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Just Collect Presents The Set of the Week - 1933 Goudey Baseball Cards

Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig Highlight Iconic Set

September 02, 2025

Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig are featured multiple times in the iconic 1933 Goudey baseball card set. Today, we'll teach you about these vintage cards in our new series: The Set of the Week.

1933 GOUDEY BASEBALL

Babe Ruth Cards

In 1933, Goudey released a baseball card set in uncertain times; our Country was in the midst of The Great Depression. The 1929 stock market crash brought the Roaring Twenties to a halt and about 25% of Americans were unemployed. Not an ideal time to ask kids to buy gum and and baseball card! However, Goudey's gamble and an interesting marketing technique paid off and gave us one of the most desirable sets in our hobby.

There are 240 total cards in the 1933 Goudey set, each measuring 2-3/8" by 2-7/8". For a size comparison, standard cards today are 2.5" x 3.5". The most famous baseball player, and maybe the most famous athlete of all-time, Babe Ruth, is featured FOUR times. The Great Bambino was winding his career down in 1933. By the time this card set was released, Ruth was 38 and about to finish up his storied career (Ruth retired after 1935). Ruth can be found on cards 53, 144, 149, and 148. Above, you can see three of the card 144 where Babe is swinging a bat. The cards with a green background is card 181. The other two cards have a yellow background, card 53, and a red background, card 149, both of which you can see here:

Ruth2-1

Lou Gehrig was 30 at the time of this Goudey set and was still in the prime of his career. The Iron Horse had a .334 average in 1933, and put up stellar numbers in 1934 when he won the Triple Crown by leading the league in average (.363), home runs (49), and RBI (166). Gehrig has two cards in the set, landing at numbers 92 and 160. The backs of each card match with the only difference between both cards being simply the number. Here are a few of the Gehrig cards:

Gehrig-2

Aside from Ruth and Gehrig, a number of Hall of Fame players are in the 1933 Goudey set including:

Jimmy Foxx
Eddie Collins
Tris Speaker
Mel Ott
Lefty Grove
Rogers Hornsby
Nap Lajoie

Overall, there are 19 Hall of Famers in the set!

Goudey With Ott

When you opened Goudey Big League Gum, you could find 239 beautiful cards like you see above. Painted renditions of the stars on the field with vibrant colors, action poses, and portraits. Wait - 239? We said there were 240 cards in the set!

After a while, kids noticed that card 106, Nap Lajoie, could not be found. After writing letters to Goudey, the kids were mailed that missing Lajoie card. How many Lajoie cards are known to exist today? Not many! PSA has only graded 99 of the Nap Lajoie cards. Clever marketing ploy, right? Keep buying pack after pack and searching for that one card you need. While at the National Sports Collectors Convention this year, our owner, Leighton, talked with legendary dealer, Pat Quinn. Pat once owned a complete 1933 Goudey set with every card signed, including the Lajoie! You can watch the interview with Pat Quinn HERE.

If you have 1933 Goudey cards, we are buying! If you have these cards and are interested in selling, reach out for a any time. Just Collect has purchased MANY Goudey cards and collections. A few collections we have proudly purchased are:

22 Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig cards discovered in one collection of over 800 Goudey cards.
High-Grade 1933 Goudey cards with PSA 6 and PSA 7 examples.
The Name Tag Collection includes Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig cards that were stored in name tag holders!

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! We have purchased thousands upon thousands of collections and bought and sold over 50 MILLION dollars in cards. Read below to see how easy it is to contact us today!

Make sure to come back next week to learn about our next Set of the Week.

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.