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Starting A 1933 Goudey Set In Memory Of My Grandfather (SEPTEMBER 30, 2015 UPDATE)

We all get into card collecting for different reasons. In my case, I started collecting as a seven year old in 1978 and have had the collecting bug ever since. My first pack of cards was bought for me by my grandfather and growing up, we spent many great summer days collecting cards. We bought and opened rack packs, wax packs and various odd ball inserts in potato chip bags (I ate a lot of Granny Goose chips as a kid when the A's cards were in the bags). We went to card shows and card shops. My grandfather (actually my grandparents) took me to my first national. So many great memories.

My grandfather passed away in 2003 at the age of 89. He however left me with many gifts including a lifelong love of card collecting. Having sold some cards, and itching to "reinvest" sale proceeds, I am starting a 1933 Goudey set in my grandfather's memory. My grandfather was 19 in 1933 and followed these players. He also remembered a good number of these players that he relayed stories to me. That connection, to me at least, is fascinating. Perhaps for those reasons, I also love late 20s/early 30s baseball.

My goal is to put the set together with an overall GPA of 3.0 (and will exclude the Lajoie). My initial goal is to finish off the Ruths and the Gehrigs (PSA 1s are fine for those) and then focus on the balance of the set. I would also like to get higher grades of the Philadelphia Athletics (my favorite team of the era) including those who are not pictured in Athletics uniforms (i.e., Al Simmons).

The set is "doable" and it is a nice compact number of 239 (again exluding the Lajoie). After polishing off a 1971 Topps baseball set with 752 cards, not sure I would ever attack such a monster again. I will post periodic updates if there is any interest for that.

Wish me luck!

Matt

Here is the set:

My 1933 Goudey Set

Comments

  • Good luck Matt. It's a great looking set -- one of my favourite baseball sets. Looking forward to hearing about your progress.
    Collecting HOF RC's in hockey, baseball, football and basketball. A fool's errand some have said.
  • SDSportsFanSDSportsFan Posts: 5,086 ✭✭✭✭✭
    It's a great set!

    I've been working on the hall of famers from both 1933 and 1934 Goudey, in PSA 2-4, for about the last 6 1/2 years. I still need six 1933s (not including Lajoie) and three 1934s to finish it. It's been a lot of fun putting it together image

    Good luck on it image


    Steve
  • divecchiadivecchia Posts: 6,525 ✭✭✭✭✭
    It must be great having those beautiful memories of your grandfather and what you guys did together... I'm envious...

    Wishing you all the best in putting the 1933 Goudey set together...image

    Donato
    Hobbyist & Collector (not an investor).
    Donato's Complete US Type Set ---- Donato's Dansco 7070 Modified Type Set ---- Donato's Basic U.S. Coin Design Set

    Successful transactions: Shrub68 (Jim), MWallace (Mike)
  • nam812nam812 Posts: 10,531 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Here's to the Raymond Matthews Memorial set. image
  • MCMLVToppsMCMLVTopps Posts: 4,580 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Matt,

    Something you may want to consider is a reprint set. Although not the "real deal", they are a spot on representation of the original.

    If you go to www.fritschcards.com, you will find a current deal to get a 1933 Goudey 240 cards, including 4 Babe Ruth cards, all in color; a 1934 Goudey set of 96 cards, and a 1915 M101-5 Sporting News 200 card set for a mere $100. I have a couple of early Topps sets in reprint, a 1953 and 1954, the colors are stunning as are the cards.

    GL with your collection efforts.

    Al
  • MeferMefer Posts: 1,156 ✭✭✭
    Thank you all so much for the kind words. I will post some scans as the cards come in. I have my first Ruth in hand. I will start my scans with that one. I also have some raw cards I need to sort through some more to see which ones would be worth submitting that will grade at least a 3. I should have a couple of raw candidates.

