1934 Goudey Baseball Set (R320)

Posted on December 25, 2016 by Pre-War Cards

‘It’s In The Details’

Title	R320 Goudey
Year	1934
Size	2 3/8″ x 2 7/8″
Images	Color
Type	Candy/Gum
Number in Set	96

1934 Goudey Overview

After its popular 1933 Goudey set, the company returned to produce a 1934 issue.

Like the 1933 release, the focus was on producing colorful, vibrant cards. But unlike that first set, Goudey utilized a much smaller checklist. Instead of the 240 cards from the 1933 issue, the 1934 set had only 96. This is among Goudey’s most plentiful issues with a good number still existing today.

The cards were similar in look to the 1933 set with fronts and backs having a nearly identical design. Most pictures were reused from the 1933 set and since the 1935 Goudey set again used many of these pictures, collectors saw a lot of the same images for three years in a row. Jimmie Foxx’s card was particularly repetitive since he actually had the same picture used twice in the 1933 set alone before it was reused in 1934 and 1935.

As is the case with many sets, the higher numbers in this set are more scarce and more valuable. The high numbers in the set are considered to be No. 73 through No. 96.

The 1934 set didn’t include Babe Ruth or many of the stars from the 1933 release. But it did still have plenty of Hall of Famers, such as Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Dizzy Dean, Leo Durocher, Paul Waner, Lefty Grove, and many others. Also noteworthy are two Hall of Famers that were not in the 1933 set in Hank Greenberg and Ernie Lombardi.

Greenberg’s card, in particular, is very notable since it is his rookie issue and one of the more expensive cards in the entire set. But the real keys are the two cards of Lou Gehrig, which top $500 each, even in bad shape. Here’s a closer look at each of those two cards.

Lou Gehrig and Chuck Klein Cards

With four cards in the 1933 set, there was little question that Babe Ruth was the headliner of that issue. In 1934, Goudey turned to a couple of new stars in Gehrig and Chuck Klein. Gehrig, in particular, was a focal point and he had two cards in the issue.

While the 1934 cards are similar to the 1933 set, the biggest difference is that the 1934 cards had some generic baseball artwork in the background and a banner along the bottom that read either “Lou Gehrig says” or “Chuck Klein says.” The idea was that the biography on the back was a quote from one of those two players about the player on the front.

Gehrig’s picture and replica signature are found on most of the cards (most are low numbers) while Klein’s picture/signature are on 13 cards (mostly high numbers). The Gehrig cards had a blue banner while Klein’s had a red banner.

While the Klein high number cards are desirable, values for them are kept somewhat lower because the players featured on them are mostly not that prominent. Ki-Ki Cuyler is the only Hall of Famer pictured on the Klein cards.

The Disappearance of Babe Ruth

Over the years, much has been made of the lack of Babe Ruth cards in this set. And unfortunately, decades later, we’re still left with a pretty incomplete picture of why Ruth does not exist in the set.

Ruth not appearing in the set would have been notable with any issue. After all, he did not appear in some other similar sets, like the 1933 DeLong release. It is possible that Ruth could have commanded too much to be included in some sets.

But his lack of presence is particularly notable here just because he was such a focal point of the 1933 Goudey set where he appeared four times. Some have suggested that a reason he may not have been in this set is because he was at odds with teammate Lou Gehrig and having Ruth cards with a Gehrig commentary would have been abundantly weird. That may have been the answer but until more conclusive evidence is brought forth, collectors are mostly left to guess why Ruth was not included.

It is interesting to note that Ruth did re-appear in Goudey’s 1935 set and that coincided with Gehrig disappearing from Goudey sets.

Reprints

Collectors seeking original 1934 Goudey cards should be aware the set has been since reprinted.

These reprint cards are typically easily identified with a different ‘feel’ of the card that is more modern. Backs of the reprint cards also indicate they are reprints.

Beware of cards that have been artificially aged. Many of these examples have been made to look ‘old’ and, most importantly, usually have some sort of wear in the area where the word ‘reprint’ exists on the back, which is the bottom center of the card. In many cases, these cards will have paper loss or some sort of wear there to hide/remove the word ‘reprint.’