Skip the Blaster: Lefty O’Doul 1933 Goudeys

Posted on October 16, 2020 by Pre-War Cards

Blaster boxes are those delectable boxes of modern cards that collectors like to target at retailers. Usually $10, $20, or $30, collectors love these sorts of fixed-price buys when in the mood for a cheap rip. I’ve got nothing against modern cards but, well, there are better ways to spend your money if you’re into vintage stuff. What I want to do is point out some great pre-war buys in these articles that can be purchased for the price of a blaster box.

1933 Goudey Lefty O’Doul Cards

I’ve written about Lefty O’Doul cards before but I still wanted to make this column’s debut about a bit more of his stuff.

As I wrote in that linked article, Lefty O’Doul’s cards can sell at the level of a Hall of Famer even though he wasn’t inducted into Cooperstown. O’Doul is a Japanese Baseball Hall of Famer but hasn’t achieved that honor here in the States.

With a career .349 batting average, some certainly feel he should have. O’Doul’s 1929 season was flat out legendary when he led the majors with 254 hits and a .398 batting average. Surprisingly, that wasn’t even good enough to win a Most Valuable Player award as O’Doul finished second to Rogers Hornsby that year for the honors. But he put together several good seasons and even won a second batting title when he hit ‘only’ .368.

O’Doul’s stuff certainly doesn’t sell for common prices but is still somewhat affordable. And even his popular 1933 Goudey cards fall into that category. Some really low-grade ones have sold recently for as little as $15 or so but you can buy a much more respectable (but still lower grade) one for around $30.

Even better is that O’Doul, like several stars in the era, has two cards to choose from in the set — a portrait and one of him wielding a bat.

O’Doul was one of the better hitters of his time and to get a card from one of the most popular sets of all time is an added bonus. For $30 or even less, O’Doul’s cards in this set are a great find.