    Matt
  • fiveninerfiveniner Posts: 4,109 ✭✭✭
    GOOD CHOICE!!NICE GESTURE.
    Tony(AN ANGEL WATCHES OVER ME)
  • MeferMefer Posts: 1,156 ✭✭✭
    Well an update-- after scouring eBay for the last three weeks or so, I am having trouble finding any type of regular "deals" on slabbed cards for the set. The 1933 Goudey's seem to be predominately listed as "Buy It Now" with every single listing it seems (at least the ones I have eyed) to be well above the "average" VCP pricing. What is a boy to do but remain patient? I do however have my eyes on a two cards that I would really like to pick up even though the prices are a bit high. The eye appeal on the two cards I am eyeing are just pheonomenal so they may be worth the premium and they are a couple of my favorite players from the time. Have any of you done that before? And by that, I mean pay somewhat of a premium for a card you just had to have that has tremendous eye appeal? I want to keep resale value in mind in piecing the set together so I want to remain pretty cognizant of cost.

    More updates to follow and hopefully some scans!

    Matt
  • Matt, I like the inspiration and wish you the best with the classic '33 Goudeys. In fact, I just left a comment right in your Registry Set. I looks like you just added a PSA 7 common to your two Ruths and Hubbell. I hope that you'll add scans at some point too.

    Yes, I have often paid a premium for cards that have high eye appeal for the grade. Doing such brings more enjoyment to the collector, and it also benefits in the long-term as a higher resale value is achieved. I am selling some of my high eye appeal football cards right now and collectors are willing to pay a premium for high eye appeal, just like I paid when acquiring them.

    Good luck with your set, and thanks for sharing it.

    -Keith
  • MeferMefer Posts: 1,156 ✭✭✭
    Thanks Keith for the kind words. Much appreciated.

    Here is a scan of the first four cards for my set:

    image

    One of my Ruth is pretty much a "beater" the other one I have thus far presents well for a 1. As noted in my original post, I have a soft spot for Philadelphia Athletics thus I pulled the trigger on the PSA 7 Walberg. It presents really nice and is my favorite 33 Goudey of my "set" thus far. I do hope to pick up all the Athletic commons in PSA 7.

    More scans to come as the set grows, enjoy!

    Matt
  • cougar701cougar701 Posts: 544 ✭✭✭
    Matt, good luck! That Walberg is sweet looking!! I have a Klein #128 PSA 4 up for sale on ebay which I think I set below VCP to start $75?. It currently has no bids, but if interested and want to bid and you win, I will ship/insure for free to you only in honor of your quest of this nice set.

    Either way, again I wish you the best on your endeavor!

    Adam
  • SDSportsFanSDSportsFan Posts: 5,086 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Nice pickup on that Hubbell!

    Even though you did outbid ME on it!!!!! image

    Don't worry, I'll get over it














    Eventually

    imageimage
    image
    Steve
  • MeferMefer Posts: 1,156 ✭✭✭
    Adam-- I will give your card a peak, thanks.

    Steve-- My apologies on the Hubbell. At least it is in a good home!

    Matt
  • SDSportsFanSDSportsFan Posts: 5,086 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>Steve-- My apologies on the Hubbell. At least it is in a good home!

    Matt >>




    Absolutely no need to apologize Matt.

    That's the fun of collecting. Sometimes you win, sometimes you don't. It's all good image


    Steve
  • CollectorAtWorkCollectorAtWork Posts: 859 ✭✭✭
    The 33 Goudey is a good set, and my primary set also. I'm currently at 234/240 cards, missing only one Gehrig, the Lajoie, and a few commons. I have a lot of 1's in my set, so I'm a lower grade than you. (I actually currently have my set divided between SGC and PSA, so I'm at #5 on the SGC Registry, and #50 on PSA. Still have a bunch of raws yet to be graded.) Another option if you haven't thought about it is to buy lots via auction. I've done this before, and I think it's a little more cost efficient than buying cards one by one from ebay. Saying that you also have to shell out a lot more money at one time. You can sell your duplicates or lower grade cards on ebay for minimal loss. However, you still have to be very patient, and not buy lots for the sake of buying lots. It still has to be well priced, and hopefully fulfill a lot of your card needs. For example, I recently purchased this lot from Legendary:

