1939 Play Ball

1939 Play Ball Pittsburgh Pirates

The debut of the 1939 Play Ball series by Gum, Incorporated, ushered in a new era of baseball cards. The set consists of 161 cards (though card #126 was never issued), each 2-1/2” by 3-1/8” in size - larger than nearly any tobacco card of the early 20th century. Each item featured quality likenesses of the respective ballplayer printed in black-and-white. As expected card #1 Jake Powell and card #162 Whitey Moore are highly sought in high grade, due to their unenviable positions on the top and bottom of childhood stacks. Many of the cards between #2-115 are found with the player name either in all capital letters, or in both upper- and lower-case letters (those examples constituting as close to a “rarity” as the set offers). Minor differences in type styles and biographical information have also been noted.

Lloyd Waner

See the 1939 Play Ball Pittsburgh Pirates

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Team Set Checklist

1939 Play Ball - PIRATES

9 James Tobin 

11 Johnny Rizzo 

55 Arky Vaughan 

82 Chuck Klein 

83 Gus Suhr 

89 Lloyd Waner 

90 Robert Klinger  

94 Heinie Manush 

102 Lem (Pep) Young 

112 Paul Waner 

128 Joe Bowman 

129 Bill Swift 

130 Bill Brubaker 

156 Ray Berres