1940 Play Ball Baseball Cards

After a successful debut set in 1939, Gum, Inc. brought back its Play Ball baseball card set in 1940. They improved on its design, made the set larger and even added cards of legendary players from the past. It ended up having 240 cards, which matched 1933 Goudey for the largest single-year gum card set issued to that point.

Although the pictures are still black-and-white photos, several elements were added to the card front's design. A banner featuring the player's name (and nickname, if he had one) was added to the bottom. The banner is adorned with a glove, bat and catcher's mask, and a frame is placed around the picture. Backs are very similar to the ones found in the 1939 set with a biographical write-up, except for a 1940 copyright date and differed ad copy at the bottom. Some cards in the high number series (#181-240) preview Superman Gum.

One other feature of the high-numbered series was the inclusion of cards celebrating retired stars. At the time, the Hall of Fame was still relatively new and the legends helped fill out the number of cards needed for the final series. Today, retired stars are regularly inserted into sets but this was a new development in 1940. Older hobby guides indicate that collectors generally frown on cards featuring retired players, but that has changed over time. Since the retired legends are part of the scarcer high-numbered series, they are already given a bump in price, but cards of Shoeless Joe Jackson and Christy Mathewson have become key cards over the years.

Key 1940 Play Ball Baseball Cards:

• Joe Jackson #225
• Joe DiMaggio #1
• Ted Williams #27
• Christy Mathewson #175
• Hank Greenberg #40

Best Match Items Ending First Newly-Listed Items First Price + Shipping: Lowest First Price + Shipping: Highest First

1940 PLAY BALL JOHN COONEY # 60 PSA 7 NEAR MINT $48.85

1940 PLAY BALL BASEBALL SPORTS CARD Bob Seeds NY Giants #91 $18.99

1940 Play Ball, #201 Barney McCosky, Tigers, PSA 6 EXMT $49.99

1940 Play Ball Frisch #167 Pirates GAI 6.5 EX-MT+ $55.00

1940 Play Ball Davis #163 Pirates SGC 7 NM $45.00

1940 Play Ball Nap Lajoie HBV $60.00

1940 PLAY BALL BASEBALL PARTIAL SET LOT PSA 5 MEL OTT CARL HUBBELL EARL AVERILL $203.51

ORIGINAL CARD 1940 Playball "Ol' Pete" Alexander Hall of Famer book value $175 $40.00

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