    Legendary Auctions Goudey Partial Set

    It's partially SGC graded, so it wouldn't be for you (unless you tried to cross over), but 80% of the 136 card lot is supposed to be 80% VG to VG/EX, which would be in the sweet spot for you. The lot cost $3,851.25 (including buyer's premium), which is obviously expensive. However, it included one SGC 30/2 53 Ruth card, which I needed. You figure the Ruth would probably cost $1000, so the average cost of the rest of the cards is roughly $21/card, which is a decent price, and includes a number of HOFer's. I'm not saying I got a great deal on this. I didn't; it's fair market value. However, I think in the end, after grading, I will probably have paid around VCP for each card. However, it can be easier than buying it from ebay. Buying raws is not easy, at least for me. I've purchased so many raws that graded less than I expected, it's not even funny. A couple of glaring examples are the Burleigh Grimes I paid $100 bucks for that ended upgrading SGC 2 (Good), and the Rogers Hornsby I paid $160 bucks for that ended up with a SGC 1.5 (Fair). (Both purchased from Mike Wheat cards that were dealer graded vgex and gdvg, respectively, and to be fair to him, they looked good in the scans too.)

    Anyway, if you do go with the auction route for some of your needs, some of the houses are REA, Legendary, Huggins and Scott, Mile High, and SCP. I'm sure I missed others too. Anyway, just one option for you. There's always the joy of collecting one card at a time too, which I know, and there's a tremendous feeling of accomplishment when you finally complete the set after years of collecting, at a really great price. I totally understand that also. Good luck collecting!
  • Hi Matt,

    I currently have four 1933 Goudeys up on eBay. They all end Sunday night, and the prices are still reasonable.

    Philadelphia Athletic Jimmy Foxx PSA 1 - currently $45.44
    Frank Frisch PSA 2 - currently $31.00
    Tris Speaker PSA 2 - currently $40.00
    Rogers Hornsby PSA 4 - currently $55.69

    Best of luck in your quest.
  • MeferMefer Posts: 1,156 ✭✭✭
    Collector at Work-- Thanks for the post! It is always good to find someone else who enjoys a set as much as yourself. Your idea to buy lots is an excellent one and a great strategy. Depending upon my fundage, and the lot, I might do the same thing. My focus, however, at the moment is to get as many of the stars done as possible while I have some extra fundage. My goal with my extra money was to get the Ruths and Gehrigs completely done but that looks as if that is not going to happen. Not just enough out there for my price range. I do however have two of the Ruths knocked out so I feel good about that; I would feel even better if I can knock another one off the list. I just picked up a few more cards that I am waiting to receive; I will post scans when they arrive.

    Shooty, I will give your auctions a look. Thanks. By the way, I love the handle. I remember watching Shooty Babbit play and loved to see him take a walk; he would sprint to first base. He is the only player I can recall who would do that. Great name!

    Matt
  • BPorter26BPorter26 Posts: 3,499 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Good Luck with your set. I'll be keeping an eye on this thread. I'll be looking forward when you pick up the Pirate players. Especially the Pie Traynor and Arky Vaughan.
    "EVERYBODY LOVE EVERYBODY IT SAYS IT RIGHT THERE ON THE WALL" - JACKIE MOON
  • cougar701cougar701 Posts: 544 ✭✭✭
    The way the Phillies have been playin' I might have to start watching Pirates as wellimage
  • baseballfanbaseballfan Posts: 5,450 ✭✭✭
    good luck

    nice start!!!
    Fred

    collecting RAW Topps baseball cards 1952 Highs to 1972. looking for collector grade (somewhere between psa 4-7 condition). let me know what you have, I'll take it, I want to finish sets, I must have something you can use for trade.

