″
Images	Color
Type	Publications
Number in Set	12

1940s Editorial Bruguera World Famous Sportsmen Overview

1940s Editorial Bruguera Babe Ruth This interesting multi-sport set was produced by Editorial Bruguera, a Spanish publishing company based out of Barcelona.

While this is a subset of 12 athletes, Editorial Bruguera produced other series’ with a focus on non-sports subjects. Measuring approximately 3 1/2″ high by 4 3/4″ wide, these horizontal cards are somewhat jumbo-sized.

Fronts include color images of the athletes with a name and card number. The front shows a large portrait style image of the athlete as well as a depiction in an action scene on the other side.

Artwork, was a bit hit or miss, like the Ruth card that has a portrait that kind of looks like him but then an action scene showing a thin batter. Additionally, the names on the fronts displayed a bit of inconsistency. Some of the cards feature full names while others included only a last name or first initial with a last name. The backs are blank.

Sangchili Editorial Bruguera Boxing In addition, like many international issues, these cards were intended to be placed inside of a commemorative album that was also distributed by Editorial Bruguera. Because of that, the cards are paper thin and extremely delicate.

Some of the names will not be familiar to American collectors. But the set has plenty of known subjects, too, including Babe Ruth and boxers Joe Louis, Max Schmeling, and Max Baer, among others. Ruth, of course, leads the way in terms of desirability and he is the only baseball player represented in the set that also includes boxing, soccer, auto racing, and water sports.