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1939 Play Ball Joe DiMaggio Card Purchase After Google Search

Shoeboxes of Vintage Baseball Cards Including a Joe DiMaggio Purchased after a Google Search Leads to Just Collect

September 25, 2025

After finding shoeboxes of baseball cards his father owned before passing a few years ago, a gentleman in Brooklyn did what most of us would do: searched Google for how to sell my baseball cards. Landing on our Just Collect website, it didn't take long for us to purchase the entire collection Jess had! Among the stars and Hall of Famers stood out an early Joe DiMaggio card.

Jess recognized a few key names such as Nolan Ryan, Willie Mays, and Hank Aaron. The real treasure of the collection is an early card of The Yankee Clipper, Joe DiMaggio! Leading his New York Yankees to NINE World Series Championships, DiMaggio also won three MVP awards before retired as one of the greatest baseball players of all-time. In 1941, DiMaggio hit safely in 56 consecutive games, a record that still stands today. For comparison, the longest hit streak in 2025 belongs to Bobby Witt Jr owned a 22-game streak.

THE COLLECTION

The first photo you see below is of 1939 Play Ball cards. Gum, Incorporated released these black and white cards which each measure 2-1/2” by 3-1/8". You may not have heard of Gum, Incorporated, but you know the name they are now - BOWMAN! The set is made up of 161 cards with the biggest cards in the set being the rookie of Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio. While Teddy Ballgame was not in this collection, the DiMaggio rookie card shines! DiMaggio is in the center row, center card, with all eyes on the legend.

Cards from the 1940 Play Ball set are in the second phot. You can see a big difference between the 1939 and 1940 set - names! Players' names are on the front of each 1940 Play Ball card. A total of 240 cards makeup the 1940 release.

The third image has a nice array of 1950's vintage cards such as releases from 1955 Topps, 1957 Topps, 1958 Topps, and 1959 Topps. A handful of 1951 Bowman cards are present, too, just above that beautiful 1959 Topps Willie Mays!

Mays is just one of the many stars and Hall of Fame cards in the collection other than Joe DiMaggio. In the final photo you can see cards from the 1970, 1971, and 1972 Topps sets. Hank Aaron is in the 1971 set, featured much later in his career; his rookie card can be found in 1954 Topps. As you scroll through the names, Nolan Ryan, Pete Rose, Roberto Clemente, Johnny Bench, Bob Gibson, Lou Brock, Tom Seaver, and so many more of baseball royalty were sitting in a shoebox! Remember - a shoebox isn't the recommended way to store your cards. We have several tips for you on how to safely store your collection. Condition is very important when determining the value of your cards! Properly placing your cards into protective holders will lead to better condition.

Based on the collection, Jess' dad collected cards for about thirty years. From black and white cards to colorful, in-action releases, and now today we have cards are printed nearly in an instant. What do you think a baseball card will look like thirty years from today? Holograms, maybe? Here we thought technology peaked in1986 with Sportsflics.

Photos of the collection:

Each time we see a 1939 Play Ball card, we think back to the Mysteriously Stamped collection! We still wonder what the date of May 9th, 1941 is significant for every time a card from this gorgeous set comes to Just Collect.

APPRAISAL AND PURCHASE

Jess found Just Collect during a Google search. We have purchased thousands upon thousands of collections and bought and sold over 50 MILLION dollars in cards; even Google knows Just Collect is THE place to have your vintage cards appraised and sold to! The retail stores are focused on selling modern products and simply don't have the time or the knowledge to carefully evaluate vintage collections. This is where we are happy to help you. This is the second collection Just Collect has purchased after a Google search in the last few weeks! Recently, we purchased a collection of multiple Mickey Mantle cards after a collector landed on our page that you can read about HERE.

Living near our store in Summit, NJ., Jess dropped his collection off in-person. Our Vice President, John, carefully reviewed each card. After the free evaluation, we made a fair offer to Jess to purchase the ENTIRE collection. Jess did not want to take the time to sell each card individually on eBay as that takes quite a bit of time and effort. Often lost in the process is the hassle to package up hundreds of cards into separate orders. Jess wanted to sell the collection as a whole, and we were pleased to work to make that happened. We made a fair offer to Jess which he accepted, and we paid him how he wanted to be paid! When you choose to sell your collection to Just Collect, we can pay you in cash, company check, or wire transfer.

Not close to Summit, NJ.? No problem! Just Collect offers many ways to evaluate and purchase your collection. From shipping using our fully-insured, two-day FedEx account to travelling to you for large, high-end collections, or meeting you at a show or convention such as The Philly Show, Just Collect will always find the best way possible to purchase your collection.

Love this story? Check out other blogs featuring incredible collections such as:

The Cooperstown Collection purchased in the home of the Baseball Hall of Fame and has multiple rookie cards of Hank Aaron.
The Oregon Farm Collection with a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle discovered in an old barn!
Two 1979 O-Pee-Chee Wayne Gretzky rookie cards - a pair of rookies from the Great One!
1990's Precious Metal Gem basketball cards include some of the rarest, most sought-after cards in modern history.
The Aaron Judge Collection with high-end one of one cards and multiple rookie autos.

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WE ARE ALWAYS BUYING

Just Collect is always buying vintage sports and non-sports cards from 1879 to 2009 as well as select modern cards. If you have a collection that you are considering selling, contact us today to discuss or get our industry-leading purchase offer. If you have a collection that you want appraised, please contact us and we would be happy to discuss your collection and help you understand the real cash value of your collection in the current marketplace. Check out the Just Collect Buy List.

We always offer a FREE APPRAISAL for your collection here at the Just Collect site. Just click here:

We offer may ways to evaluate your cards other than or using our website, too.

Travel to Us

If you can make the trip here like the son from my hometown did for this collection- we can make a deal at the office. We once met a father-son duo that drove eight hours from Virginia to meet us to sell a Michael Jordan rookie card stored in Tupperware since 1986 - great read here.

Come to convention

We keep a LIST of card shows we'll be attending. Come stop by the Just Collect table and chat.

Meet in-person

If you have a valuable collection and want us to come to you, we'll hop on the next plane out.

Meet in New York City

If you're near New York City and would like to meet in a public place, our owner, Leighton, would be happy to meet you; read all the information here.

SHIP your collection

If you choose to mail your cards for an appraisal, we will evaluate your cards for FREE still. If you choose not to sell the cards, we'll ship them back shipping fees paid by us! We can offer our FedEx account with 2-day shipping, fully insured, all covered by us. Simply contact the office to set up this option.

OUR BUYING PHILOSOPHY

We've run into a wide range of people and collections over the last 25 years. Although Just Collect is known for buying vintage sports cards and especially vintage baseball cards, we are also extremely interested in buying non-sports cards, too!

Every collection and every collector is different and we treat EVERY collection with the respect and attention that we show for our own collections. We understand that many have put their heart and souls into building their collections. So when you're ready to sell, we understand the feelings that you're going through and will work with you to help you reach a decision that is a WIN/WIN, because if you're not happy, we're not happy.