    looking for Topps 71-72 hi's-62-53-54-55-59, I have these sets started

  • MeferMefer Posts: 1,156 ✭✭✭
    Well it seems every day that the mail man arrives, my "favorite" card in this set changes. However, this one will be hard to beat:

    image

    Jimmie Foxx is one of my all time favorite players and I love the centering on this "Beast" (pun intended). Here is a scan of Jimmie's autograph in my collection (I am also working on a set of autographs of the 1930 Athletics):

    image

    I have posted this one before, but am posting it again by itself:

    image

    I love this card too; the colors are absolutely vibrant and it is stunning to see a card this old look this good. Here is Rube's autograph from my collection:

    image

    Enjoy!

    Matt

  • MeferMefer Posts: 1,156 ✭✭✭
    Got a few more great Athletic cards in for my set:

    image

    Here is Bing Miller, along with my autograph that I have of him. Sweet colors on this one.

    This one is a real blazer and will, hopefully some time soon, be in a PSA holder:

    image

    Funny thing about the back of Max "Camera Eye" Bishop's card-- he is taken to task for not regularly hitting .300. However, in the age before Moneyball when walks were apparently not valued, Bishop had a lifetime .423 on base percentage. That is my kind of player and a perfect lead off hitter. Also shown is my signature of "Tilly" Bishop.

    Finally, this monster:

    image

    This is a stunning PSA 4 and the scan does not do justice to ole Bucketfoot. I paid a little higher for this 4 than what seems to be the average price, but having it in hand, it was well worth the price. Scanned below is my Al Simmons autograph. It is a weird piece inasmuch as it is on some type of torn bag (don't ask me why).

    Enjoy!

    Matt
  • cougar701cougar701 Posts: 544 ✭✭✭
    Awesome stuff, Matt Keep it coming!
  • MeferMefer Posts: 1,156 ✭✭✭
    I just went back through this thread I started and realized it has been almost two years since I added a card to this set. What a shame. I have a good number raw that I could submit but they would pull nothing higher than 1s or 2s. I really want to hit a 3.0 on this set (minus the Lajoie of course).

    I plan to "re-up" my PSA membership in a week or two; I think I will use some of the freebies to cross my SGC graded Goudeys. Having never done that before, I am not sure how it will go let alone whether I should crack and then submit them or just send them with the holder for a crossover.

    Matt
  • MeferMefer Posts: 1,156 ✭✭✭
    Also, I am having trouble focusing. With other hobbies (gasp) and the fact I have been also considering putting togther a 1975 Topps mini set and a 1978 Topps football set, it is hard to stay focused! LOL
  • the link only took me to the psa site..maybe it is my computer, what is the set called?
    my t-205's


    looking for low grade t205's psa 1-2
  • MeferMefer Posts: 1,156 ✭✭✭
    Hmm. That is interesting. I just looked at the 1933 Goudey set list and my set is not listed yet I can get to it from my personal set registry page. Perhaps I need to add a card to refresh the list? Not sure.
  • well i will keep looking, and this is a great great set!!!
    my t-205's


    looking for low grade t205's psa 1-2
  • MeferMefer Posts: 1,156 ✭✭✭
    It has been a while but I have slowly picked up a few more cards. I thought I would post a few tonight since today would have been my grandfather's 99th birthday.

    A little bit more about my collecting goals with the set. Overall, I would like to hit a 3.0 average. To do that, I will need to pick up some 4s, 5s and 6s along the way in order to "weight out" the heavy hitters that I will most likely only pick up as 1s (i.e., the Ruths and Gehrigs). I am, however, striving to collect all of the Athletic players (then current and former) in 6 or better condition save for cards of Foxx, Simmons, Grove, Cochrane and Collins (unless I can find such cards at a super great deal). The Philadelphia Athletics are my favorite team from the era. Finally, I plan to call the set complete without a Lajoie unless I win the lottery or I can otherwise convince my wife it is a much better purchase than a nice vacation.

    Starting with that theme, here is my Max "Camera Eye" Bishop:

    image

    This is the same card scanned above but now resting nicely in a PSA holder. I am still stumped that it graded out a 6 rather than a 7; however, I do not feel it is worth the time, money and effort to achieve the one point bump.

    Next up is, in my opinion, a stunning and vibrant PSA 4 Guy Bush:

    image

    I picked this card up for a song and it is just beautiful. The red pops off the card and it is centered just about perfectly. The biography on the back is a hoot as it notes, in part he "now lives in Chicago, where he runs gasoline filling stations." Yes, I am sure many a young boy in 1933 aspired to run their very own stations!

    Last but not least, "General" Alvin Crowder:

    image

    The General had a great season in '32 (looking at the "year before the card" as we typically do), going 26-13 for the third place Senators managed by Walter Johnson. He pitched in almost a third of his team's games (50) and completed 21 contests. He led the league with 327 innings pitched AND also finished 10 games in relief. I really enjoy such stat lines considering today's "iron men" on the mound are lucky to eclipse 200 innings in a season and, if lucky, will throw no more than two or three complete games. It was the General's best season.

    This set remains a fun challenge. I hope to post a bit more regularly.

    Matt
  • DboneesqDboneesq Posts: 18,220 ✭✭
    Happy Birthday Grandpa. RIP.
    STAY HEALTHY!

    Doug

    Liquidating my collection for the 3rd and final time. Time for others to enjoy what I have enjoyed over the last several decades. Money could be put to better use.
  • MeferMefer Posts: 1,156 ✭✭✭


    << <i>Happy Birthday Grandpa. RIP. >>



    Awesome! Thanks!!
  • MeferMefer Posts: 1,156 ✭✭✭
    Two new recent pickups:

    1. Another "General" Alvin Crowder. I picked up this six at what I felt was a ridiculously low price. I couldn't pass!

    image

    2. And finally, my most favorite pick up in a while, a PSA 7 Dib Williams. Not only is he an Athletic, he also hails from Arkansas. My grandfather was born in Arkansas and always claimed Dib Williams was his cousin. I have not looked to verify that yet but it could perhaps be true considering Dib was born a scant two years before my grandfather. In any event, I am really pleased to have this one in a 7!

    image
  • MeferMefer Posts: 1,156 ✭✭✭
    Just realized I had not posted on my thread in a while. Well, after over five years, I finally hit the quarter mark on this set! At that pace, I will be done in another 15 years! I hope that does not happen but I have found myself being somewhat picky with the lower grade cards (basically on the hunt for fantastic deals and/or cards that appear better than their grade). I still also need two of the Ruths and one of the Gehrigs; those three cards alone will take the majority of the remaining set budget most likely.

    In any event, it remains fun and I do enjoy picking up a card or two (even if it is just a common) every couple of months!

    Matt
  • I'm new to this thread, but it was a great read! I would love a working link to your set. I wanna see the Gehrig cards.
  • MeferMefer Posts: 1,156 ✭✭✭


    << <i>I'm new to this thread, but it was a great read! I would love a working link to your set. I wanna see the Gehrig cards. >>



    Thanks! I will post a scan of my Gehrig; its not the most beautiful thing ever but hey, it gets the job done!

    Matt
  • Good luck! I am working on the set as well. Great story about your grandfather
  • StingrayStingray Posts: 8,843 ✭✭✭
    You are not selling any of your KISS Donruss cards to pay for this project?? image
  • MeferMefer Posts: 1,156 ✭✭✭
    Thanks guys!

    Nope, no KISS Donruss cards were harmed with this project. Whew!

    Matt
  • heritageheritage Posts: 2,662 ✭✭✭
    Wow this is my first time coming across this thread very cool I like it.
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